NY Commission Reduces Contessa’s ‘Claiming Jail’ Fine, But Concerns Persist Over ‘Draconian’ Stewardship

[Wandering Eyes]

The lawyer for New York-based trainer Gary Contessa said the veteran conditioner is considering his options after the New York State Gaming Commission (NYSGC) ruled on Monday to reduce a $4,000 stewards' fine to $1,500 for his violation last autumn of a state “claiming jail” rule.

Contessa was initially fined Oct. 17 after he ran Answer the Call (Dialed In) in a Sept. 25 claiming race at Delaware Park. He had claimed that filly out of an Aug. 4 race at Saratoga and believed she would be allowed to run outside of New York because more than 30 days had elapsed since the claim.

But Contessa soon found out the hard way that despite his due diligence in double-checking the rule, it had recently been changed so that no claimed horse could run at any track outside of the New York Racing Association (NYRA) circuit for 60 days.

After being fined by NYSGC steward Braulio Baeza Jr., who heads the board of three stewards at NYRA tracks, Contessa protested to Baeza that he had checked the NYRA website to make sure he could ship Answer the Call out of town without being in violation of any rule.

But NYRA's online rules page had not been updated to reflect the extended 60-day period that had gone into effect July 24. Contessa admitted that he did not triple-check the NYRA rules listings against the NYSGC website.

Contessa's version of his conversation with Baeza over the violation included a verbal exchange in which he said he complained to the head NYSGC steward that the fine was out of line with the infraction, but that Baeza's response was, “'That's my minimum fine. We give fines that count now.”

After Contessa retained attorney Drew Mollica, they built an appeal based on what seemed to be a precedent: According to Mollica, trainer Amy Albright had violated the very same rule when shipping a horse she had claimed at Finger Lakes out of town without waiting out the 60-day period. She was fined just $200.

At the Mar. 24 commission meeting, NYSGC chair executive director Robert Williams read into the record that the hearing officer assigned to Contessa's appeal had determined that a violation did, in fact occur, and his recommended fine knocked the original $4,000 penalty down to $1,500.

NYSGC chair Brian O'Dwyer then said that, “The commission duly deliberated and considered this matter, and determined, on a 6-0 vote, to affirm the hearing officer's findings, but to modify his findings to provide for a $1,500 fine instead.”

As per the way the NYSGC traditionally handles adjudications, the commissioners did not publicly discuss or debate the case during the open meeting. They had done so in private prior to the outcome being read into the record by O'Dwyer at Monday's meeting.

Contessa's attorney weighed in on the reduced fine after the meeting concluded.

“Obviously, I'm pleased about two things,” Mollica said. “That both the hearing officer and the commission clearly saw that the original penalty imposed was completely out of line given the circumstances.

“Secondly, I appreciate that the commission saw fit to reduce it even more,” Mollica continued.

“But the real issue here is the systemic problem of draconian, over-the-top penalties that have permeated this stewardship over the past couple of years,” Mollica said. “Civil penalties are supposed to educate and correct. Education doesn't mean punitive punishment. To initially levy a $4,000 fine under these circumstances was so over the top that Mr. Contessa had no choice but to appeal.

“But the truth of the matter is that as an industry, and as horsemen in New York, something has to be done about this bevy, if you look back, of fines that just shock the conscience,” Mollica said.

As TDN's Bill Finley reported on Nov. 24, the Contessa case is not the first time in recent history that the judgment of the NYRA stewards–and in particular, Baeza–has been questioned.

“As has been the case numerous times over the last several years, Baeza is once again at the center of a controversy,” Finley wrote four months ago. “His fines come across as heavy-handed, he doesn't seem to consider the mitigating circumstances that may be involved, and the stewards have made a number of mistakes, for which he has been held blameless.”

Mollica cited several of those instances to TDN on Monday.

“Two-, three-, four-, five-thousand dollar fines for an alleged claims clerk mistake? Or a $4,000 fine for a wrong owner showing up on an overnight? I mean, have we lost our way?” Mollica asked rhetorically.

“In an industry where the small stable and the small trainer are being annihilated and pulverized out of the business, we have to rethink the entire theory behind civil penalties and bring it back into some level of sanity,” Mollica said.

“Think about the resources expended here over a fine that should not have been more than $200, in our opinion,” Mollica continued. “Not only did we have a stewards' hearing; not only did we have an adjudicative process where we retained a hearing officer and two lawyers had to file briefs and argue, and then a hearing officer had to write a report, and the commission had to review it, [but] for what purpose?

“Again, I'm pleased that the commission and the hearing officer saw the folly in the original penalty. And while I don't agree with the [final fine amount] at the end of the day, the real problem is this systemic over-punishment that has come out of this stewards' stand and needs some level of review,” Mollica said.

“Remember the circumstances. The rule that had changed had been in place for three decades. And it had just changed six weeks [prior to Contessa's violation],” Mollica said. “So how about the common sense of a little grace period, right?”

TDN asked Brad Maione, the NYSGC's director of communications, if the commission would like a chance to respond to Mollica's allegations about ongoing problems with the stewards at NYRA tracks. Maione acknowledged the request but declined the opportunity to comment.

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