A year after the idea died during state government budget talks, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul is proposing to invest state funds in a Thoroughbred safety initiative adjacent to Belmont Park.
In a document accompanying her State of the State address Jan. 14 in Albany, N.Y., Hochul, a Democrat, said her upcoming state budget plan will propose that "New York State will invest" in advanced imaging equipment "to allow the Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine's Ruffian Equine Specialists ... to better study the fetlock joint and develop a screening protocol to advance the field of thoroughbred injury detection."
No details were released in the typically vague State of the State by Hochul; more information will come when she unveils her 2025 state budget plan, expected next week, that must lay out specifics about any of her spending initiatives.
Hochul did not mention the idea in her Tuesday speech, but the plan—noted in just one paragraph in a longer written message to the legislature—said it is designed to "combat breakdowns in thoroughbred racing."
The New York State Gaming Commission, an agency under Hochul's control with state jurisdiction over the racing industry, said Wednesday that specifics of the idea will be released soon when Hochul makes public her budget plan.
Uncertain is where Hochul envisions the funding coming from for the expanded screening of Thoroughbred racehorses.
Last year, the State Assembly, led by Democrats, made a late play to include funding for advanced imaging program at the Ruffian facility. That plan called for creation of a partnership between the New York Racing Association and Cornell's veterinary medicine school, which runs the equine hospital in Elmont, N.Y.
Under that 2024 proposal, NYRA was to provide $2 million in grant money to Cornell to purchased advanced equipment. It also sought to slap a state tax hike on large advance-deposit wagering companies to raise money to pay for annual operating costs for staff and the devices.
The plan died in state budget talks, however, failing to attract support in the Senate, also run by Democrats, and Hochul. State sources last spring said more information was needed from Cornell before the idea could proceed with state support.
The measure was most strongly pushed in the legislature last year by Assemblyman Gary Pretlow, a Westchester County Democrat. For years, he chaired the Assembly's Racing and Wagering Committee. Last week, Pretlow was tapped to chair the Assembly's Ways and Means Committee, which gives him far greater influence in the creation of a final state budget than he had last year. The Assembly's Racing and Wagering Committee's new chair is Carrie Woerner, a Democrat whose district includes Saratoga County.
NYRA strongly backed the advanced imaging plan last year. Besides the $2 million grant from NYRA, the Assembly's 2024 plan envisioned $1.8 million in annual tax proceeds from the higher tax on the most profitable advanced deposit companies doing business in New York.
The advanced imaging technology has been gaining support from the Thoroughbred industry across the country as a way, in part, to identify health problems in horses before they become major ones. Last spring, officials envisioned the funds at the Belmont-area equine hospital going for equipment purchases like positron emission tomography and computerized tomography scanners.
On Wednesday, NYRA again signaled its support for the expanded screening services at Elmont equine hospital.
"NYRA believes that expanding access to the most advanced imaging technology will enhance equine safety and improve scientific research around thoroughbreds in training, which is why we have long supported these types of initiatives,'' NYRA spokesman Patrick McKenna said.
Hochul's State of the State and upcoming budget plan will include thousands of small and big ideas for the state. The 50-word equine safety measure, under a section labeled "Supporting Agriculture," was the first formal step governors take laying out plans for lawmakers to consider in their annual session in Albany, which is set to end in June this year.
Since the plan has a fiscal implication, it means a decision on the Ruffian equipment and staffing expansion would come in upcoming state budget talks for the fiscal year beginning April 1.
