**The complete 2010 Belmont and Aqueduct fall stakes schedules are attached to this email **

Monday, July 26, 2010

Contact: Dan Silver

dsilver@nyrainc.com

NYRA ANNOUNCES BELMONT AND AQUEDUCT FALL STAKES SCHEDULES

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – The New York Racing Association, Inc. (NYRA) has announced the stakes programs for the 2010 Belmont Fall Championship Meet and the 2010 Aqueduct Fall Meet, featuring more than 30 graded stakes races and nearly $9 million in purses.

The Belmont meet begins on Saturday, September 11 and runs through Sunday, October 31, with 37 days of scheduled live racing. The marquee afternoon of racing falls on Saturday, October 2, with five prestigious Grade One races – the Jockey Club Gold Cup, Joe Hirsch Turf Classic, Flower Bowl, Beldame, and Vosburgh.

Other Grade One races during the Belmont meet are the Garden City on Saturday, September 28, and three on Saturday, October 9 – the Champagne, Frizette, and Jamaica.

Belmont also hosts New York Showcase Day on Saturday, October 23, which includes seven stakes races for New York-bred horses totaling $900,000 in purses and featuring a day of great activities for the entire family to enjoy.

There are also five Breeders’ Cup Challenge races during the Belmont Fall Championship Meet, comprising the Gallant Bloom on Saturday, September 25, the Pilgrim and Miss Grillo on Sunday, October 3, and the aforementioned Champagne and Frizette. The winners of those races will earn automatic entry into the corresponding Breeders’ Cup races.

One notable surface change for the Belmont meet is that the Grade 2 Kelso on Sunday, October 3, previously run on the turf, has been changed to a dirt race. Other changes include the following races being put on hiatus for the Belmont fall meet: the Matron, Futurity, Jerome, Lonesome Glory, Joseph Gimma, and Bertram Bongard. Those races are eligible to return in 2011 with the same graded status.

In addition, ten races – the Beldame, Joe Hirsch Turf Classic, Flower Bowl, Empire Classic, Vosburgh, Champagne, Frizette, Mohawk, Ticonderoga, and Garden City – underwent purse reductions.

The 2010 Aqueduct Fall meeting starts on Friday, November 5 and goes through New Year’s Eve, Friday December 31, with 36 live racing days scheduled.

The premier day of racing is on Saturday, November 27, featuring the Grade 1 Hill ‘n’ Dale Cigar Mile, the Grade 1 Gazelle, the Grade 2 Remsen, and the Grade 2 Demoiselle.

Three races – the New York Stallion Series Cormorant and Perfect Arc Divisions, and the Stuyvesant – were put on hiatus from the 2010 Aqueduct meet, while the Cigar Mile and Gazelle each underwent purse reductions.

“Our fall stakes programs rank among the tops in the industry and we are looking forward to great racing at Belmont Park and Aqueduct,” NYRA President and CEO Charles Hayward said. “The changes that we made to the meets are a reflection of the current economic climate and the nationwide reductions in the horse population.”

Founded in 1955, and franchised to run thoroughbred racing at New York’s three major tracks through 2033, NYRA boasts a lineage that actually stretches back almost 150 years. NYRA tracks are the cornerstone of the state’s thoroughbred business which contributes more than $2 billion annually to New York State’s urban, suburban and rural economy. In 2009, more than 1.6 million people attended the live races at NYRA tracks. Factoring nationwide off-track wagering, the average daily betting handle on NYRA races alone totals more than $9.3 million every race day. NYRA has a vast network of websites, including www.nyra.com, www.belmontstakes.com, and www.nyragroupsales.com. You can also follow NYRA on social media platforms Facebook, Flickr, Twitter, and YouTube.

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The order from state Supreme Court Judge Barry Kramer calls an immediate halt to the latest round of bidding in the never-ending competition to build a racino at Aqueduct. Gov. David Paterson had been talking up the fast-tracking of this round after the disastrous selection of AEG in January, which was followed in March by the consortium’s rejection in March.

A hearing in the matter is scheduled for July 23 in Schenectady.

AEG — now called Aqueduct Entertainment Company — requested the halt until its claims could get a full hearing. The central thrust of its legal argument is that Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver changed the rules at the end of the process by requesting that even marginal investors in the group had to receive a license from the Lottery Division. Several — including the well-connected Rev. Floyd Flake and the well-rapping Jay-Z — dropped out in the wake of the controversial selection, although Lottery required that they be subject to the process.

AEG’s case, however, is based on the idea that the bidding process had rules for breaking — a point that critics of the years-long nightmare might dispute.

Updated: Ken Lovett at the DN reports that since Lottery hasn’t been served with either the lawsuit or the judge’s order, the agency is proceeding ahead with the bidding process. Well, they might want to put on their best lawsuit-reception outfits, because attorney Daryl Davis is headed to the Capital Region with a stack of paper.

Reached en route, Davis said that the legal strategy was to hold off on serving the defendants until the judge had issued an order, or by the serving deadline of July 15. He’ll be stopping by the Attorney General’s office first — the AG would serve as presumptive counsel to Gov. David Paterson; also at the Capitol, Davis will be able to serve representatives of Senate Conference Leader John Sampson, Temporary President Malcolm Smith and Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver. Then it’s just a short drive to the Electric City to serve the Lottery Division.

Here’s a copy of the press release; the temporary restraining order itself begins on page 2 of the document below:

Doman Davis Press Release July 14. 2010-1

Here’s the press release from the firm of Doman Davis:

On Monday, July 12, 2010, New York Supreme Court Judge Barry D. Kramer ordered the New York State
Division of Lottery (Lottery) to cease “conducting the new bidding process for the development and
operation of the Aqueduct Racetrack video lottery terminals facility.” That order, which grants
temporary relief to Aqueduct Entertainment Company (AEC), will remain in effect pending a hearing
scheduled for July 23, 2010, at 9:30 a.m.

AEC, formerly known as Aqueduct Entertainment Group or AEG, sued Lottery, Governor David Paterson,
Senators Malcolm Smith and John Sampson, and Assemblyman Sheldon Silver on July 9, 2010, for
wrongfully denying AEC a video lottery gaming license and rescinding the Aqueduct racino contract
award. The lawsuit seeks injunctive and declaratory relief, including a halt to the new bid process and
restoration of AEC to the racino contract.

Daryl Davis, a partner at Doman Davis LLP, the law firm representing AEC, said “Judge Kramer’s ruling
gives AEC its first opportunity to publicly address Lottery’s peculiar decision. Lottery found AEC
‘unlicenseable’ for reasons that have no basis in the law.”

Latif Doman, of Doman Davis, added that “We’re delighted with the Court’s ruling because it’s the first
step in getting full relief for AEC and for the Queens community that desperately needs the jobs and
vending opportunities AEC’s winning bid promised.”

The case is before Judge Barry D. Kramer in the New York Supreme Court, County of Schenectady. The
case number is 46-1-2010-0979, index number 2010-1442.