ELMONT, N.Y. -- Two former New York Racing Association racing department employees testified Tuesday that they provided trainer Linda Rice information she should not have received prior to entries closing for races in which she was considering entering and that Rice gave them and other racing office employees monetary gifts. Jose Morales Jr., who worked in the NYRA racing office from 2008 through 2014, and Matt Salvato, who worked at NYRA from Sept. 2008 through Jan. 31, 2018, said they provided Rice by fax and later e-mail the past performances of horses who would be running in the same race that she might be considering entering in. This would be providing Rice with a competitive advantage over her colleagues, not privy to that same information. “If you help me, I can help you,” said Morales, recalling conversations with Rice. He later clarified he understood that to mean “if we could work together you would be properly taken care of.” Morales said there was never a specific agreement between himself and Rice about receiving money for this information, but he did it to help her out. “It’s not like here’s $2,000, give me this,” Morales said. “I just knew what I had to do to receive something.” Salvato testified that when Morales was not working, he asked him to assist Rice in providing information she needed before entries closed. Salvato testified that he did that. Salvato remembers taking money one time that was allegedly from Rice. “Jose was walking around with some envelopes in his hand full of cash. ‘Linda said thank you for your help this year,’ " Salvato recalled Morales saying. Morales and Salvato both testified on the first day of a hearing the New York State Gaming Commission is holding regarding whether to take action on Rice’s license for corrupt and improper acts and practices in relation to racing from on or about the 2011-12 Aqueduct meet through March 2015. Rice could have her license suspended or revoked and could also be fined. Both Morales and Salvato testified they did not provide past performances to other trainers prior to a race being drawn. Salvato rose through the ranks at NYRA from an intern to be named Aqueduct racing secretary in Nov. 2017. When he admitted to receiving money from Rice, Salvato was terminated by NYRA on Jan. 31, 2018. He no longer works in the racing industry. Salvato testified that he once returned an envelope full of money to Morales -- presumably from Rice -- after he saw another racing office employee, stakes coordinator Andrew Byrnes, refuse the money. Salvato also testified that he did not feel he was receiving payment for information. It was shown at the hearing that Rice also gave out monetary gifts to racing department employees and other NYRA employees after she won the 2009 Saratoga Race Course trainer’s title. Rice, racing’s most successful female trainer, sat silent next to her two attorneys during nearly seven hours of testimony held in the Belmont Room, on the second floor of Belmont Park. Morales said he began working closely with Rice after a horse of hers he hustled into a race did not run well. Hustling horses into races is known to be part of an entry clerk’s job, trying to increase field size for a race. But it is not permitted for a clerk to provide the names and past performances of other horses in the race. That fact was testified to by Martin Panza, NYRA’s senior vice president of racing operations, the first witness to testify on Tuesday. “Our office has been instructed you can’t give names of horses in the race,” said Panza, who joined NYRA in 2013. “You can say there’s not much speed in here, I think your horse will fit, or there’s a lot of speed in here I think your horse will fit.” Later, Panza testified having advance knowledge of who’s in a race before the race is drawn is a competitive advantage for a trainer. “When somebody can look at a race in advance and handicap it and have a decision should I go in there or not go on in there, what type of horse I should put in there, that is an attack on the integrity of the process,” Panza said. Panza said in the spring 2014 he became aware of people outside the racing department gaining access to NYRA’s InCompass computer system. He turned that information over to NYRA security and local police. Panza said he was not directly involved in the investigation of e-mails sent from Morales to Rice. He testified he was aware of “70-to-80 e-mails” that were being investigated by then-NYRA steward Braulio Baeza Jr. and the police. “I’ve seen a final report there were X amount of e-mails; in those e-mails X amount of horses were in the races and here’s the outcomes,” Panza said. “In general, if you can have information on a race in advance it’s a major advantage.” Morales had his license revoked for giving Mike Gonzalez, a jockey agent, access to his NYRA computer so that he could gain information to help get mounts for his rider, Eddie Castro. In 2016, Gonzalez was criminally charged by the Queens District Attorney with illegally accessing NYRA’s computer system 170 times over a 15-month period. The DA charged Gonzalez paid Morales and another NYRA employee, former clocker Steven Foster, $100 a month for that access. Morales, who said he was close friends with Gonzalez, said while Gonzalez paid him, it was not $100 every month. Gonzalez is serving a suspension of 10 years through Jan. 23, 2027. The Gaming Commission is expected to continue presenting its case on Wednesday. Rice will have her chance to present her defense on Nov. 17-18.