ALBANY, N.Y. (CN) — A pair of New York taxpayers filed a lawsuit in state Supreme Court on Thursday seeking to block New York’s $455 million loan to the New York Racing Association that would be used to renovate the 118-year-old Belmont Park thoroughbred racetrack.
The Elmont, New York racetrack, which sits on the border of Nassau and Queens counties, hosts the Belmont Stakes, the third and final leg of the Triple Crown series.
"No responsible private lender would make such a staggering loan to NYRA,” the 17-page complaint states, asserting that the approved $455 million loan, proposed by Governor Kathy Hochul and passed by the state Legislature, is in contravention of the New York State Constitution’s prohibition against giving or loaning state funds to any private corporation.
In addition to Hochul and the state of New York, the complaint names as defendants: the New York State Assembly, the New York State Senate, the Office of the New York State Comptroller and Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli.
The plaintiffs say New York Racing Association’s “troubled financial past” — and impending dissolution in ten years — makes it a bad bet for such a “staggering” loan.
A spokesperson for the racing association called the lawsuit "ridiculous" and said it is "a meritless attack on a sport that supports New York families in every corner of the state.”
“The construction of a new Belmont Park will create thousands of jobs, generate billions in economic activity and secure the future of thoroughbred racing in New York State," the organization said in a statement on Friday morning. "Governor Hochul and both houses of the legislature recognize the importance of this transformational project to both Long Island and New York State, and that’s exactly why the project was included in the FY2024 budget."
The $455 million loan, would be used to renovate Belmont Park for the first time in half a century, including modernizing and upgrading its antiquated grandstand and clubhouse, even as attendance at the racetrack has drastically collapsed.
According to the complaint, Belmont Park’s attendance has dropped by “an astounding 88%” since 1978, from 12.6 million in attendance in 1978 to 1.5 million in attendance in 2019, the last year before the Covid-19 pandemic.
“Over the same period, taxes paid to the State of New York flowing from wagers on NYRA races fell by 90%, from $80.3 million in 1970 to $8.2 million in 2019,” the complaint states.
The New York horse racing organization’s strained finances are no surprise, the complaint says, because “it operates in a moribund industry that has seen 41 long-established racetracks shut down in the United States since 2000.”
The lawsuit, announced Thursday afternoon by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, the world’s largest animal rights organization, says that the allocation of nearly half a billion dollars approved in this year’s state budget represents “an illegal and unconstitutional expenditure, misappropriation, misapplication, or disbursement of state funds that violates … the New York state Constitution.”
According to the animal rights group, Belmont Park is also one of the deadliest tracks in the United States. By PETA’s count,more than 300 horses died at the mile-and-a-half “Big Sandy” race track between 2014 and 2021.
A NYRA spokesperson told Courthouse News: "Organizations like PETA are philosophically opposed to horse racing and make no secret of their desire to end the sport.“
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