by Paul Post

New York State Senator Roy McDonald (R-Saratoga) says he is concerned about the fate of Saratoga Race Course, given the political focus of New York’s top elected officials.

McDonald has filled the seat previously held by Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno, the state’s most powerful Republican and an ardent racing industry supporter. Bruno retired last summer.

In November, Democrats won control of the Senate for the first time in 43 years and new Majority Leader Senator Malcolm Smith (D-Queens) is from New York City, as is Governor David Paterson and Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver (D-Manhattan).

“I’m very concerned,” McDonald said. “All kinds of things can happen from someone who doesn’t have a vested interest in the Saratoga track. They could not allocate enough funds to keep up the maintenance and appearance. It’s a beautiful facility in a beautiful city. I want to keep it that way."

McDonald previously was on the Assembly’s Racing and Wagering Committee and has been named to the Senate’s racing panel as well. He is the only elected state representative who lives in Saratoga County, New York, although the district of Assembly Minority Leader James Tedisco (R-Schenectady) includes Saratoga Race Course, too.

NYRA's franchise agreement, which the state approved in September, called for creation of a 15-member advisory committee to provide input on Saratoga’s future operations, including physical changes.

The advisory panel is supposed to have five appointees each from Saratoga County, the city of Saratoga Springs, and NYRA. To date, however, only the county has named its committee representatives. President Charles Hayward said that NYRA will make its picks known in a few weeks. Saratoga Springs Mayor Scott Johnson said he is conferring with NYRA to make sure that his choices do not overlap with NYRA’s.

“It’s critical that we protect the track,” McDonald said. “It’s critical that we have local input."

McDonald said Saratoga Race Course is the focal point of the region’s racing industry, whose various components have a year-round economic impact on the surrounding area. In addition to the track, there are numerous breeding farms, feed supply stores and farms that produce hay, he said.

“Sometimes, people downstate forget about the agricultural industry. They see the horses as a betting booth. I see the horses as all those farms in [neighboring] Washington County that grow the food that feeds them. There’s a different way of looking at Saratoga as opposed to Aqueduct and Belmont. They look at those two tracks as money-makers. It’s a slot machine.

“Saratoga is not a slot machine.”

Video lottery terminals already have been approved at Aqueduct and Paterson has proposed putting them at Belmont, too. McDonald said he is not opposed to gaming at either downstate track.

“You do what you want to do in Belmont and Aqueduct, but don’t you screw up Saratoga,” he said. “We’ve got something exceptionally good going there. Don’t change the ambience of it. Don’t turn it into a casino.”

Paul Post is a New York-based Thoroughbred Times correspondent