NYRA Mourns Loss of life of Former Mutuels Govt Mahony

The New York Racing Affiliation, Inc. (NYRA) mourns the passing of Pat Mahony, who spent greater than 50 years within the racing business, many main NYRA’s mutuels division, and was identified nationally as a number one knowledgeable in wagering operations, protocols and guidelines.

“New York’s racing neighborhood is deeply saddened by the passing of Pat Mahony, whose contributions to the material of NYRA and thoroughbred racing might be lengthy remembered, ” stated David O’Rourke, NYRA President & CEO. “As Vice President of Mutuels, Pat’s love for the game and unwavering dedication to integrity and excellence helped form the business. NYRA extends our ideas and prayers to his household and family members throughout this tough time.” 

Mahony, who adopted his grandfather and father into the pari-mutuel enterprise, retired from NYRA in 2016. He died Thursday night in Florida. He was 78. To honor Mahony’s lengthy and distinguished profession, NYRA in 2019 launched the Mahony Stakes at Saratoga Race Course for 3-year-olds at 5 1/2-furlongs on the turf. 

Mahony as soon as estimated that he spent 14,000 days on the observe, watched greater than 130,000 races and was liable for greater than $20 billion that moved by way of the betting home windows on the tracks he supervised. As a member of racing’s “First Household of Mutuels,” he adopted his father Riggs and grandfather Mort into the mutuels enterprise; collectively, the three generations labored at tracks throughout the nation for greater than a century. 

“We have been within the betting rings yr in, yr out by way of world wars and the Despair,” Mahony as soon as stated of his household. “That’s one thing to be happy with.”

The patriarch of the household, Mortimer Mahony [1874-1949] obtained his begin within the late nineteenth century working within the betting ring with bookmakers at Morris Park, Brighton Seashore, Sheepshead Bay and the remainder of the New York racing circuit throughout that period, which included Saratoga Race Course. He would go on to develop into the pioneer of recent pari-mutuel wagering and totalisator operations all through a lot of the U.S. and Canada.

Mort Mahony was in cost when the primary totalisator system in America [the Australian Tote] made its debut at Hialeah Park in 1932, and he was the mutuels guide to Harry L. Straus, founding father of the American Totalisator Firm, serving to to put in their first system at Arlington Park in 1933. Alongside the best way, his “Mahony Pari-Mutuel Faculty” educated scores of people that went on to handle mutuel departments at lots of the nation’s high tracks.

Previous to becoming a member of NYRA, Mahony managed mutuel departments at race tracks in Florida, New Jersey and Massachusetts. Shortly earlier than his retirement, Mahony mirrored on why he chosen to dedicate his life to racing and the pari-mutuel enterprise. 

“I by no means needed to do anything,” he stated.

Plans for a memorial service have but to be decided. 

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