After last-minute questions were raised about whether the proposal could be harmful to equine safety in some cases, New York regulators punted May 20 on a plan to finalize rule changes backers said would expand the number of owners eligible to claim Thoroughbred race horses.

The members of the New York State Gaming Commission deferred expected approval of a series of changes to claiming rules after board member John Crotty wondered aloud whether the proposal was “walking back” certain claiming rules approved 10 years ago by the state intended, in part, to improve equine safety during the claiming process.

“It seemed like we took those steps for safety,” Crotty said of the actions a decade ago by the board that regulates the horse racing industry in New York State.

Board chair Brian O’Dwyer quickly pulled the item from the commission’s agenda May 20, saying the board will await clarification from Dr. Scott Palmer, the state’s equine medical director.

The claiming changes were given preliminary approval last year by the board and then sent out in February for public comment. The New York Racing Association and a horse owner submitted comments in support of the changes.

The proposal featured a number of changes, including reducing from 30 days to 20 days the restriction against running a claimed horse again for a claiming price less than 25% greater than the claiming price. It allowed owners who have raced within 120 days on a circuit to be a claimant and extended from 30 days to 60 days the prohibition against running a claimed horse outside New York State, with the exception of horses claimed at Finger Lakes Gaming & Race Track.

In the rule proposed for public comment earlier this year about the plan to reduce the number of days before an owner can race a claimed race from 30 to 20 days, the commission noted that horses generally run on a 28-day schedule.

“Under current regulations, a claimant who wants to start a horse again in the same class may be effectively forced to wait 56 days from the date of the claim. The position has been advanced that such a period is unnecessarily long and causes issues for owners, trainers and the racetrack, which seeks to fill competitive races,” the agency wrote in promoting the rule that was printed this winter in the New York State Register that kicked off a public comment period.

The state commission Monday also approved plans previously given preliminary approval for Pick 5 and Pick 6 betting programs at Thoroughbred tracks.

In a portion of the meeting not on the pre-published agenda, O’Dwyer, the chairman, said the agency is working on legislation regarding retired racehorses “that have done their job” to make sure “they’re taken care of in their golden years away from racing.” He did not elaborate and did not say if the legislation would be considered by state lawmakers before they end their 2024 session June 6.

Also without elaborating, O’Dwyer said the agency is working with the state agriculture department to bolster existing laws banning the sale of race horses to foreign slaughter houses.

“We are working on a way of policing this a lot better than in the past,” he said of the issue for which he promised his colleagues more details at the board’s next meeting sometime this summer. He said there are discussions of “every single horse auction” held in New York State being attended by an employee of “one of three agencies.” He did not name the agencies.