In a cost-cutting move that’s also popular with horsemen, NYRA is eliminating its race-day security barn, beginning with opening day at Saratoga next week.

"The horsemen are, to be honest with you, thrilled that they’re moving toward a more scientific protocol and away from the security barn, which oftentimes was very stressful and even dangerous to the horses and the people working with them," said trainer Rick Violette, president of the New York Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association and a NYRA board member.

NYRA has operated the security barn since May 2005. Horses are required to report to the barn six hours prior to post time for their scheduled race, a measure aimed at increasing pre-competition monitoring and reducing the number of illegal drug usages. However, horsemen say the process disrupts their operations and creates additional race-day expenses. Additionally, some horses can become unsettled in the unfamiliar surroundings of a new barn, causing them to waste energy and negatively affecting their performance. A number of out-of-town horsemen won't bring their horses to run in New York for those reasons; among those who has expressed displeasure with the security barn is John Shirreffs, trainer of the unbeaten Zenyatta.

The race-day security barn also costs cash-strapped NYRA $1.2 million to run each year. With the bidding process for video lottery terminals at Aqueduct suspended by a court order that could further delay a process that’s already taken years, NYRA’s financial troubles don’t appear to be going away anytime soon.

In place of the security barn, NYRA will add or toughen several policies and procedures to continue to ensure integrity:

--The "in today" program, which will clearly identify entered horses in their stalls on race day. NYRA security will have an increased backside presence to prevent tampering with these horses.

--The assembly barn, where horses will gather just prior to proceeding to the saddling paddock with the field for their race. NYRA will test for illegal levels of total carbon dioxide, a sign of a performance-enhancing process called "milkshaking," at that time. The elimination of milkshaking was one of the main reasons the security barn was instituted to begin with.

--Out-of-competition drug testing will be expanded for blood doping agents, such as Erythropoietin (EPO) and bronchial dilators.

--The testing program will be administered and supervised by Dr. George Maylin, director of the New York State Racing and Wagering Board’s official drug testing and research program at SUNY Morrisville. --To help enforce its new programs, NYRA will ramp up penalties for violators. First-time offending trainers of horses testing positive for a Class A drug violation face a minimum mandatory one year disbarment from entering horses for being assigned stalls at all NYRA tracks. A second offense results in a disbarment of two years from the circuit and the third offense results in a permanent ban.

--Trainers serving out these penalties will not be permitted to transfer trainership to family members or current employees during these times, preventing a banned trainer from working around these regulations in order to run a horse in New York by using a proxy such as an assistant as the trainer of record.