New rewards program aims to boost field size

In an effort to increase field size – and subsequently handle – the New York Racing Association announced a rewards program for horses who race frequently at Aqueduct, Belmont and Saratoga.

Under the program, horses can compete for from 5 to 15 percent more purse money based on how many starts they make at a NYRA track from April 6 through April 1, 2019.

A horse who makes its fifth and sixth start at a NYRA track during that period will earn Silver status and compete for 5 percent more money. For starts seven through nine in that 12-month period, horses will earn Gold status and compete for 7.5 percent more money. Horses that start 10 or 11 times will earn Platinum status and run for 12.5 percent more money. A horse reaches Diamond status when he makes his 12th start, and from that point will compete for 15 percent more money.

“If you’re going to run with us and you’re going to run multiple times we’re going to reward you,” said Martin Panza, NYRA’s senior vice president of racing operations.

Bonus money can only be accrued in races for winners. Bonus money will not be awarded in maiden races, though maiden races will be counted as starts. A horse who wins his maiden in his fifth start will be eligible for bonus money starting with his sixth start.

Races in which a horse is beaten by 25 lengths or more or is placed afterward on the vet’s list for lameness and unsoundness will not count as a start. Also, only two starts in a 30-day period will be counted toward the program.

The mid-range goal is to get horses to run more frequently, thus increasing field size. The long-term goal is to give horses incentive to run in the winter when, presumably, they will be running for the higher end of the bonus scale. Field size at Aqueduct from Jan. 1 through March 15 was 6.89 horses per race, down .50 from this same period last year.

Panza gave NYRA board member Steve Duncker credit for coming up with the idea for the program, which was done in conjunction with the New York Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association. Joe Appelbaum, president of NYTHA, praised the program.

“This is an opportunity for the guys who patronize our tracks to be rewarded the most,” Appelbaum said Friday. “It further aligns the interests of the track and the horsemen. Hopefully they’re encouraged to run their horses more, the fields grow, we can take more handle in, and that increases the purse account.”

However, some of Appelbuam’s constituents were skeptical of the program, which many heard about for the first time on Friday. Appelbaum said the entire NYTHA board was briefed on this idea weeks ago and was supportive of it.

Leah Gyarmati, a trainer and member of the NYTHA board, did not sound supportive of it on Friday. Gyarmati, believing the program will benefit larger outfits more than smaller ones, called it “more like a royalty program than a loyalty program.”

Panza and Appelbaum dispute that theory, noting that by the time next winter rolls around horses who have raced at NYRA tracks should be close to running for the maximum bonus program.

“If you run a little bit between April and November, you should be in the bonus program all the way by [next winter],” Panza said. “It’s designed to benefit the people here year round.”

During this winter, NYRA paid a $300 per-start credit to horses who finished fourth through last during the Aqueduct winter meet, which ends March 31.

Gyarmati and trainers Bruce Levine and Jeremiah Englehart said Friday they would have liked to have seen NYRA continue that program. Panza said it would have been cost prohibitive, adding that “it did absolutely nothing” to help increase field size.