New York’s chief racing regulator John Sabini says the debate over synthetic versus dirt tracks is no longer an issue in his state.

“I don’t see this happening any time soon in New York, if at all,” Sabini said. “NYRA [the New York Racing Association] has expressed a dislike for synthetic surfaces. Finger Lakes doesn’t have one. I think the debate has basically been adjourned until there’s good evidence one way or the other. Results have been inconclusive.”

Recently, Santa Anita Park in California announced plans to remove its synthetic Pro-Ride surface because of ongoing drainage problem. Del Mar has decided to keep its synthetic Polytrack surface.

“I think the debate [on synthetics] has been adjourned,” Sabini said.

The newly installed board of directors of the California Thoroughbred Trainers will seek to replace the state’s synthetic racetrack surfaces with natural surfaces.

In a statement, the board said the position is based on a recent poll of the membership. Santa Anita Park announced last week that the track’s Pro-Ride synthetic surface would be pulled out at the end of the current meet and possibly replaced with dirt.

The divisive issue of synthetic surfaces led some Southern California-based trainers to seek to decertify the California Thoroughbreds Trainers (CTT) last fall as the official representative of trainers in the state.

An offshoot group decided to pull back when the CTT agreed to hold a special election to replace its current board.

In the new board’s first meeting on Wednesday, the board elected John Sadler as president and Darrell Vienna and Gloria Haley as vice presidents.

Vienna spearheaded the creation of the offshoot group, which called itself California Horsemen for Change. Vienna has been an outspoken critic of the synthetic surfaces that were installed at major racetracks in the state to adhere with a mandate from the California Horse Racing Board.

Sadler served as president of the CTT previously, until the board asked him to take a leave of absence in September 2008 after 18 of his horses tested positive for steroid violations that summer.

In July 2009, Ed Halpern announced he would resign as the CTT’s executive director, effective at the start of 2010. The board said Halpern has offered to provide assistance without compensation in the transition period.

On Wednesday, the board authorized the solicitation of applications for the position.

Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots will reduce purses of overnight races by 9%, effective Jan. 31, and trim the value of 12 stakes.

“Our gaming and pari-mutuel businesses have been slower than anticipated through the first half of the season and there has been less revenue generated for purses,” said Fair Grounds vice president and general manager Eric Halstrom. “The economic downturn across the country as well as the all-time record rainfall in December in New Orleans has negatively affected our business, and we were left with no choice but to take this action. While we’re disappointed, we’re proud to know that the quality of racing at Fair Grounds has never been better.”

Fair Grounds purses remain among the richest in the country, comparing favorably to all of its chief competitors. Even with the ensuing reduction in purses, Fair Grounds purse levels are above or equal to those of other southern racetracks with which Fair Grounds competes for horses. 

The reduction in overnight purses will only be in effect for the final 34 days of the 85-day meet.

A Republican state lawmaker has unveiled a constitutional amendment that would legalize betting on horse racing in Georgia.

State Rep. Henry Geisinger said Jan. 26 that the proposal would bring in badly-needed revenue to the state.

Geisinger, a Roswell Republican, is gathering co-sponsors for the bill. It would need to be passed with a two-thirds vote in the House and the Senate. It would then need to receive approval from Georgia voters at the ballot box in November.

Geisinger is chairman of the special equine study committee.

The proposal is expected to draw opposition from social conservatives in the state who generally don’t like gambling.

New York City Off-Track Betting Corp. officials on Jan. 25 moved another step nearer to shutting down with approval of letters to employees giving them the legally required notice of a March 30 closure.

“I want to be hopeful that it can be done,’’ NYCOTB Chairman Meyer Frucher told board members of a move to prevent the shutdown if state officials approve a reorganization plan that includes a controversial change in the formula on how the OTB’s revenues are shared with tracks, the state and local governments.

The OTB filed for Chapter 9 bankruptcy protection in December, citing the same sorts of financial complaints about the entity that New York City voiced when it unloaded the NYCOTB onto the state in 2008.

The OTB wants to reduce its staff, close parlors while constructing new entertainment centers in each of the five boroughs. Its most controversial plan, though, is to change the way its proceeds are distributed from its gross revenues to net revenues. Tracks, including the New York Racing Association, have complained that the formula change would result in a sharp drop-off in revenue-sharing.

“For us, gross-to-net is an absolute necessity,’’ Frucher said at the board meeting.

TrackNet Media Group and the MidAtlantic Cooperative announced Jan. 22 that they have reached an agreement with MidAtlantic members of the simulcast signals of racetracks affiliated with TrackNet, ending a dispute that disrupted simulcast wagering at several racetracks and off-track betting outlets. 

Live racing for Jan. 22 at Santa Anita has been canceled due to continued wet conditions, but officials are optimistic that with a dry forecast in store for the weekend, racing will resume on the following day.

With six to eight inches of rain expected in the next 24 hours, Santa Anita officials announced that live racing for Jan. 21 would be cancelled.

In one of the most highly anticipated announcements in Thoroughbred racing history, Rachel Alexandra was named 2009 Horse of the Year at the Eclipse Awards Jan. 18 in Beverly Hills, Calif.

The final tally of first-place votes was 130 for Rachel Alexandra and 99 for Zenyatta. Voting was conducted by members of the National Turf Writers Association, the Daily Racing Form, and the NTRA

Environmental regulators have cited the New York Racing Association for pollution violations, including dumping manure from the Belmont Park track into Jamaica Bay.

The Times Union of Albany reports Monday that state records show 14 citations that could cost the state’s thoroughbred racing operator hundreds of thousands of dollars at a time it says its finances are shaky. Nine of the violations involve Belmont, two Saratoga and one Aqueduct.

One of the Belmont citations was based on records showing manure, wastewater and other pollutants were pumped into the bay through the Nassau County storm drain system.

NYRA declined to comment.