Editor’s Note: After this piece ran, several people reached out to note that Junior and Kelly Alvarado have gone public, stating this concern was brought to NYRA’s attention much earlier, even before the meet began. Past The Wire has no way to verify that claim, and it stands in contrast to Tony Allevato’s public statement on the air.
Since publishing, replies attached to that account have added specifics. The account states the riders raced a mile with a six horse field the week before, that it went badly, and that they told NYRA afterward they would not do it again. The account also states the concern was repeated to stewards and management again this morning, before today’s race was adjusted, and expresses frustration that NYRA waited until a race out to make the change rather than addressing it when it was first raised. The account also says a direct conversation with NYRA, rather than assumptions made about the riders, would be welcome.
I have no reason to believe or doubt any of this. I can only go by the record, and this is now part of it. What I do find interesting is the following: after the piece below on the November jockey walkout ran, Kelly Alvarado contacted me to say there was more to that story, and that the walkout ran deeper than what was reported. I invited her, or Junior, to sit for an interview and lay out the full story, with an agreement to publish it in full. That invitation was declined. Which means, credit where credit goes. Maybe Portnoy had the finger pointed in the right direction after all. He almost certainly did not know that at the time, and neither did I, but he might have been onto something before either of us had the full picture.
Dave Portnoy wants somebody held accountable for what happened at Saratoga today. He is right that fans and horseplayers deserve better than a delay with no explanation in real time. He is wrong about where to send the bill.
David Grening of the Daily Racing Form laid out exactly what happened. The riders raised a safety concern about sending inexperienced two year olds a mile on the turf, worried about the short run into the first turn for horses who have never faced that situation in competition. NYRA and the stewards responded by cutting the distance of today’s fourth race to one and one sixteenth miles. That took time. That is why the card was delayed.
Tony Allevato went on air with Maggie Wolfendale and explained it himself. NYRA has run two year olds a mile on the grass at Saratoga before, last year and earlier this year, with no complaints raised at the time. This was not a new or reckless configuration NYRA dreamed up on the fly. It was a distance that had been run safely before. The riders raised the concern today, and NYRA adjusted anyway, out of caution, even with precedent on their side. The Jockey Agents are among the first to read the condition book, surely if there was an ongoing safety issue with a distance or age of horses at a distance they would be aware of it. Crickets.
That is not a NYRA failure. That is a track and a management team choosing caution over convenience, even when they did not have to. They cancelled the Pick 6, moved the carryover, and changed the distance. What was the alternative?
Portnoy’s NASCAR comparison is not a bad idea in theory. A driver and rider meeting an hour or two before the card, where concerns get raised and settled before the gates open, is worth NYRA looking at going forward. I do believe that very thing happens upon request. But that is a conversation about process. It is not an indictment of what happened today, and now it is not even close.
Here is the point that keeps getting lost. The riders should have raised this concern last year, when the book came out, or at the start of this meet, not after the card had already begun. If there is a legitimate complaint to make, that is where it belongs, with the Jockeys’ Guild, not the stewards’ stand and not NYRA’s front office.
And while everyone was busy finding a villain, NYRA did right by the bettors. The Pick 6 was cancelled to protect horseplayers from a sequence disrupted by a late change in distance. That is NYRA choosing fairness over convenience twice in one afternoon. Nobody is writing that headline today.
Blame where blame goes. Credit where credit goes. Saratoga, NYRA, and the stewards make their share of mistakes every season. This was not one of them, and Tony Allevato saying so on the air, with the history to back it up, closes the door on it.
This is not the first time “an incident NYRA took heat for belonged in The Jockey Room. The November “walkout” comes to mind.
As for Portnoy himself, that is a longer conversation, one worth having honestly. Is he good for this sport, or just good at making sure everyone is talking about him? Everybody loves a good rant. Everybody loves a good finger point. Just make sure the finger lands on the right person.
Dave Portnoy on the “incident”
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