Hearing Officer’s Remarks Released in Contessa’s Appeal

Contessa was originally fined $4,000 by a state racing steward.

In the decision in the case by NYSGC hearing officer William Chen, which the agency publicly released Thursday, that fine amount was determined to be “excessive.” 

Chen reduced the penalty to $2,500, which was lowered March 24 by the unanimous approval of the NYSGC’s board to $1,500. No explanation was given during the Monday public meeting for the final penalty level, but it came after Contessa and his lawyer, Drew Mollica, spent months making a spirited defense that the fine was excessively punitive and part of a growing trend by the agency in recent times to levy large fines for purely ministerial mistakes.

The documents released Thursday provide an insight into the case that were not revealed at Monday’s commission meeting.

Contessa does not argue that the claiming rule was violated. But his case hinged around him doing his “due diligence” to verify New York’s claiming rules for out-of-state races. He noted that he checked the New York Racing Association website that directed him to a NYSGC page noting that the 30-day rule was still in place. In fact, the rule had been changed some weeks earlier.

Chen, in his ruling, stated that Contessa said he stays up on things that “I need to know about.”

“The change to the claiming regulation is one such thing that he should have been up-to-date on, especially since he actually claimed a horse. It strains credibility that Mr. Contessa did not hear a word about the proposed changes to the claiming regulation since he was at Saratoga Race Track since at least April 2024 through at least August 2024.”

Chen’s decision notes Contessa entered and ran Answer the Call at Delaware Park in late September in a claiming race. The horse finished fourth, earning $1,170, of which $100 went to Contessa for his trainer’s fee. Contessa had run the horse at Saratoga after it was claimed but then had “a hard time finding another appropriate race” for the horse. So, the filly was entered at Delaware Park.

Braulio Baeza Jr., the state’s racing steward who levied the fine against Contessa, testified earlier this year in a hearing before Chen that the state took many actions to inform the public and racing community about the claiming rule change. Chen’s decision states that Baeza testified that hundreds of horses have been claimed under the new timetable in the claiming rule and that Contessa “is the only person charged with violation” of the regulation that was amended in July.

Mollica, Contessa’s lawyer, said earlier this week in an interview that civil fines imposed in such cases are supposed to be “educational, not punitive.” He said a fine of some $200 or so and a warning would have been appropriate, but that the original $4,000 penalty crossed the line.

Baeza testified he spoke with Contessa, who did not deny racing the horse before the 60-day “claiming jail” period expired. The steward said he also spoke with two other stewards before imposing the $4,000, which included disgorgement of the $1,170 that Answer the Call won at Delaware Park.

But Chen, the state hearing officer who ran the half-day hearing in February, noted that Baeza’s standard range of violations for such rule violations have been between $2,000 and $3,000. He noted the other stewards agreed with the $4,000 penalty Baeza imposed. Racing regulators told Chen that Contessa had no previous violation of a claiming rule.

Contessa said there was no evidence of the NYSGC trying to inform the racing community at Saratoga last summer when the new provision was approved—a change to a law that had been on the books for decades.

Chen noted that Contessa argued the $4,000 penalty was “unconscionable” and “shocks the conscience,” noting a different claiming rule violation case in New York that resulted in a $200 fine. 

The racing steward testified, according to Chen’s decision, that his usual penalties of $4,000 or $5,000 involved fraudulent activity. “He testified that no fraud is present in this case,” Chen wrote.

Baeza has also fined NYRA staff members at times for failing to follow proper protocol, actions NYRA believes were inadvertent administrative or clerical errors.

Chen said Contessa should have consulted with New York stewards before racing the claimed horse at Delaware Park. He noted that even under the old 30-day rule, trainers could seek permission from stewards to run horses out of state before the “claiming jail” period was met. It was not enough that Contessa sought information from a NYRA web page, which he noted is “not an official source” for information about New York racing regulations.

Chen added that the steward’s initial penalty to include more than $1,000 in “discouragement” of the Delaware Park race’s winnings “is appropriate, but better borne by the owner, not the trainer.” (Contessa noted in a filing accompanying the case that the horse’s owners were assessed a penalty in the matter; the documents did not state the owners’ names, though Equibase lists the owners as William Ritz III and Henry Nahal.) 

Chen noted that “every commission licensee is under a duty to know the most up-to-date version” of New York’s racing rules.

Contessa’s lawyer this week said his client is happy the fine was lowered by the full NYSGC board to $1,500 but that the process in New York is overly burdensome for horsemen to challenge such things as penalties imposed for administrative or other such non-fraudulent rule violations. Mollica also said Contessa is still weighing his options regarding the final $1,500 penalty.

In a Facebook post March 26, Contessa compared his fine to driving a car through a green light at an intersection and being told he “should have known the light was supposed to be red and it was broken.” He shared a GoFundMe page intending to raise $10,000 for a possible court challenge of the reduced fine. He said he would return the funds if he opts not to pursue the case in court or if he is successful and reimbursed for attorney fees by the state.