ALBANY – Celebrity chef Bobby Flay is one of a dozen appointees to a new 17-member panel that will take over New York’s thoroughbred racing industry for the next three years.
Flay, a restaurateur and thoroughbred owner, appears on the same Food TV Network as Gov. Cuomo’s girlfriend, Sandra Lee.
Cuomo tapped Cornell University President David Skorton to chair the New York Racing Assn. Reorganization Board and John Hendrickson – husband of Sarotoga social queen Mary Lou Whitney – as special advisor for the upstate community whose economy relies heavily on its famed racetrack.
Former Gov. Mario Cuomo’s economic development czar, Vincent Tese, and inspector general, Joseph Spinelli, are also among the appointees.
The board is expected to conduct a national search for a new NYRA CEO and general counsel – to replace executives who’ve been accused of knowingly shorting bettors $8.5 million.
The NYRA-run Aqueduct Racetrack came under scrutiny last winter after a spate of horse deaths.