BF: Belmont is an issue, too, and particularly if you close
Aqueduct. With a track that is too big for its own good,
do you take a wrecking ball to it and start all over?

The future of the New York Racing Association is now
in the hands of Chris Kay, its newly named CEO andPresident. Kay will face many challenges in the years
ahead as he tries to plot a course that will lead theracing organization on a successful path. He sat downwith Bill Finley for an interview on Sirius/XM=s Down
the Stretch. That interview, where Kay discussed hisnew job, its challenges and his thoughts on thedirection he would like to see NYRA go, appears below.
BF: Much has been made of your lack of experience
when it comes to working in horse racing? Can you
take your Aoutsider@ status and turn it into a positive?
CK: I certainly
hope to andintend to. There
are some people
that havedeveloped a great
deal of animosity
toward others;
there's been some
Christopher Kay
NYRA photoscar tissue thathas developed. Hopefully, I can come in without thatkind of history. I have a track record at looking atthings objectively and finding common ground withvarious folks to try to create a solution that works foreverybody and I hope that I can do that here.
BF: Based on your background handling land
privatization issues, it's not hard to conclude that oneof the reasons you were hired was because someone
has to deal with the future of Aqueduct. Does it makesense to continue racing there?
CK: We definitely need to look at that question. It'spart of an overall strategic look at what makes themost sense in order for NYRA to be successful for
decades to come as a result of this reprivitization effort
and it includes looking at all three tracks, starting withwhat are we doing well, what can we be doing better,
do we keep Aqueduct and Belmont or do we keep one
and not the other? And if we keep one and not theother, what kind of changes do we make to the onethat would then be responsible for the races now being
held at the other site? That will be part of our process.
We will also be looking at what kind of revenue streams
we have today and what kind of additional revenue
streams will we have for the future. We want to create
a new NYRA that will be successful, rather than justlimp along, after 2015.
CK: This is my first week on the job, so I don't want tosay I have a thought to do that. What I will tell you isthat we have a process and the process is to consider
everything and see what makes the most sense. Onething could be to leave Belmont the way it is. Then
you'd have to look at what your maintenance costs are.
If Belmont was to entertain winter racing, whatmodifications would have to take place and how muchwould that cost? Or if you were to have a totallydifferent facility, how much would that cost and thenwhere would you get the money to do any of thosethings? Here in New York, we're going to build a newbridge to cross the Hudson River to replace the Tappan
Zee Bridge. The Tappan Zee Bridge has such annual
maintenance costs it makes it difficult to do the mathto have it work going forward. I am going to look to see
what we have in annual maintenance costs at all threeof our tracks, what needs to be done to maintain andimprove some of those facilities and then make adecision and recommendation as to what makes themost sense. Having said all that, these are not going to
be decisions and recommendations I make in a vacuum.
I am going to work with a variety of different
stakeholders, including the state of New York, to comeup with the right solution. I am going to talk tohorsemen and a wide variety of personnel in ourorganization and supporters throughout the horse
racing community and get their input before making arecommendation.
BF: Unlike the private businesses that you have worked
in, NYRA constantly has to deal with government
intrusion and roadblocks. How do you deal with those
impediments?
CK: You could look at this as a challenge or anopportunity. I look at this as an opportunity. Precisely
because I am from a different type of background it is
my hope and belief that I will be able to work in adifferent way and, hopefully, in a more productive andeffective way with some of the folks in government
than what has existed in the past.
BF: Because you don't have a strong background in
racing and, because you may not necessarily be dealing
with the day-to-day operational aspects of thebusiness, many believe it would benefit NYRA to hire a
top executive as your right-hand man, someone who
has run a racetrack before? Might we see you hire sucha person?
CK: I've always believed you succeed as a team, so to
be able to have people with great strengths in a given
area helps make the team stronger. So I am surely
going to be looking at that. In fairness, this is my firstweek on the job, so I am making sure I get to meet all
the people who are here now, understand what theydo, evaluate their strengths and weaknesses.

Clearly, the opportunity to bring in someone that hasthat kind of racing background could be very beneficial
for NYRA and is probably something I will be looking at.
First, I want to get to know my team that I have heretoday.
BF: Since you were not well-known in horse racing, you
could have been a perfect "Undercover Boss." Haveyou experienced racing lately at a NYRA track as acustomer?
CK: My wife and I have been out to Belmont severaltimes. We have a newsletter starting this week where I
said 'this is our inaugural newsletter, I am pleased tocommunicate this way and this is a way for me tointroduce myself and for you to introduce yourself tome. But in one sense I already know who you arebecause I have been coming as a patron.' I always
thought it would be fun to have a gig where you get tobe the undercover boss.
BF: One of the great challenges for any racing
executive is to get people to come to the track andwhen they to get them to come back. Do you have anyideas on how to make that happen?
CK: That's one of the things I am most excited aboutfacing. I have some ideas based on the experiences I
had at Universal. Universal Studios is a wonderful guest
experience. Its CEO Tom Williams is the top in thecountry and there are some ideas I have from myexperience there and also from my experience at Toys
"R" Us that I want to pursue. I also think people within
NYRA have some of the same ideas and I want to givethem an opportunity and forum to suggest them. Wewill look at them, test them and vet them and,hopefully, we will implement several that will bringpeople to the track and have them come back again andagain.
BF: You're getting a quick education in the horse racing
business. What are the things you still have to learn?
CK: They fall into a couple of different categories. The
first is strategic. To what extent do people have theirmind made up or have well-defined ideas of what they
think our new NYRA should look like after 2015? Somepeople may have ideas that it must have XYZ andothers may say if you have ABC it is a deal killer. Onthe operations side, we have a very good team in place.
We did a great job with the Belmont. I have spent sometime with eight, nine different trainers and they werevery complimentary about what we do at Belmont andSaratoga. I want to learn a little more about theoperation. I know some of it right now, but want tolearn more. I also want to learn more about how to be
most effective for our horsemen and how can we do itin a way that can also enrich the experience for ourfans. The strategic and the operational, those are thetwo areas where I am going to devote my time initially.
But frankly, as a businessperson, we have to also to
say how does this work financially? We have to be able
to generate more revenue than we spend or else we
don't have much of a future.