New York regulators fined Thoroughbred trainer Gary Contessa $1,500 March 24 for violating a rule governing the timetable for when horses claimed in-state may race again in another state.
Contessa had challenged the fine, which had been $4,000 when first imposed by a racing steward Oct. 4, arguing he did not know New York regulators had just changed the state’s “claiming jail” for racing horses out of state from 30 days to 60 days.
The trainer’s lawyer, Drew Mollica, said Contessa is happy the fine was lowered, but he sharply criticized a New York practice he characterized as seen increasingly large fines against Thoroughbred trainers and others for purely ministerial violations.
“The system of draconian penalties that have become the custom needs to be addressed overall,” Mollica said in an interview just after the New York State Gaming Commission’s decision. He said Contessa is “going to weigh his options” regarding the $1,500 fine; he did not elaborate.
Contessa raced Answer the Call at Delaware Park Sept. 25, 52 days after the horse was claimed at Saratoga Race Course in August.
Sign up for BloodHorse Daily
Without providing details, New York State Gaming Commission chairman Brian O’Dwyer said Monday that the hearing officer—after presiding over a half-day-long February hearing requested by Contessa—three weeks ago ruled that Contessa violated the 60-day rule, but he proposed lowering the fine from $4,000 originally imposed by the steward to $2,500. The full commission on Monday, by a 6-0 vote, accepted the hearing officer’s report on the matter but modified the penalty to $1,500.
The commission last July changed the longstanding 30-day claiming rule provision to 60 days. Mollica said Contessa did his due diligence when he sought to verify it was OK for him to race the filly Answer the Call at Delaware Park. He said the trainer went to the New York Racing Association website, which directed him to a Gaming Commission page that said the 30-day rule was still in effect in September at the time of the Delaware Park race.
Soon after, though, Contessa was slapped with the $4,000 fine by state commission steward Braulio Baeza Jr. Contessa began the process of appealing the matter that stayed the penalty and paved the way for a hearing earlier this year.
Mollica stressed that many horsemen don’t have the financial wherewithal or time to challenge what he said are increasingly large fines by the Gaming Commission. “The systemic problem that rears its head time and time again … is why are horsemen in New York required to go to this length on matters that shouldn’t get this far?” he said of the lengthy and expensive appeals process. “The business is hard enough. Common sense should take over.”
Mollica said a $1,500 fine in this case is still too high, but at least the hearing officer and the full commission saw “the folly” in the original $4,000 fine by the steward. He said most government agencies, including law enforcement, provide some kind of grace period when longstanding rules are changed.
“He didn’t kill the Lindbergh baby. It was a ministerial error and that’s where it should have ended,” said Mollica, a Long Island lawyer. A more reasonable approach, he added, might have been something like a $200 fine and a warning—especially for a matter that didn’t involve fraud or drugging of a horse or some other major kind of violation.
“Civil fines are supposed to be educational, not punitive. It appears punishment is the agenda for some racing officials and that has to stop,” he added.
Leave feedback about this