Carrie Woerner: Horse racing is key to economy & public loves it; ‘small minority’ seeks to ban it

By Mark Frost, Chronicle Editor

Assembly Member Carrie Woerner was in Glens Falls Monday with State Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie. The Chronicle took the opportunity to ask her thoughts on the push by some to ban horse racing.

“I think the forces in opposition of horse racing are really a small minority of people who are calling for the ban.” said Assemblymember Woerner.

“When we look at the number of people who make their living in horse racing, the number of fans who are coming to Saratoga every summer — I was just out at the harness track in Saratoga last evening, and they’re reporting increased fans in the stands — it’s a sport that people in New York really enjoy.

“It drives tourism, it supports agriculture. And the economic benefits are significant.”

The Assembly member acknowledged some of the challenges it raises, “like how do we keep the equine athletes safe? How do we reduce the instances of doping?

“All of those are legitimate questions that should be asked. And I think the industry is prepared to to work on those — and has been — and where they’re not the regulators are stepping in.

“But I think the calls to ban it outright, is really coming from very small minority of people.”

Is she concerned about the number of horse deaths?

“I don’t want to lose any athlete,” Assemblymember Woerner said. “And I think we need to continue to always look at what are the root causes of it, because it’s not the same.

“Each of the equine deaths, it stems from a different source. So we have to do the forensics on it, understand why it’s happening, try to address the root causes, whether that’s safety protocols on the track, whether it’s the age of the horse, whether it’s the conditioning of the horse…we have to continue to try and address that.

“And I know that NYRA [New York Racing Association] has worked on track surface to try and make that safer. They’ve worked on the rails. They could give you a much more complete explanation of why the rails are a key part of the safety protocols. But they’ve done that.

“Like I said, every equine death is sad and tragic. We’re seeing fewer this year than we did prior years, because, I think, of the work that they’ve done.

“And I would just encourage that they have to continue to do that work. And like I said, if the people who run the sport are not doing that, then regulators will step into it.”

The Chronicle told Assemblymember Woerner the wide range of responses we received the past two weeks to our Q&A Should horse racing be banned?

“I think they raise legitimate issues,” Ms. Woerner said of horse racing’s critics.

“How are we keeping the horses safe? Do we have the right protocols in place? Are the track surfaces appropriate? Those are important questions to ask. And it’s important that the sport be engaged in answering those questions and addressing the issues.

“I think that’s part of the role of the advocates, is to tee up these issues and do it in a way that creates enough pressure that the industry feels it must respond.”

Copyright © 2023 Lone Oak Publishing Co., Inc. All Rights Reserved