Crist Responds

Steve Crist issued a statement on the Form's website regarding his involvement in the Racing and Wagering Board's investigation of takeout-gate.  Here's the link if you haven't seen it.

My understanding from my Twitter feed is that the comment section has been, let's say, cleansed.  What's left are some mildly worded posts mostly in support with some polite skepticism mixed in.  Not sure what was there before, but probably not too complimentary.  The fact is that, strictly from a  journalistic point of view, Crist is fair game here, and I'm sure he realizes that; in fact, he writes: "With hindsight, I regret that I didn’t follow up on the issue."  If the aggrieved horseplayer had contacted Jim Odato instead, I imagine that Odato would have investigated himself, discovered that bettors were being overcharged, confronted Hayward with his findings, and published an exclusive with or without his comment.  But here there were relationships and human nature involved, so that's not what happened.  As I said in the last post, Crist was in a difficult spot.  I feel bad for both guys; not because mistakes weren't made....and let those who have never erred be the first to throw stones in glass houses (or however that goes).....but because they're both advocates for those of us who love the game as much as they do.  When the good guys start going down, it's not good, especially in this environment, with an openly hostile governor advocating for drastic expansion of gaming.

As for Crist's suggestion that Hayward similarly was under the impression that NYRA merely had the option, rather than an obligation, to lower the takeout, we haven't heard anything from the NYRA CEO; but it doesn't really matter.  The buck stopped at his desk in terms of getting it right either way (as well as at the desk of general counsel Patrick Kehoe, as explained here by Steve Zorn on his Business of Racing blog).  And besides, however it went down, NYRA's enemies in Albany will have free reign to frame it in the most damaging way possible.  And Hayward and NYRA will be powerless to fight that.