Wonder if it was:
Carole Stone, sounded a good deal more informed before she opened her mouth on Monday and suggested that the board would strike a third-party deal unless the New York Racing Association agrees to continue operation beyond Dec. 31 with no franchise agreement and no guarantees. ZINGG!
or:
Where does Ms. Stone think that, even were such action technically legal, a third party would hire a sufficient number of people to operate Aqueduct while maintaining the facilities at Belmont Park and Saratoga? Who would turn on the lights? Man the betting machines? Manicure the racing surface? Man the starting gate? Park the cars? Make the popcorn? Publish the program? And by the way … all the vendor contracts, which include closed circuit television, photo finish and timing, janitorial service, manure removal and other ingredients essential to the conduct of racing expire with the franchise. No third party has contracts in place to cover simulcasting and dissemination of the television signal to the state’s off-track betting outlets.
Apparently, Ms. Stone and her fellow board members believe that racing just happens by itself. One would think that the uninformed benefactors of the politcal system would carefully guard rather than so willingly expose their lack of expertise.
Racing is a complex endeavor. Ignorance happens by itself.
God Bless Paul Moran
|