NYRA Head Has Hands Full

NEW YORK – As reported by the Albany Times-Union: "From all indications, Charles Hayward is the right guy at the right time for the New York Racing Association

"The only question now is if he can get enough done in a three-year window to save the franchise, a proposition that a conservative oddsmaker would probably give no better than a 6-5 number at this stage of the game.

"Three years isn't much time by some corporate standards, and Hayward realistically has less than that to convince politicians that NYRA should remain in its current form rather than be privatized and sold to the highest bidder after 2007.

"The linchpin of that formula begins with getting the video lottery machines installed at Aqueduct. But first NYRA has to survive the 18-month deferred prosecution agreement scheduled to be completed in July.

"…Once NYRA can convince its VLT backers at MGM that the company is viable, it can move forward with the installation of some 4,500 machines.

"…Then NYRA can begin to make much-needed improvements at all three racetracks (Aqueduct, Belmont and Saratoga) as it was doing before all this came down…"