Joe Drape reports that the New York Racing and Wagering Board is investigating Ernie Paragallo, who is licensed by the Board as an authorized agent, for his alleged mistreatment of the horses at his Center Brook Farm.
If the Racing and Wagering Board wants an example of a state racing commission exercising its jurisdiction over licensees to issue sanctions for animal cruelty on a private farm, the KHRC addressed a similar case last year. The KHRC ended up suspending Joseph Crescini’s license for 2 years, but the case is currently being appealed.
For a thorough discussion of the Crescini case, I direct you to one of my previous entries: Regulators (handy with the steel).
1 response so far ↓
Jane // April 10, 2009 at 5:45 am |
It is frustrating when the “letter of the law”–in this case, Paragallo’s operation “officially” being run by his daughters–negates justice being done (a similar case in mind is Bernie Madoff’s wife being shielded from having “her” assets confiscated, as if she had NO idea what that crook had done….). Common sense does not seem to be served by the justice system. Scumbags get off on technicalities. To put a Biblical spin on it, even Jesus said the law is to serve man, not the other way around. He was bold enough to throw the crooks out of the temple even on the Sabbath–there is no spine in today’s jurisprudence. I hope Paragallo gets prosecuted to the max. Coming as it does on the verge of the Triple Crown, this is yet another black eye on the sport, and one that will be well deserved if the sport doesn’t grow that spine and take charge of this type of situation.