Title 9 Part 4003

Members of the commission, the commission’s staff and the commission’s designated representatives shall have the right of immediate, unrestricted and complete entry to any and all parts of all race tracks at any time.

All provisions in this Subchapter affecting licensed racing associations shall be applicable also to franchised racing associations, racing corporations, and franchised racing corporations except as may be otherwise provided by law.

No license shall be granted to any racing association to conduct a race meeting within 100 miles of the track in the State of New York of another racing association to be engaged at the same time in conducting a race meeting, except in the case of an association which has conducted race meetings continuously for at least 10 years preceding the first day of January, 1943.

In granting a license to any new racing association to conduct race meetings, the commission will consider especially the following matters:

An application for the approval of the filing of a certificate of incorporation for a racing corporation pursuant to provisions of the Racing, Pari-Mutuel Wagering and Breeding Law shall be made by a petition signed and verified by all the incorporators, which petition shall state the following:

An application for the approval of the filing of a certificate of amendment of a certificate of incorporation or of the filing of a certificate of merger of a racing corporation pursuant to provisions of the Racing, Pari-Mutuel Wagering and Breeding Law shall be in such form, contain such information and be executed in such manner as from time to time may be prescribed by statute or by the commission.

Each racing association shall furnish to the commission within 60 days after the close of the fiscal year of such association, three copies of such association’s balance sheet and of such association’s operating statement for such fiscal year, with comparison to prior year, the same to be duly sworn to before a notary public by the treasurer or the assistant treasurer, or certified by a duly licensed certified public accountant, and to be in such form as may be prescribed by the commission.

Each racing association shall furnish to the commission upon demand a map or plan of such association’s race track and plant, drawn to such reasonable scale as may be required, showing all structures, piping, fire hydrants and other fixed equipment thereon, with dimensions and nature of construction duly noted, and a plan of the racing strip, showing the elevation as filled, drained and gapped, and giving the composition of the track base and cushion; and as and when any material changes are made, a similar map or plan showing such changes and drawn to the same scale, shall be forthwith filed with the commission.

If any racing association that has been licensed by the commission shall fail to comply with the provisions of sections 4003.7 through 4003.9 of this Part within 30 days after written demand therefor, or shall knowingly make any false statement in complying therewith, the commission may revoke such association’s license as provided by law.

In determining whether or not to grant a pari-mutuel track license to a racing association or corporation and/or assign racing dates to a licensed or franchised racing association or corporation, the commission may consider if there exists a written agreement between the racing association or corporation and the representative horsemen's association governing the terms and conditions of racing and the commission may require such an agreement to be in existence, unless it finds that the absence of the agreement is for good cause due to factors beyond the control of the racing association or corporation or the representative horsemen's association.

Racing associations shall at all times maintain their race tracks in good condition and with a special consideration for the comfort and safety of the public, of the horses stabled, exercising or entered to race thereat, and of all those whose business requires their attendance thereat; and to this end shall have available adequate and proper implements to maintain a uniform track, weather conditions permitting.

Every racing association shall provide in a convenient location at such association’s race track, for use during its current meeting, a receiving barn with adequate stable room and facilities, including hot and cold water and ample stall bedding. Such barn shall be at all times maintained in a clean and sanitary condition by an adequate force of attendants employed by the association, and each stall shall be thoroughly disinfected after each occupancy.

Racing associations shall install at their tracks and maintain floodlights to provide adequate illumination of the stable areas at night and such patrol system as may be approved by the commission.

Racing associations shall install at the finish lines at their tracks and shall adequately maintain two photo finish cameras, to be approved by the commission, holding one such camera in reserve for emergencies, to automatically photograph the finish of races. The official photographer shall furnish promptly to the steward of the commission two prints of every photo finish, and the steward shall keep a permanent file of all such prints and the negatives or digital images thereof.

Corporations or associations licensed or enfranchised to conduct pari-mutuel racing shall at all times during races furnish and maintain at their tracks the necessary cameras and equipment, as approved and directed by the commission, to produce motion pictures or videotape recordings of every race from start to finish thereof. The films of all such motion pictures shall be retained by the respective racing corporations or associations for a period of not less than 18 months, and shall at all times be available to the commission.

Racing associations shall install at their tracks and adequately maintain electric or mechanical annunciators for the purpose of displaying the numbers of the placed horses at the conclusion of each race.

The erection of buildings, seating stands or other structures on the grounds of any racing association and the alteration or the removal of any such structures shall be made only with the written approval of the commission and the issuance of a permit, after the filing with the commission of a description of such improvements, detailed plans of them and a detailed statement of their cost.

Racing associations shall furnish and maintain at least one human ambulance and at least one horse ambulance each day that their tracks may be open for racing or exercising horses, equipped, ready for immediate duty, and to be placed at an entrance to the racing strip so that no time may be lost in answering calls.

Each racing association shall have present an emergency medical technician in a designated place in the public area of the track for first aid and emergency needs during all times that the general public is admitted to the track. Each racing association shall also be equipped with an ambulance certified by the Department of Health and an attendant during all times that the general public is admitted to the track. Nothing in this section shall relieve any racing association of the duty to comply with any other statutory or regulatory requirements mandating emergency health care requirements at public functions.

Each racing association shall make such sanitary arrangements as baths, toilets, etc. for the use of jockeys, as may be reasonably required by the commission, to be conveniently located on the grounds.

Each racing association shall provide proper and well located boxes or pits for separately receiving stable manure and other refuse, situated well distant from living quarters, and such boxes and pits shall be emptied and their contents entirely removed from the premises of the association within a reasonable time.

Each racing association shall on every racing day provide and maintain in a strictly sanitary condition such adequate toilets and facilities for furnishing drinking water for its patrons and persons having business at the track as may be reasonably required by the commission.

Racing associations shall make no charge of stall rental during the conduct of a race meeting at their premises, except in the case of leases or other contracts relating to special facilities for stabling, and such leased or contracted facilities shall be made available to horsemen whenever they are not occupied by the tenant, upon reasonable notice to the tenant.

Each racing association shall provide and maintain one unit of adequate starting gates on every race day of its meeting and every day during the racing season on which it permits the exercising of horses on its racing strip; and an additional reserve unit of such starting gates shall be provided and maintained on every race day. The association shall use every reasonable endeavor to have in attendance, whenever the gates are in use, one or more persons skilled and qualified to keep the gates in good working order and shall also provide for such periodical inspections of the gates as may be reasonably required by the commission.

Racing associations shall make prompt written acknowledgment of stakes nominations and subscriptions.

Racing associations shall institute and diligently maintain a system of horse identification and physical examination.

Each racing association or corporation shall publish an official racing program that shall denote the use of furosemide for the programmed race and at least the six most recent purse races in the following manner:

Racing associations shall exclude from the paddock, in the interest of public safety, all those persons who have no immediate business with the horses entered except the members of the commission, the commission’s staff and special representatives, and those having special permission from the association.

Stands for judges, timers and stewards shall be maintained in positions commanding an uninterrupted view of the entire racing strip and shall be subject to approval by the commission.

All devices pertaining to racing that are used on race tracks must be approved in writing by the commission before installation and shall not be removed except with the written consent of the commission.

Post time of the first race at each meeting must be approved in writing by the chair of the commission.

Each racing association conducting a race meeting shall supply daily to the commission a report of the purse distribution and such other data as may be required by the commission. The blank forms for this purpose will be supplied by the commission.

All persons found making book on the races at any track shall be barred by the track operator from the grounds of the race track for not less than the duration of the meeting, and a memorandum of the matter forthwith transmitted to the commission and to the district attorney of the county in which the offense has been committed.

No person who is known or reputed to be a bookmaker within the meaning of the statutes of the State of New York, or a fugitive from justice, or whose conduct at a race track in New York or elsewhere is or has been improper, obnoxious, unbecoming or detrimental to the best interests of racing, shall enter or remain upon the premises of any licensed association conducting a race meeting under the jurisdiction of the commission; and all such persons shall upon discovery or recognition be forthwith ejected.

Racing associations shall promptly give to the commission and to the State Tax Department such information in writing as either may request from time to time and shall freely and fully cooperate with them in every way.

The commission shall fix, within the limitations prescribed by law, the prices of admission to race tracks and to special enclosures and reserved spaces therein.

Any person going upon the racing strip or any part thereof or into the winners' enclosure, at any time between 15 minutes before post time of the first race and 15 minutes after the finish of the last race on the day's program without the permission of the stewards, shall be ejected promptly from the premises of the association.

Documentation submitted by the applicant must conclusively prove both subparagraphs (i) and (ii) of this paragraph before the applicant may become the qualified recipient organization.

Disputes between a regional corporation and a track with respect to the purposes or objectives set forth in section 518 of the Racing, Pari-Mutuel Wagering and Breeding Law shall be submitted in writing to the commission for determination. The commission may make a determination based on the submissions or may hold a hearing on the matter. The commission's determination shall be final. Failure to comply with the commission's determination by any party shall subject the person or persons responsible therefor to disciplinary action.

Each racing association, that conducts racing at more than one track shall provide a workout coordinator at each of such training facility's entrances or a sufficient number of workout coordinators, as determined by the commission, after a hearing pursuant to the State Administrative Procedure Act to assist in identifying each horse entering each training facility at such racing association for the purpose of engaging in a workout. No trainer shall permit a horse in his or her charge to be taken to any such facility for a workout except during hours designated by the association. A trainer desiring to engage a horse in a workout shall, prior to such workout, cause the following to be specified to a workout coordinator: the name of the horse, the distance the horse will workout and at what point on the facility the workout is intended to begin. Each workout coordinator shall report to the stewards the name of any trainer who fails to furnish such workout information.

Each racing association, that maintains a website on the Internet, shall post on such association’s home page a message designed to assist compulsive gamblers. Such posting shall include, but not be limited to a notice of the availability of one or more organizations approved by the Commissioner of Mental Health, pursuant to the provisions of the Mental Hygiene Law, which offer assistance in dealing with problem of compulsive gambling.