Thursday Morning Notes - May 8

- Matt Hagerty reports in the Form that the plan being discussed to relieve NYC OTB of a portion of its financial obligations could pose problems for NYRA's bankruptcy plan.

For NYRA, the plan would mean a reduction of $12 million to the association and its horsemen, according to Charles Hayward, the president of NYRA. Of that $12 million, $7 million would go to purses, and $5 million would go to the association for operating funds.

On April 28, a federal judge approved a reorganization plan that NYRA submitted to U.S. bankruptcy court. Hayward said the plan did not account for a reduction in payments from New York City OTB.

"If we had to pay out another $5 million a year from our operating cash, the plan wouldn't be feasible, and it couldn't go into effect," Hayward said. [Daily Racing Form]

Just as the state wasn't going to allow OTB to go under over a relatively small sum, I imagine that it's not going to allow $5 million to scuttle its franchise agreement with NYRA. Sounds like nothing a little takeout increase couldn't take care of..

- There were a bunch of stories yesterday regarding NYRA looking into synthetic tracks at all of its locations, and a symposium to discuss the matter this summer. However, this morning, NYRA's John Lee tells the Albany Times Union that that's not the case.

"This is a non-story....We have no plans to move in that direction. This is not something we are looking at in the foreseeable future."

Lee said comments he made to the Daily Gazette were misinterpreted.