You know the world is going crazy when the best rapper is a white guy, the best golfer is a black guy, the tallest guy in the NBA is Chinese, and most of the socal trainers are ASKING for a detention barn and the supposed state regulators are balking at the request.
See link:
http://news.bloodhorse.com/viewstory.asp?id=19330
This sort of grass-roots effort from the trainers and owners who are not cheating is essential if things are ever going to improve. Obviously, this will not solve that much of the problem but it could be another small step in the right direction.
Cheers.
Chris
I was kind of left scratching my head in confusion when I read this...
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/chronicle/archive/2003/11/15/SPGRC32Q5O1.DTL
I had no idea that anabolic steroids are not only legal but are apparently an economic necessity. ;-)
When you learn the rest of the story re some of the speculation surrounding the Shuman/Gill missing leg incident. At the time a prominent vet thought it might possibly be a high neurectomy, though he added that as far as he knew the surgery had only been down on draft horses. I learned subsequently from an owner who used to race at Rockingham & knew Gill that you could run a horse which has been \"nerved\" under the fetlock, as long as the nerving has been reported to the Chief Vet. The reason for the reporting was so that a jockey would not knowingly take a mount on a horse which has an increased liklihood of breaking down. But what about the horse, the other jocks, & the bettors? Until a few moments ago, I assumed that this was something that could only happen at some of the smaller circuits. Then I happened on the NYRA Horsemen\'s Guide, page 19 in particular, and learned otherwise. It does say that a list of all de-nerved horses has to be posted in the Racing Secretary\'s Office, so I guess this is yet another thing that needs to be checked. Let\'s see, they announce it if a horse has been gelded or if he\'s wearing bends or bar shoes, but are mum when it comes to a horse which has been nerved under the fetlock. I wonder why that might be.
The reason steroids are banned in human sporting events is to protect the long term well being of the athletes. (At least thats my idealist belief.) After all the things they provide us with, don\'t we owe as much to the horses? Oh sure, I know, they\'re just horses and if they weren\'t running in stakes they would be served in restaurants. But seriously, how can we dope them with steroids when steroids are such a threat to human sports and human athletes? I know, I know...\"A horse is just a way to make a buck\". I don\'t even care about the betting aspect of it. I think you can tell who is juicing their animals and who is not and bet or not bet accordingly. To me thats not the issue. The issue pertains to men like Bobby Frankel that have a slew of animals at home but find a way to play \"FDA new drug approval\" with a horse because thats the way the gravy is made.
Lasix and Bute are more than enough. They are supposed to be there to help to prevent physical distess. Add Steroids and denerving to the picture and its clear what you\'ve got. Little helpers to make a buck.
Its time to get back to hay and oats people and train up a horse the old fashioned way.
CtC
Chuckles--
Another issue is the greed to have year round racing. I\'ll use the Aqueduct inner track circuit as an example. I find it amusing when certain trainers who I have not seen or heard from suddenly come out of the shadows at this time of the year in NY and bat .500. (e.g Frank Labocetta).
No one can convince me otherwise that NYRA doesn\'t look the other way so that their 9 a day 5 day programs in December and January can get filled.
Good Luck,
Joe B.
The ban on steroids in sports is not only done for the protection of the athletes who will take the shots but also to protect those athletes who do not want to drug themselves but must do so to be competetive. The same is true for trainers. If one is allowed to do it, a number of others must follow. only those in unique situations (i.e. Walden and Shug) can afford to compete just based on quality stock.
gowand--
It\'s funny that you mention Shug; he\'s clean and having trouble keeping up.
Good Luck,
Joe B.
At least until after the Thanksgiving holidays.
I just want to say THANKS to all the good handicappers and great people who put this Board at the top when it comes to trying to be a better horseplayer. The kind of dialogue above is just another example along with numerous other subjects such as "Fast Pace New Top", "Horses Getting Faster", etc. Even if you don't buy Thorograph, which you should, this Board provides the most diverse mix of sharp horseplayers, and Red Board room products that someone would have to be nuts to not take advantage of what this Board has to offer. Hopefully your interest is tweaked enough that you begin to buy Thorograph.
Also in the Thanksgiving spirit, I want to say thanks to the Daily Racing Form for what I believe has been the best year in that publications history. I almost thought I have been stuck in a time warp and have been reading a reincarnation of the 2nd greatest NEW newspaper of the last 50 years (behind the USA Today)—The Racing Times.
Incidentally, what ever happened to all those guys at the late Racing Times and did any of them ever make anything out of themselves.
Happy Thanksgiving,
Silver Charm
Re the Racing Times--
Our own Alan is an alumnus, and the guy doing our programming had a little to do with the paper. Steve Crist was editor and spearheaded the purchase of DRF, his assistant editor at the RT was Neil Cook, who went on to be editor of DRF for a while. Katherine Wilkens was head of marketing at RT, went on to do the same job at DRF as one of the sharpest people in the industry, then married Joe De Francis and doesn\'t have to work anymore. Scott Finley was last sighted with Atttheraces in England.
The importance of the Racing Times can\'t be overstated. Up until that time the DRF had a monopoly, and no interest in adding to the publicly available body of knowledge or information, since they felt it would hurt their business (and ultimately that turned out to be true). George White and Steve Crist changed all that, and George put together the deal that had Equibase sharing the RT database-- that is why that database exists today, and did not disappear when the RT went out of business. For thoses of us who had been unable to get the DRF to allow us to buy data on-line, this turned out to be pretty damn important.
The RT ended what amounted to a long dark age of handicapping-- that\'s why guys like Donaldson (see my post \"History Lesson\") are not well known, and why many others of us were viewed as counterculture or fringe operators for a long time. And Beyer came out pretty good.
Silver Charm--
Enjoy the holiday. Hopefully you do not have to spend Thursday at your in-laws like I do. But I\'ll have visions of the Clarke Hdcap. (wide open now that MDO is staying home) and the Cigar Mile/Remsen/Demoiselle (does Congaree come back strong after the BC gut wrenching effort?), not to mention the Hollywood Turf Festival, and that will get me through it. The racing gets a little dull between this weekend and opening day at Santa Anita so good luck. I\'m sure we can all use a little extra holiday cash.
Joe B.
I heard the are going to quarantine horses for 24 hours before races ,is SoCal,this under video surviellance.Its a start.
This article says Gill was exonerated and is suing Gulfstream .
http://www.drf.com/news/article/51693.html
If you want to know more about the Racing Times read Crist\'s autobiography. Its pretty interesting. TG even gets a mention. I was shocked to learn that he\'s only in his late forties, but I guess an early heart attack can make one look like David Crosby.
Happy Thanksgiving
The NYRA nerving policy is ancient, as is it\'s \'psuedo\' public disclosure.. Another reason that information MUST be posted is so someone claiming the horse can\'t say they got damaged goods.