On July 1, Chris Kay marked his five-year anniversary as president and CEO of the New York Racing Association. A former executive at Toys R Us and Universal Studios, Kay helped NYRA get returned to private control, presided over two Triple Crown winners, and has seen Saratoga set records for all-sources handle. Kay, 65, recently sat down with Daily Racing Form’s David Grening to discuss the past five years and the future. DRF: In the five years since you’ve been at NYRA, we’ve seen two Triple Crown winners while Toys R Us has gone out of business since you left. Coincidence? Kay: It is a dramatic effect isn’t it? I’m very blessed. We’re all very blessed we’ve had two Triple Crown winners the last several years. As for Toys R Us, it’s really a shame because I think there’s a way that those fortunes could have been reversed back in 2008-09, but others were running the organization at the time and had a different strategy. I guess the overriding point is I’ve been blessed. I’ve had a wonderful career and thank the Lord for how I am here today. DRF: Any difference between the first Triple Crown in 2015 and this one? Kay: Certainly, the one in 2015 was an incredible moment. That wall of sound that engulfed us was something I’ll never forget. It was an incredible, emotional, and electrifying moment, but the same is true for Justify. Think about it, when you have your first child, it’s this incredible moment that you’ll never forget. It’s unique because you’ve never had one before. But when you have that second child, it’s an equally incredible moment that you’ll never forget, and I kind of feel the same way about those two Triple Crown events. DRF: What accomplishment or achievement are you most proud of in the last five years here? Kay: I think it’s a collective accomplishment by the men and women of the New York Racing Association. In 2013, we decided we were going to achieve three goals, and one of them was to improve the quality of racing and I salute the men and women of our organization, in particular the racing office, because that goal has been achieved. DRF: As far as putting NYRA on the right track to where you want to get to, what strides have you felt you’ve made in that regard? Kay: Number one, we have improved the quality of racing. As you know, most major sports have an opening day and a concluding event like the World Series or the Super Bowl that takes place over a 27-week or 28-week period. That’s not the case for NYRA. We go all year long. How do you tell people these are really the most important days of our year, please watch. That was the genesis for the must-see, big-event strategy, and it has worked beautifully. Again, I take my hat off to the men and women of our organization. We first off made Belmont Stakes Day into a blockbuster day in 2014, and in 2015 it became a three-day event that’s been spectacular. We created Stars & Stripes Day. Our first year we were $18 million and change, and now we’re at $24.6 million in handle, so that’s been great. We made Whitney Day and Travers Day into must-see, big-event days – in fact now every Saturday in Saratoga has that same feel, so all of that’s been great. DRF: What haven’t you gotten done that you hoped to have gotten done by now? Kay: Night racing. I think there’s so much progress that has been made that we are now in a very unique position that five years ago we may have been a little bit on our back and now we’ve been able to stand tall and proud and now we’re taking advantage of opportunities. For example, we now have 225 hours [a year] of live television coverage on Fox and MSG, which wasn’t the case back in 2013 or even 2015. I guess there are certain things we still need to accomplish. I feel like we’re going in the right direction, but I’m very pleased with what we’ve been able to accomplish. DRF: Along the lines of the television, how have you felt that’s helped NYRA? Kay: Well, it’s helped in a couple of different ways. From a bottom-line standpoint, we know that the handle is meaningfully higher for those races that are televised nationally than for those races that are not. Number two, it gives people a greater awareness of NYRA’s races and NYRA Bets. We introduced the late pick five last year, which is a big success, and by having it on television more people realize it and have become customers of NYRA Bets. Number three, I think it’s a way to fuel tourism. We have something called “Postcards from Saratoga” where you get an idea of all the beautiful things you can do in Saratoga in addition to coming to the historic racecourse. I think that’s one of the reasons why we have such a significant impact on the economy there. DRF: What do you know about the racing business now that you wish you knew when you started? Kay: Good question. When I started I knew this was a sport and a I knew there were a lot of people that were passionate about the sport. I didn’t correctly estimate the other stakeholders in this process that would be involved as much as they have been involved. Particularly, the government when we were under public control. DRF: How have you felt that NYRA has meshed with the government? We talked about this in our interview five years ago that there was a contentious relationship between NYRA and Albany and you were hoping to blow up the iceberg so to speak. Have you made any progress in NYRA’s relationship with Albany? Kay: I think so. We have a much better relationship with various constituents in Albany, and I’m very appreciative of the fact, for example, Gov. [Andrew] Cuomo returned us to private control and Gov. Cuomo selected the New York Islanders to come be our neighbor here at Belmont. I’m also appreciative of the work done by the Senate for the number of bills that they passed as well as the Assembly, and I find that I have a great deal of respect and a good candid working relationship with the regulators. DRF: In January, a state controller’s audit regarding video lottery terminal revenue that goes to NYRA was somewhat critical of NYRA for not having developed a long-term capital plan and for using VLT revenue for routine maintenance costs. What was your reaction to that conclusion? Kay: We actually submitted a written response. We found what I would consider considerable factual mistakes made by that report, and we have devoted our money to the capital projects. I’m very proud of what we’ve been able to do there. We’re in the midst of a multi-year $29 million, perhaps $30 million effort for the backstretch dormitories. We’ve spent considerable funds to make our racetracks and training tracks safer as well as build and renovate barns. We’ve added a number of guest amenities at Saratoga, Belmont, and Aqueduct and new things coming on line in the future at Saratoga and at Belmont. DRF: You do seem to have big plans, conceptually, for renovations at Belmont Park. How close are you to presenting them to either your board or the Franchise Oversight Board/Gaming Commission? Kay: The honest answer is I don’t know. We are working tirelessly to get that done, but it’s a very complex situation. The reason why it’s complex is because we’re trying to create an incredible destination [at Belmont] with two different developers or more. You have the New York Islanders ownership and they have various pieces, you have us, and you have the state with the Empire State Development Corp. As you know, in my past, I had the privilege to work with and for Universal Studios. It was one developer for the property. Here we have several, so it takes more time to get it right. But I am extremely optimistic and encouraged that the people who are leading the effort for the Islanders have the same vision we have, and together we’re able to come up with even better ideas than we had individually. But it takes time for all those ideas to get worked out, develop plans to get to a point where we can say to the board, or the public, here’s where we’re going. DRF: As part of the renovation of Belmont, are you preparing it to be a serviceable year-round facility, one that would be able to accommodate winter racing? Kay: We’ll look at this in phases. One phase may be to upgrade the guest amenities, and another would be to upgrade the track. But the idea would be if you’re going to upgrade the guest amenities you need to make sure there is air conditioning and heating in all of the facility. Along the same lines, if we’re going to renovate the tracks we need to make sure the track has the ability at some point to handle winter racing. DRF: Construction on the new arena and retail center is hoped to begin in the first quarter of 2019. How close to that time frame do you think construction or renovations could take place on your building? Kay: I think the public statement has been that it would be in the second quarter of 2019. I think they’re going to try and get approvals in April with the state and then commence in May. We’re trying to go along the same timeline, which would mean if we were able to get our permits in place we would start our renovation efforts after we finish the Belmont spring meet. DRF: Anticipating construction going on at Belmont at that time, and with Saratoga being the only track in the country that conducts a six-day race week, could you see next summer as a time to experiment with a five-day race week at Saratoga while still running the same 40 days just over a one week longer period? Kay: Certainly, that’s an idea that others have expressed as well, and there’s some logic to that and there are some benefits and detriments to that. I think your question properly prefaced the fact that where are we in the process here at Belmont. Will we be there in a position where we’re ready to do that? I’ve got to get to a point where I can say with some reasonable degree of confidence, ‘Yes, we’re going to start the demolition process in July ’19 before I can begin to think what would this mean for the Saratoga meet in ‘19. DRF: In general though, would it make any sense, because of the success of Saratoga and the difficulties of a six-day race-week for all involved, to have an eight-week meet at Saratoga of mostly five-day a week racing? Kay: The answer is there are competing ideas of whether it makes sense or not. So, there are those people that say Saratoga is a tourist destination during the meet and 51 percent of Americans go on vacation in the month of July. If you had one more weekend and instead of [racing] Mondays or Wednesdays and just have one or the other, you would then be able to take advantage of more tourism coming to Saratoga, and then you could have two days off for a lot of people who work at the track. All those are reasons to do that. On the other side, there are people who say we have had a tradition here of having it as a six-day-a-week meet, what does this mean to people who otherwise stay in town through the middle of July before they rent their home? Those kind of factors. Those are the topics we have to analyze. DRF: Have you had any feedback from the community on that? It would seem to me that the retailers are, at least, in favor of it. The homeowners I don’t know. Kay: The retailers and the hoteliers can see the benefit of this and actually a number of homeowners can see the benefit of this because they can rent their home for another week. As I’ve said, there are people on both sides. Do I get feedback? The answer is yes. DRF: Speaking of Saratoga, you have a new section in the grandstand that is scheduled to debut this year, and by next year you’ll have a new permanent structure where the At the Rail Pavilion currently is. What’s the goal of these two projects? Kay: The whole idea behind everything we’ve done in Saratoga is to make sure we have something there for everyone. One of the first things we did is for those of you who like to come with your cooler and sit in the backyard, we’ve added 450 new free picnic tables in the last couple of years. There are some people who like the idea of wearing a coat and tie and watching from the clubhouse boxes. There are some who prefer a more casual lifestyle. We want to get more people that are younger. Younger people rely heavily on technology. The idea of the Stretch is to create a box-like environment but without the requirements of coat and tie with this additional component of technology. We’re going to have these 15-inch iPads for every two seats in the Stretch, and on that iPad you can order tickets, reserve parking, order food that will be delivered to your seat, obviously wager on NYRA Bets, go to NYRA NOW to watch the TV – either historic racing before you want to place a bet that day or what’s going on in the paddock as well as to watch the race itself. I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised when you see how we’ve been able to compress the time for the delay, where I think it’s now less than a second where it used to be several seconds. DRF: Price points on Belmont Stakes Day and overall at Saratoga have increased over the last few years. Do you feel that the fans and bettors are getting a bang for their buck? Kay: I do. If you look at the attendance figures we have, you can see where attendance figures are rising and when you look at the handle they recognize it as well. With respect to Saratoga, and we need to put this in perspective, our studies have shown that I think it’s 60 percent of the people come from outside of the nine-county Capital Region, so they’re spending a lot of money to drive or to fly, and then they’re spending a lot of money in those hotels. If you’re spending $400 or $500 a night in a hotel, the increase we’ve had in ticket prices are modest in comparison. And we’re the reason those people are coming to town, to see our great racing. DRF: Scheduled racing dates at NYRA have declined from 252 in 2014 to 229 in 2018. Do you see a further reduction in dates moving forward or is this is a schedule you are now comfortable with? Kay: That’s something that we have to talk about and we have to talk about it with several people, including Joe Appelbaum, who is the new president of NYTHA [New York Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association] and who is a sharp guy and understands the challenges on both sides. This year, during the Belmont meet, we’ve had 22 less races taken off the turf and yet the field size is down roughly 3 percent. We’re doing a great job in terms of trying to bring people here and get more people to wager, and we have to recognize what the foal crop is like, what it means in terms of field size a couple of years later. We got our finger on the pulse of that. DRF: Despite the reduced dates, all-sources handle was $2.2 billion in 2017 compared to $2.17 billion in 2014. What do you attribute that to? Kay: It goes back to two or three things. Number one, we talked about the quality of racing so that quality is conveyed in terms of our big racing days and how we convey that racing on television and how easy it is now to wager on NYRA Bets. Every other sport goes for 27 or 28 weeks, if every other sport has a demand cycle, why do we believe we have a demand cycle that’s endless or every day? The right number to me is more contingent upon how many horses do we have to make for quality racing more than anything else. DRF: What would you say to horsemen who might be concerned that winter racing is slowly being phased out? Kay: It’s not being phased out. Thank you for asking that question. It’s completely untrue that it’s being phased out. Everything we’ve done has been to try to make winter racing more attractive. Whether it be event days we have at Aqueduct or now we have a program that says to horsemen if you run your horse a certain number of times a year, the more you run the more you’ll win. When did we start that? We started essentially when you come to Belmont, so that if you’re running that same horse through the Aqueduct winter meet you’re going to get more money. If we had started on January 1 there wouldn’t have been that kind of big reward. I take my hat off to Martin Panza and to Joe Appelbaum and to others here that we’re trying to find ways – and we’ve initiated a number of programs to try find ways – to help make winter racing more successful. DRF: Given the high cost of doing business in New York, how hard have you found it to attract new horsemen to stable here, and do you think these programs could maybe turn that around? Kay: I hope they can turn it around. Also, another concern of the horsemen is workers’ compensation costs, and we have spent some time and effort to try and find ways to lower those costs as well. We share a goal of trying to have more horses and more success for more trainers and owners here in New York. DRF: Sports wagering could be introduced in New York next year. How do you see that impacting business, and how does NYRA fit in, if at all, with sports wagering? Kay: In January, I along with Joe Appelbaum and Jeff Cannizzo [executive director of the New York Thoroughbred Breeders] appeared before the state Senate Committee on Racing to say that just as in New Jersey we would like to be able to offer sports wagering at our tracks. We have three main reasons why. Number one, the reason they did it in New Jersey is because they heavily regulated horse racing for decades and knew of its reliability. Same is true in New York. By contrast, the casinos have only been regulated for a year or two. Number two, horse racing is a sport and people have been wagering on that sport here at NYRA for many, many decades. We have many customers, and we’d like to be able to provide them with the additional service of being able to wager on other sports. And third, we want to be able to provide an alternative to those casinos. The whole idea of sports wagering is you are wagering on a form of competition. There should be competition here as well, so we can provide hopefully better services than maybe can the casinos and in some ways more convenient services. For all those reasons, we’d very much like to be able to expand our existing amount of wagering to include other sports as well. DRF: Do you anticipate, in 2023, celebrating a 10th anniversary at NYRA? Kay: I do. This has been a great five years for me. It has been a privilege to be a part of this sport. I have come to know a number of people in this sport that I think very highly of. Some of them are owners, some of them are trainers, some of them are jockeys. Some are horseplayers. I get great insights from the horseplayers. Some are casual fans. And the people here. We have a great team of people here who are very committed to doing the right thing and making the sport better. When you think of all the progress we’ve made over the last five years, I am very excited and want to be part of the progress we’re going to have over the next five years.”