as a graduate of mineola high school 1995 humberto chavez likely knows that the church split may years ago and easter sunday is observed on two different sundays. ny pml sec 109 violates the rights of many secured by ny const art 1 sec 3. backstretch workers must be free to bet at nassau otb, eg 1063 hempstead turnpike on any day if the year great racing is being run without the state of new york as occurred eg dunday april 1 2018
many backstretch workers bet at nassau otb in franklin square whenever they wish
please help see that nassau otb is open every day of the year like the ny state lottery
516-216-5196
help us teach andrew cuomo the merits of ny const art 1 sec 3
he is ignorant
For Belmont racetrack chaplain,
ny pml sec 109 does not apply to nassau otb, violates the rights of new york bettors secured by ny const art 1 sec 3.... please help ny bettors bet any day of the year that great racing occurs without the state of new york. ny cannot close nassau otb on one easter sunday over the other.
Sunday, April 1, 2018
Sunday, April 1, 2018
| Track Code | Track Name | Entry | Scratch | 1st Post ET | 1st Post Local | Time Zone | Stakes Race(s) | Stakes Grade | T.V. Indicator |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| EQ | EQUIBASE | 48 | 0 | 9:05 PM | 9:05 PM | EDT | |||
| GG | GOLDEN GATE FIELDS | 72 | 0 | 3:15 PM | 12:15 PM | PDT | |||
| GP | GULFSTREAM PARK | 72 | 0 | 12:00 PM | 12:00 PM | EDT | |||
| SA | SANTA ANITA PARK | 72 | 0 | 2:30 PM | 11:30 AM | PDT | |||
| SUN | SUNLAND PARK | 168 | 24 |
Ronkonkoma, NY 11779-7348
Home > LI Confidential > Stop scratching on holidays
Stop scratching on holidays
Published: June 1, 2012
Off Track Betting in New York State has been racing into a crisis called shrinking revenue. Some people have spitballed a solution: Don’t close on holidays.
New York State Racing Law bars racing on Christmas, Easter and Palm Sunday, and the state has ruled OTBs can’t handle action on those days, even though they could easily broadcast races from out of state.
“You should be able to bet whenever you want,” said Jackson Leeds, a Nassau OTB employee who makes an occasional bet. He added some irrefutable logic: “How is the business going to make money if you’re not open to take people’s bets?”
Elias Tsekerides, president of the Federation of Hellenic Societies of Greater New York, said OTB is open on Greek Orthodox Easter and Palm Sunday.
“I don’t want discrimination,” Tsekerides said. “They close for the Catholics, but open for the Greek Orthodox? It’s either open for all or not open.”
OTB officials have said they lose millions by closing on Palm Sunday alone, with tracks such as Gulfstream, Santa Anita, Turf Paradise and Hawthorne running.
One option: OTBs could just stay open and face the consequences. New York City OTB did just that back in 2003. The handle was about $1.5 million – and OTB was fined $5,000.
Easy money.
‘church’ is the horse stables
Humberto Chavez ministers to the backstretch workers at three New York racetracks, including Belmont.
Humberto Chavez, seen at the Belmont racetrack on Monday, ministers to backstretch workers at Belmont Park. Photo Credit: Newsday / Alejandra Villa
When Humberto Chavez was studying in the seminary he imagined that one day he would be working in a church with pews, a choir and a steady congregation.
It hasn’t worked out that way. Instead, Chavez’s congregation is the thousands of workers who labor in the backstretch of three New York racetracks, including Belmont, which hosts the Belmont Stakes on Saturday.
His “church” is the horse stables that he wanders through each day, talking to, counseling and helping the grooms, hot-walkers, trainers and jockeys. For Mass, held on Monday nights, the workers’ recreation hall next to the cafeteria serves as the sanctuary.
He has been at it 15 years, making his rounds at the Belmont, Aqueduct and Saratoga racetracks.
“God has his own way of making himself laugh, because he grabs some Mexican kid to be part of a racing industry where . . . there are no pews, there are stalls, filled with people,” said Chavez, who came to the United States with his single mother when he was 11. “There’s no choir, but there is a whole array of music as you walk through the backstretch,” mostly songs from the workers’ Latin American homelands.
Chavez, 41, a nondenominational Christian, is part spiritual guide and part social worker. While he consoles workers who miss their families in their native countries, he also takes them to doctor’s appointments, assists with legal documents and hands out everything from food to blankets to supplement their incomes.
“He does everything he can for us back here,” said Omar Velez, 39, a stable foreman of Puerto Rican descent who grew up in Queens. “He keeps us on the right path.”
Chavez has become something of a legend in the backstretch.
He “is by far the most respected and influential person on the backstretch,” said Nick Caras, the program director for the Racetrack Chaplaincy of New York who helped hire Chavez in 2003.
“He relates so well,” Caras said. “And he has absolutely no ego.”
His flock consists of about 3,000 backstretch workers at Belmont, including the 1,500 who live there. There are up to 1,400 at Saratoga during race season, and about 300 at Aqueduct.
Besides his regular work, he has performed weddings in the grandstands for both workers and members of the public and handed out turkeys for Thanksgiving. He has taken workers and their children to Six Flags Great Adventure and has even said prayers for competing horses.
Chavez came to the job indirectly. The 1995 Mineola High School graduate was making $100,000 a year running his own construction company, and working part-time as a co-pastor at his brother-in-law’s church — across the street from Belmont.
He began doing outreach with the track workers, and when the full-time chaplain left in 2003, he asked for the job.
“It was that fork in the road in your life where you say, ‘Do you really want to do this, or do you want to pursue something that your heart and your passion is there for?’ ” he said.
His nonprofit Racetrack Chaplaincy of New York office operates out of a trailer at Belmont and includes a food pantry and several workers. The $650,000 that the chaplaincy receives annually comes from groups such as the New York Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association and the New York Racing Association as well as from horse owners. The owners include Lisa and Kenny Troutt, who have this year’s Triple Crown hopeful Justify.
Chavez’s flock largely hails from countries such as Mexico, Argentina, Chile, Peru and Guatemala, where horses are part of the culture.
Loneliness, and missing their families, is a big problem. So is navigating the language and the social services system here. Chavez tries to fill the gaps.
“Our philosophy is it goes beyond bringing the word” of Jesus Christ, he said. “We are there for them in every aspect of the work.”
“Everybody needs some love,” he added, “and God is love.”
Many of the workers say Chavez is a godsend, just what they need to add some inspiration in an industry that can be grueling.
Saul Castellanos, 46, a native of Mexico who is an assistant trainer, said Chavez’s dynamic personality and sympathetic ear was “something we’ve been waiting for, somebody who can help us, somebody who is everybody’s friend.”
CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated the number of workers Chavez ministers to. He ministers to 3,000 backstretch workers.
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