I am going to try to weave a few of the current threads together. The
conclusion I probably will come to is also the \"Subject\" of this post. I rarely
say anything totally unique, so if you have read any of my posts nothing in
here will surprise you.
Is racing at all levels permeated with performance enhancing drugs?
Is racing at the highest level (Triple Crown, Breeders Cup) permeated with
performance enhancing drugs?
At the more humble levels of racing, where the athletes are more poorly
conformed and thereby more infirm, there is no question that these equines
are subjected to a constant regimen of joint taps, joint injections, and
jugs. These are all invasive procedures where the skin is broken, each one
of which procedures has a detrimental effect on the overall well being of
the horse; then add in 23 hours of stall confinement and a constant regimen
of analgesics...
... and that\'s before we get to illegal techniques, which range from
terrifying a horse into running with an electronic device (and folks if
this is done properly the jockey should never have to carry a battery on
race day) to maintaining a horse on a methadone like high while he is in
training.
Yet these bleak equine existences will continue-- at Beulah, at Thistle-
down, at Charlestown, at Penn National-- where racing will continue to
support slots/VLTs. A \"sideshow\" if you will.
But about \"drug use\" at the highest level. The best horse in training
right now is (IMO) Street Sense. He is a couple of lazy noses away from
being undefeated as a 3YO. He was probably 80% cranked when edging the
pretender AGS at Tampa; he was probably 90% cranked at Keeneland when
he failed to contain the Rug Warrior, Dominican in the BG. A lot of
people mention HS\'s premature move in the Preakness, but I haven\'t heard
anyone say that Borel may have moved SS too aggresively in Baltimore.
OK so my opinion is that SS is the top 3YO if not the top horse in
training on May 21, 2007. SS is trained by Carl Nafzger. In all of the
posts over the years concerning the medicine men, has Nafzger ever been
mentioned?
Asmussen, Pletcher, R Dutrow... all with high profile suspensions for
medication in the last 18 months.. Dutrow some additional days for show-
ing the same knowledge of the rules of racing that Paris Hilton has of the
California motor vehicle laws. I think all of these suspensions involved
mepivocaine (sp?), which Barry Irwin has assured all of us is not a per-
formance enhancing medication.
Since I would hate to disagree with BI, let me cast my Eclipse vote for
Mepivocaine as top masking agent of the 21st Century...
The top guns listed above have 2 things going for them:
(1)The folks who spend top dollar for horseflesh will continue to favor
the high win % trainers, and the balance of power will continue to shift
towards these trainers;
(2)The balance of power will dictate that Racing will not go after the
high volume high % trainers; The racing and greeding industries rely
on these guys too much; if they are cheating, they will continue to
be merely slapped on the wrist.
One great thing about the TG Board is that TG will allow dissension;
one thing I agree with TG about is that Racing will \"sit on\" its
drug problem as long as possible.