Interesting columns the last week or so from two DRF writers. One has won about fifty Eclipse Awards and the other you probably do not want to see come knocking on your door. Means you are in trouble or about to be.
The Hegarty column on the Assmussen positive was better than listening to the Comedy channel. Assmussen has had so many positives in the last 6-8 years that it is only a matter of time that Asst Trainer Scott Blasi leads the nation in wins. And then wins an Eclipse himself. Think about that one for a while.
Assmussens defense that the Vet gave the horse the wrong illegal drug he ordered him to use is enough to get you a lifetime ban not six months. Why is anyone telling a Vet to give a horse any illegal drugs? I thought Marty Wolfsons explanation of why he illegally doped his horse before the American Derby at Arlington was the worst I had ever heard. Assmussen and Wolfson have had more career positives than the entire Track and Field industry. Which is starting to look serious about its problem.
Hovdey seemed to imply that medication testing results be posted for all to see. Hovdey\'s scope is far to narrow. Post the active Vet of record for all respective horses. Trainers and Vets should be required to log in everyday and update a central database of every damn drug dispensed and induced into every horse on every goddam day. If something shows up on a bill that wasn\'t put into the central database you are gone. \"As in gone\" You think CVS, Walgreens or Rite-Aid or Merck Medco could get away without doing this.
The Pacific Classis test results were publicly posted because Murray Johnson said something about Lava Man. Murray apologized but then why should he. Alan Shuback in the same days edition as Hegarty\'s column stated and I quote, \"Lava Man is the poster boy for short-term benefits of race day medication......let Lava Man run medication free in the Pacific Classic and see how far he gets beat. Here is betting he wouldn\'t beat a single horse home.\"
Shuback as far as I know didn\'t apologize to anyone and he shouldn\'t have if he really believes it.
The drug trainers are still out there. Much quieter than they used to be. Not winning nearly as many big races as they used to or moving horses up to astronomical levels with nothing more than a feed change. At least according to them. They are out there hoping all of this blows over and goes away so they can go back to business as usual.
But that is not going to happen. If anything the pendulum on the drug issue is swinging in favor of the clean guys. Guys you know, like and trust. The sport never should have allowed them to be pushed aside. Let's hope they are all not to bitter when they all come back.
>>Guys you know, like and trust. The sport never should have allowed them to be >>pushed aside. Let's hope they are all not to bitter when they all come back.
I\'d like to hear who people do consider clean, trustworthy.
Silver, that might have been the best post ever.
There are honest guys out there. Shug and his stable. I\'m about certain Barclay Tagg is legit. The problem is most of these medications are legal for one purpose and that allows cover for other purposes. EPO, milkshakes and the like nothwithstanding.
Theres been some progress. It needs to continue. Clearly Pletcher and Frankel have slipped from that high they were on two years or so ago. They are having to be careful. The game needs more tests and more disclosure to force the cheaters into prudence or force them out of the game.
Silver Charm Wrote:
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> Interesting columns the last week or so from two
> DRF writers. One has won about fifty Eclipse
> Awards and the other you probably do not want to
> see come knocking on your door. Means you are in
> trouble or about to be.
>
> The Hegarty column on the Assmussen positive was
> better than listening to the Comedy channel.
> Assmussen has had so many positives in the last
> 6-8 years that it is only a matter of time that
> Asst Trainer Scott Blasi leads the nation in wins.
> And then wins an Eclipse himself. Think about that
> one for a while.
>
> Assmussens defense that the Vet gave the horse the
> wrong illegal drug he ordered him to use is enough
> to get you a lifetime ban not six months. Why is
> anyone telling a Vet to give a horse any illegal
> drugs? I thought Marty Wolfsons explanation of why
> he illegally doped his horse before the American
> Derby at Arlington was the worst I had ever heard.
> Assmussen and Wolfson have had more career
> positives than the entire Track and Field
> industry. Which is starting to look serious about
> its problem.
>
> Hovdey seemed to imply that medication testing
> results be posted for all to see. Hovdey\'s scope
> is far to narrow. Post the active Vet of record
> for all respective horses. Trainers and Vets
> should be required to log in everyday and update a
> central database of every damn drug dispensed and
> induced into every horse on every goddam day. If
> something shows up on a bill that wasn\'t put into
> the central database you are gone. \"As in gone\"
> You think CVS, Walgreens or Rite-Aid or Merck
> Medco could get away without doing this.
>
> The Pacific Classis test results were publicly
> posted because Murray Johnson said something about
> Lava Man. Murray apologized but then why should
> he. Alan Shuback in the same days edition as
> Hegarty\'s column stated and I quote, \"Lava Man is
> the poster boy for short-term benefits of race day
> medication......let Lava Man run medication free
> in the Pacific Classic and see how far he gets
> beat. Here is betting he wouldn\'t beat a single
> horse home.\"
>
> Shuback as far as I know didn\'t apologize to
> anyone and he shouldn\'t have if he really believes
> it.
>
> The drug trainers are still out there. Much
> quieter than they used to be. Not winning nearly
> as many big races as they used to or moving horses
> up to astronomical levels with nothing more than a
> feed change. At least according to them. They are
> out there hoping all of this blows over and goes
> away so they can go back to business as usual.
>
> But that is not going to happen. If anything the
> pendulum on the drug issue is swinging in favor of
> the clean guys. Guys you know, like and trust. The
> sport never should have allowed them to be pushed
> aside. Let's hope they are all not to bitter when
> they all come back.
>
>The game needs more tests and more disclosure
Start with the Central Database. NOBODY goes on to track property, primarily the backstretch and dispenses drugs and to whom without it being FULLY DISCLOSED.
You think HCA and TENET are pumping patients full of medications and nobody is allowed to know who they gave it to and what they gave them. That it is just between the patient and his family. Yah right!!!
The paper or email file Vet Bills themselves would also need to be submitted so they can be cross-indexed to the intial filings. TRENDS of consistent legal medications that mask other substances would begin to show up. This would perhaps point authorities in the direction of where they need to be looking for those other chemicals. Things would clearly begin to become more TRANSPARENT.
CTC thanks, but I still think it has a ways to go before it replaces my best post ever.
My \"all clean\" team, the \"hay oats and water\" poster boys would include the following: William Ichabod Mott, Claude \"Shug\" McGaughey, H. Allen Jerkens, Richard Mandella and Ronald McInally.
These guys all have a place in that building across Union Ave from the front gate to Saratoga.
CTC, interesting that you say that Pletcher has dropped off. He\'s won at least 5 or 6 stakes at the Spa. At one point in March, he maintained a 30% strike rate at both Gulfstream and Aqueduct.
IMO Pletcher\'s strength comes from his ability to choose which animals he wants to train, and the fact that he is given as many stalls as he needs to house these high priced runners.
Pletcher\'s power is the power of numbers. If the thinking is that dominant trainers are bad for the sport, limit their stall allocations
In support of the theory that Pletcher has dropped off recently, sans any actual statistical significance...
What seems to be missing in 06, at least in New York, are the big negative TG dirt figs he was getting in 05, for instance when he won the Carter, Travers, Cigar mile, & placed in the BC Classic. This year many of his stakes level dirt runners, with most of them running fast out of town, have shipped into NY and were either short or just plain stunk... Flower Alley, Oonagh Maccool, Pool Land, Keyed Entry, etc. and throw in Adieu, Sunriver, Vicarige... if these were the best of his big stable where did those big figs go? Were Forest Danger and Purge that special?
Also of note was English Channel, BG Cat, & Flower Alley all dominating across the river and all coming up short in NY (under Haywood\'s watch?)
Excellent string, guys. By the way, I disagree about two of the guys on those lists being clean, at least full time clean.
Track and field, major league baseball, the U.S. Senate and some grand juries are taking an interest in illegal drugs in other sports. Meanwhile, racing, where PEOPLE BET ON IT LEGALLY and tampering with a parimutuel event is a felony, doesn\'t take the problem seriously. At some point there is going to be a pretty serious reckoning.
TGJB:
Doesn\'t the Senate\'s \"stewardship\" of baseball derive from the fact that the national pasttime has always been exempt from anti- trust laws? Kind of a trade- off, if you will?
Flushed:
I do not want to be in a position where I am defending Pletcher, but you mention Oonagh MaCool and Pool Land-- they were defeated by the Pletcher trained Spun Sugar (13.00) (defeating Baletto in probably my toughest beat of the meet). English Channel(and his adversary, Artie Schiller), seems to have gone off form, but Go Deputy won a grass stake and paid 15.40. Octave won a 2YO stake and paid 21.60. Wait a While could have broken the Saratoga course record in winning the Lake Placid. Fleet Indian won her seventh straight race since being taken over by TAP in winning the Personal Ensign.
Late last year, TGJB initiated a discussion of whether the scale needed to be adjusted, whether TG was assigning too many negative numbers; JB sought the input of TG users. I don\'t know if a decision was made either way, but would be curious to see if less negative #s have been assigned in the first 8 months of this year compared to last year. Of course many factors besides an internal adjustment could account for less negative #s, ie increased pre race detention and the deadening of track surfaces in response to breakdowns (see Arlington and Del Mar).
My own opinion was that the there were too many negative #s being assigned, but I have only used the product (sparingly) for about 2 years. My \"poster boy\" for excess negativity was Funny Cide, who posted negative TG#s in something like 8 of 11 starts as a 4YO while only winning one of these races.
Final word on Spa trainers: Tom Bush and Linda Rice going as well as they have ever gone. On the flip side, J. Jerkens and D. Romans. Honorable mention to Pat Kelly (no surprise he is having his best meet in years with that anchor of a Frenchman he has used for years on the injured list).
richiebee Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> My \"all clean\" team, the \"hay oats and water\"
> poster boys would include the following: William
> Ichabod Mott, Claude \"Shug\" McGaughey, H. Allen
> Jerkens, Richard Mandella and Ronald McInally.
>
> These guys all have a place in that building
> across Union Ave from the front gate to Saratoga.
>
> CTC, interesting that you say that Pletcher has
> dropped off. He\'s won at least 5 or 6 stakes at
> the Spa. At one point in March, he maintained a
> 30% strike rate at both Gulfstream and Aqueduct.
>
> IMO Pletcher\'s strength comes from his ability to
> choose which animals he wants to train, and the
> fact that he is given as many stalls as he needs
> to house these high priced runners.
>
> Pletcher\'s power is the power of numbers. If the
> thinking is that dominant trainers are bad for the
> sport, limit their stall allocations
Richie, by dropped off I\'m referring to top speed figures and grade I\'s knocked down.
I\'ll acquiesce that he still has super trainer percentages, however its my theory they are having to be careful in the big ones and thats why they haven\'t been as dominant in the big ones.
SC,
You are only missing one thing. You need to find a way to monitor the private training facilities and farms. As much as certain tracks will never admit to it, it is so easy to take a horse off the grounds at a track and sign him out as a totally different horse. Then that horse can go to some private training facilities and get pumped full of anything. At a private farm/training center there isn\'t even the keystone cops security force that the racetracks have.
For those who remember when the leading trainer at the Meadowlands harness meet, Sheldon Ledford was arrested he was arrested and was doping his horses not at the track but at a private farm/training center.
In my opinion, (And I should emphasize that) it is the reason Mike Gill has his facility and Steve Asmussen has his facility is basically you are under no survalience there. I would not be surprised if SC\'s plan was put into action if there wasn\'t a rash of land purchases by certain people.
The tracks should just be the first step...
X good point as usual.
However this is an Industry that requires wagering to survive and rules need to be implemented that require runners to be on the grounds for 3-5 days before running. I know, I know, the mom and pops will say they can not survive because of the added cost. TOOOO BAD. Too many small rotten limited seating creepy tracks anyway, like Gulfstream.
Keep in mind we have had two fairly Major Positives in two big races alone this year. The Dubai World Cup and the American Derby. In both cases the cheating Trainers implied that what they did was ok, they did not understand how far out the timeline was in those jurisdictions for the medications they administered.
Total Lies and we all know it. However if they had been submitting daily medication info to the Central Database or even that Track they operate out of that info could have been shared when the draw was performed and the actual entry into the race itself could have been stopped. End Of Story!
Doctors can not walk into hospitals or adjacent facilities and start pumping patients full of hard drugs and the only people privy to this info are the people who get the bill.
Track Mgmt and a Review Board have a right to know.
Maybe at the Private Facilties as well as At The Track , Online Monitoring Systems can be used by Horsemen at an NTRA or State run Web Site that would Require a Weekly Log-On for Ownernership and a Daily Log-On for Trainers and Vets , to give full disclosure of all relevent information and other related aspects of their Business - use of all the newer \" state of the art \" tehnologies available is an option .
All great ideas but probably too expensive. Many believe that strong funding for the labs can keep the testers ahead of the chemists.NYRA has made some overtures that with future slot money, great progress can be made on the illegal substance front.
Lastest from someone close to the franchise situation has NYRA gaining momentum but it is likely that Spitzer will have the final say even though he will not be in power when the franchise is actually awarded.
>All great ideas but probably too expensive
Too expensive for who miff, the industry or the player. As usual the thought process is way to narrow and short-sighted. Where are the John Gaines and Nerud\'s of the game anymore.
Would it not be important for the games integrity to know who is racing on illegal drugs. Would it not be important for the Breeders of the world to know not only who raced on illegal drugs but who TRAINED HEAVILY on drugs that would be illegal on race day. A horse who has a decent pedigree and a good race record and received few drugs has to have more value than one well-bred animal with a similar race record who was a four-legged pharmacy.
People spend big money buying horses, syndicating horses and there is very little medical information available to them. Is this the way it works when taking out a big Life Insurance Policy. I doubt it.
Everyone should be willing to pitch in a small share. Even the Ins Co.\'s would be relieved. What a stupid idea it was to create Equibase, right???
What we need is an equine information body. Lets call it VetMD.
SC,
The industry, in the present situation. Right now NYRA is burdened with inordinate State expenses/rules and has to unfairly compete with the cancerous NY OTB\'s.NYRA pays all the big expenses to put on the show and gets little reimbursement.NYRA needs to control all racing(including offtrack)in NY and it would be enormously successful.The model is there right now.The cancerous OTB\'s have legislative powers from Albany that f--ks everything up in NY racing.Solve that one problem and you would have the best racing in the world, by far.
A big part of the drug thing in NY is directly related to insufficent monies to create a well funded \"super lab\"( which has specs and is ready to go).If NYRA gets the franchise and the OTBs get reined in, I believe NY racing will lead the way on the drug thing.
On that list of super trainer suspects, I disagree with Pletcher(I\'m on the fence because of his incredible stock). I have no other conclusion to reach other than that Rick Dutrow is the greatest trainer in the world, even when he\'s high,on suspension or hanging out in Paris and still winning races.
Mike
Miff, the success due to drugs and cheating of some trainers vs others is strictly conjecture and downright inflamatory.
Do I believe Pletcher toes the line and sometimes crosses it, yes. He has a pretty big operation, some very high powered, highly invested owners and things could happen that he possibly could not prevent. But the buck stops at the top.
Do I believe that both Shug and Bill Mott are clean. Absolutely yes. However for the sake of being fair those two trained two of the greatest horses in history and both ended up sterile or with major fertility issues.
Cigar and Lure.
Perhaps a study of even the legal dope they were giving them would have prevented. But without an archive I guess we will never know.