Video: NYRA apologizes for distance error in Saratoga finale

The New York Racing Association apologized Sunday after the final race on Saturday’s card was run at the wrong distance at Saratoga. Bettors were left holding the bag for the mistake that was not caught before the results were declared official.

“The stewards are responsible for overseeing the integrity of every race here on the NYRA circuit,” steward Víctor Escobar said in a written statement from NYRA on Sunday afternoon. “We would like to apologize to the betting public, fans and racing participants for failing to meet those standards on Saturday.”

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Escobar, fellow steward Cody Watkins and NYRA senior vice president Andrew Offerman repeated apologies and offered explanations on a two-minute YouTube video that was posted after the Sunday card was finished. They took no questions from host Andy Serling after offering their statements one at a time.

“We acknowledge that the gate placement is the responsibility of many racing officials on the racecourse throughout the day,” Escobar said in the video. “We as stewards ultimately hold ourselves responsible for the integrity of the running of the race and all race-day operations, and in regard to this matter we ultimately hold ourselves responsible for failing to recognize that the gate was placed in the incorrect place.”

In the earlier written statement, spokesperson Pat McKenna said NYRA staff met with the stewards to figure out what why the 1 1/8-mile turf race was run over 1 1/16 miles instead.

“Human error caused the gate to be placed in the incorrect position,” the statement said. “NYRA has implemented measures to ensure that racing officials and stewards proactively acknowledge and verify the correct gate placement prior to the start of every race.”

Much the same thing was said after a mistake in a program diagram was blamed for a May 27, 2024, maiden race at Aqueduct being run at five furlongs instead of the intended 5 1/2 furlongs.

“NYRA will review its protocols to ensure this scenario does not present itself again,” McKenna said at the time.

In this case, specific steps were put into immediate effect Sunday.

“There are multiple officials that failed during this instance,” said Offerman, who is in charge of racing operations. “There’s eight separate accredited racing officials that are accredited through (the Racing Officials Accreditation Program) in addition to all the other participants, upwards of 25 people. We have started effective (Sunday) changing the way that we communicate those protocols to our team, and that’s something that we’re going to continue to evolve over the next couple of dark days to make sure that we’re in a much better place as we move forward through the rest of the meet and make sure that this doesn’t happen again.”

Although Offerman offered no further details, BloodHorse reported that head starter Scott Jordan and the stewards were required starting Sunday to talk to one another before the gate location was considered correct for each race. BloodHorse’s Bob Ehalt also reported that better markers soon will be put at every possible point around the track where the gate is supposed to be placed.

Offerman did not say whether anyone was suspended or fired for their role in the mistake.

NYRA’s statement Sunday explained that “the temporary rail was set at 18 feet on the (outer) turf course which dictates an alternate starting location to accommodate for the change in distance around the circumference of the inner rail of the track. However, the gate was incorrectly placed at the starting location for a 1 1/16-mile race.”

David Grening of Daily Racing Form was first to publicly spot the error, posting on X about 15 minutes after the race.

“We do apologize to all connections and the betting public for what happened yesterday,” Watkins said on the YouTube video. “As stewards we fell well below our expectations and what we expect from ourselves, and we’ll assure that protocols going forward that this won’t happen under our watch.”

New York State Gaming Commission rules say the possibility of refunds ended with the race being declared official.

“When a result is official, that word shall be flashed on the result board and shall signify that the placing of the horse is final insofar as the payoff is concerned,” rule 4008.1 says. “If any change be made in the order of finish of a race after the result is so declared official, it shall not affect the payoff.”

If stewards discovered the error before or even during the race, they could have called for refunds.

“The stewards shall have the authority to declare a race void and to order all wagers made thereon refunded if they shall determine that any occurrence before or during the running of such race calls for such action by them,” rule 4035.5 says.

The race winner Fidelightcayut (4-1) and runner-up Terminal Velocity (10-1) ran on the front end en route to finishing three-quarters of a length apart. Charles J (5-1) closed from eighth to finish third, missing second by a nose and probably because of the error. Post-time favorite Amplitude (8-5) raced evenly down the stretch and came in fourth, another three-quarters behind in the $95,000 race that had 10 horses. The conditions limited the race to New York-bred 3-year-olds and up who never won $20,000 other than maiden, claiming or starter race or who never have won two races.

During the race, track announcer Frank Mirahmadi said, “26 flat is the opening quarter?” in a questioning tone when the first split of 26.14 seconds appeared. He did not mention the half-mile fraction of 50.38 seconds. A time of 1:23.97 appeared on the screen as the field reached the eighth pole, apparently seven furlongs after the start. It was a minute after the race when the obviously wrong winning time of 2:41.11 was posted.

“Split times and the final time have been omitted (from the chart) pending video review, and the points of call have been corrected to reflect a mile-and-one-sixteenth race,” Equibase wrote.

A hand-timed video review by Horse Racing Nation showed the 1 1/16 miles were run in 1:43.68 factoring in what eventually was said to be a 135-foot run-up with the rail at 18 feet.

The error came seven years and one day after the same thing happened on the same course. The fifth race, which was for 2-year-old maidens on Aug. 8, 2018, “was scheduled for one mile and one sixteenth but was run at one mile and one furlong due to the gate being placed in the wrong location,” Equibase wrote.

Including the Belmont Stakes and Fourth of July racing festivals, only four races actually have been run at 1 1/8 miles this year on Saratoga’s outer turf. This would have been the first time since July 25 and the third during the summer meet.

Jordan and his crew are responsible for the placement of the gate. Escobar, Watkins and fellow steward Braulio Baeza Jr. are empowered with making sure races meet their written conditions before they are declared official. Jordan and Baeza made no public statements about the error.

State regulations 4039.17 and 4039.18 say, “An objection to the distance of a course officially designated must be made not less than 15 minutes before the race. An objection to ... the race having been run on a wrong course or of any other matter occurring in the race must be made before the numbers of the horses placed in the race are confirmed officially.”