NYRA and jockeys have 'productive' meeting to resolve issues at Aqueduct

The New York Racing Association and the Jockeys' Guild had a "productive" meeting on Monday and it appears that the parties have moved past Sunday's jockey-led protest that resulted in the cancellation of eight races at Aqueduct Racetrack.

Jockeys' Guild president and CEO Terry Meyocks said Monday's conference call lasted several hours and went through a “litany” of issues, but declined to disclose any specific resolutions.

“I think they understand our viewpoint, and we understand their viewpoint in what they want to try to do,” Meyocks told Newsday in a phone interview Tuesday. “And a lot of it's integrity, and we support it in transparency. We support that.”

Live racing is scheduled to return to Aqueduct on Thursday with an eight-race card beginning at 12:40 p.m.

“The meeting with the Jockeys’ Guild and its representatives was an important step forward, and NYRA was pleased to advance the dialogue around various issues raised by the jockeys on Sunday,” NYRA spokesperson Pat McKenna said in a statement to Newsday. “That said, NYRA has a core responsibility to protect the integrity of its racing operations for the betting public and racing participants.”

Sunday’s nine-race card went awry after the assistant clerk of scales “expressed reservations” about the added responsibility to include the written recording of weights following each race as a backup to the digital scale system, according to NYRA. The assistant clerk was replaced by a substitute before post time, which led to complaints from the jockeys — led by Kendrick Carmouche — after the conclusion of the first race.

NYRA said that the jockeys also raised “several unrelated issues” on Sunday, including a longstanding New York State Gaming Commission rule that prevents family and friends from accessing the jockey’s room. The jockeys ultimately decided “to abandon” the rest of Sunday’s program, NYRA said.

Meyocks said he previously had never heard of the practice of clerks manually recording weights in addition to digitally, a NYRA protocol that has been updated in recent weeks. He also said that family and friends not being allowed in the jockey’s room is “one of the top” grievances for the jockeys.

Jockeys can spend 8-to-10 hours together on a racing day, Meyocks said, and the dynamic of the room can become like a family. Jockeys' Guild co-chairman and jockey John Velazquez, who took part in the call on Monday, certainly can relate to the importance of keeping the room open.

“We don't spend a lot of time with our kids,” Velazquez told Newsday in a separate phone interview Tuesday. “We travel a lot. We spend a lot of hours in the jockey’s room. That's very important for me, if my son can come in with me and sit with me and have an ice pop. Those are things that are important to us.”

Could the rule eventually change to allow family into the jockey’s room?

“I believe so, yeah,” Velazquez said. “I think that's one of the things that we touched on. I think it's very productive. I can't tell you that it's going to happen because, I mean, this meeting happened (Monday), and we still have to discuss all the things.”

One of Meyocks’ main takeaways from Monday’s meeting is that the communication between the parties should be improved moving forward. The possibility of another protest does not seem to be in the cards, either.

“I sure would hope not . . . New York racing is very important to all of us," Meyocks said. "We don’t want to do anything to hurt it. We don't want to do anything to hurt the owners, the horsemen, the betting public, and we want to move forward. (Monday) was a productive call.”

By Ben Dickson

benjamin.dickson@newsday.com@bendickson__

Ben Dickson is Newsday Sports' general assignment reporter. He joined Newsday’s high school sports staff in 2023 after graduating from Maryland, where he covered several of the Terrapins' teams.