SARATOGA SPRINGS — The long-awaited report on the 20 racing-related horse deaths that occurred over Aqueduct’s inner dirt track last winter will be released Tuesday, Aug. 21, The Post has learned.
The New York Task Force on Racehorse Health and Safety was formed March 22 in response to a letter sent from Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s office to the New York Racing Association expressing concern over the rash of fatal breakdowns, which totaled more than twice the national average per 1,000 starts.
The four task-force members are attorney Alan Foreman, the Maryland-based chairman and CEO of the Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Assn., which represents more than 20,000 owners and trainers nationwide; retired Hall-of-Fame jockey Jerry Bailey; and two veterinarians: Dr. Scott E. Palmer, director and staff surgeon at the New Jersey Equine Clinic and a past president of the American Assn. of Equine Practitioners (AAEP); and Dr. Mary Scollay, equine medical director of the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission.
Cuomo directed NYRA not only to establish the independent investigation, but also to pay for it using funds NYRA receives from the Resorts World New York Casino at Aqueduct. The cost of the task force is not known, but sources say the four members did all the work themselves without a staff.
The findings and recommendations of the report have been closely guarded. But according to one committee member of the N.Y. Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association, the task force could call for longer withdrawal periods between horses being treated with medications and their race days, and also that certain medical procedures take place further out from the races.
The report will be issued four days before the $1 million Travers Stakes, the premier race of the Saratoga meet.
ed.fountaine@nypost.com