NYRA "expects to end the year in the black" for the first time in 13 years, with a $1.5M "surplus from its races and other operations," according to Rick Karlin of the Albany TIMES UNION. NYRA also is projecting a $2.1M surplus next year despite "slightly fewer race days and fewer horses in those races." Part of the turnaround is "due to ongoing cost cutting and some admission increases such as the $2 hike -- from $3 to $5 for general admission at the Saratoga Race Course last summer." NYRA also expects "to save money going forward by closing barn space" at the Aqueduct track in N.Y. when they are not racing. The $154M budget for '15 "includes a number of improvements at NYRA tracks," such as "improving video boards, and a 'Walk of Fame'" at Saratoga (Albany TIMES UNION, 12/4). BLOODHORSE's Tom Precious reported NYRA "will cut the total number of race dates by two, shifting more racing days to Belmont Park and reducing six race dates during the Aqueduct fall and winter meets." Officials believe that the shorter racing schedule "will help boost declining field sizes." But the '15 budget does reflect "some of the realities in which NYRA is operating." For instance, on-track handle "is expected to decline by 2.6%" to $118.1M compared to the '14 budget, and revenues from video lottery terminals at Aqueduct are "projected to remain flat" in '15. NYRA is projecting $27.3M "in net income" for '15 (BLOODHORSE.com, 12/3).
HANGING UP THE SADDLE: DAILY RACING FORM's David Grening noted NYRA BOD Chair David Skorton yesterday announced that he will resign at the end of this month, which "was expected at some point before the end of his term." Skorton last March was "named the next secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, the world’s largest museum and research complex," a role that he will begin in July. Skorton said that his current duties as Cornell Univ. President, including overseeing the university’s "sesquicentennial anniversary, as well as helping transition to a new president, plus getting ready to move his family to Washington in the spring, prompted him to resign from NYRA at year’s end." Skorton was selected by New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo in October '12 "to head the NYRA Reorganization Board, which was put in place for a three-year period and charged with reforming the association before returning it to private control" by next fall. It will be Cuomo's responsibility "to name a replacement" (DRF.com, 12/3).
