http://www.bloodhorse.com/horse-racing/articles/85220/no-smoking-gun-in-peta-video-sent-to-khrc
QuoteIn watching the video sent to the KHRC, it's clear that the original video PETA posted on its website is heavily edited. The PETA website video routinely moves around audio segments to run with unrelated video.
When will the press stop taking these losers seriously? Probably never.
It\'s not specific to them. Same thing was done to Acorn and the woman who got fired by the White House, and I\'m not saying it\'s specific to R\'s, either. It\'s anyone with an agenda and no conscience-- they think they\'re doing God\'s work and the end justifies the means.
Deleted after further reading
They\'re not going to get an apology, but they are the ones who got defamed, yes. We\'ll see what Drape does now.
Well down in the article there\'s something really unbelievable-- they took sound from one event (cursing) and put it over another to make it appear the cursing was happening about what you were seeing on tape. That\'s really bad.
Where was PETA at when the Bureau of Land Management was killing that ranchers (I think Cliven was the guys first name)cattle in Nevada. To me that seems bigger abuse of animals.
PETA was protecting the turtles.
There\'s actually another one breaking tonight. A doctored audio tape, same guy who got Acorn, taking a shot at the anti-- fracking guys.
I really have no feelings against corruption or hypocrisy being exposed (if it\'s legitimate and not fancy editing) via secret video taping.
Sure. But here and in the cases I cited it\'s not what\'s going on.
FYI - there\'s a piece on drugs in racing on the latest Real Sports on HBO. I just caught the last 5 minutes of it - highly critical of the sport.
read the article and read the complaint
not sure why you are outraged at peta based on this. am surprised, given all you know about the dirty side of this sport, that you arent at least a little outraged by what is passing itself off as journalism regarding an issue that you care a lot about.
couldnt find the full length video that bloodhorse says is linked on khrc website. couldn\'t find anything on the khrc website about the peta investigation tbh, that is probablly because the investigation is still underway and no conclusions have been rendered yet.
I wouldnt blame you if you missed this fact--the article is written to imply peta\'s complaint was found to be baseless as an indisputable matter of fact/law. but the opinion that no smoking gun was found and that peta\'s complaint is fallacious is solely the opinion of the author of the article.
the review of the evidence, which I doubt included the most necessary documents, the medical records and testimony of involved persons under oath, was made by, and the conclusions were reached by, the article\'s author, and no one else. in fact, im sure that the author didnt have access to real evidence or he would have mentioned it.
this is as deceptive as anything the article accuses peta of doing. even the way the article covers its ass by saying \"that is not say investigators wont find violations...\" is manipulative.
for all the vitriol against peta\'s heavily edited footage (which was known all along, as it was less than 5 minutes of 10 hours), this article was no better--it sets it self up as an article reporting the khrc\'s findings but does not quote any one at the khrc, instead it relies on the authority of milt toby, a horse racing author (whatever the hell that is) and an unidentified rules expert. period.
the drugs peta says were administered, the article confirms were administered. the issue is whether they were administered by a vet and/or if they required to be prescribed by a vet. this has yet to be determined as the article admits. but even if they fall within the legal lines, you know that that doesnt make them nonperformance enhancing, or legitimate in the true sense of the word. and it certainly doesnt mean they are therefore good for the horse.
peta\'s filing a complaint about the drugs is neither radical, nor nefarious. people filing complaints about suspected violations of any kind are how our system works. someone sees something that looks fishy to them, they inform the apprpriate authority, the appropriate authority investigates. shocking.
regarding the remixed dialog accusation. the article confirms blasi cursed the horses profanely, and that one of the horses he cursed was teardrop after she lost and then came up lame. then the article states that peta edited the original 5 minute video so that it appeared that blasi\'s cursing teardrop occurred during an endoscopy. even if peta did play his rant over footage of an endoscopy, its a difference without distinction. he cursed the horse, the article confirms he cursed the horse. peta did not manufacture anything. and again, there has never been a question that the original video was an extremely edited version.
so...the issue that has you raising pitchforks is that peta may have played confirmed dialog with unrelated footage. the question when this sort of thing is done is whether the footage gives the dialog another connotation (or vice versa)--here is doesnt. and without seeing the full footage I refuse to give this hack the benefit of the doubt that the footage isnt what was originally with the rant (conversations around endoscopies in horse stalls are hardly unusual). I guaranty this was the only instance where remixing occured or more would gave been described...ones that actually did result in a change in connotation.
the article sounds like it was written by assmussen\'s lawyer and released by them to bloodhorse. I\'ll take the nyt and drapes credibilty over an industry rag\'s any day. if bloodhorse wants to get into a credibility pissing match with times, it will lose. it wont look good if drape/nyt reports that bloodhorse is letting assmussen write its articles about him.
I m not a member of peta, but I will say this, they are not hacks and they absolutely know how to conduct undercover investigations that are unasailable in a court. peta exposes animal abuse by corporations who make assmussen look like a pan handler. they\'ve filmed inside feed lots and slaughterhouses in states where doing so is a felony, and have won. they have a top notch legal counsel. they are not just some dumb zealots with cameras and axes to grind. most important, they dont care if everyone hates them. the more you sqwauk about this, the more people hear about it, the more likely something gets done. and they\'ve won, or rather the horses have.
Whoops, the Hate Peta crowd will now have to devote some of their venom to HBO!
Is Mr Strawbridge a PETA member? I doubt it.
https://www.thoroughbredracing.com//articles/strawbridge-racing-denial-about-image-problems
Real Sports took no prisoners! Caca all over NYRA (Aqueduct), Pletcher, Baffert & Asmussen. They Put US racing\'s culture of GREED and DRUGS in the spotlight.
Right, they were supervising the government killing those turtles so that Harry Rieds some could start some business there.
PETA intent visible to a blind man,loons out to destroy racing by any means whatsoever.Loons manipulated and edited, not a trace of \"illegal peds\" or even a discussion of them recorded.Asmussen, like MANY high % trainers use tons of legal stuff, tap/inject and stack liberally, all inside the rules. Change the rules or shut up!Violations of immigration,min wage laws unfortunately prevalent in many industries but has no relevance to the core of the racing game and it\'s issues.
Only fools don\'t know the PETAs/NYT/Joe Dope et al write for sensational value, \"it sells\".Their negative biased slant on racing is obvious.
Racing has issues,anyone who has anything to do with the game knows that.The perception of racings problems are much greater than it\'s actual problems.Tough to correct the problems with 30+ independent venues, incompetent management and politically appointed stooges in control.Abusers in the game need to be outed and banned.
Meanwhile in 15 days, about 120,000 people will be at Belmont betting millions while another 20+Million watch on TV as CC tries for racing history.
PETA and the rest of the haters probably hoping for something negative to happen, ammo for the loons!
Kekomi,
Nice to hear from you again. Can I assume you\'re a vegetarian?
Kekomi-- so essentially, you are saying the video doesn\'t prove Asmussen DIDN\'T do anything. Which a) would require proving a negative, b) from a PETA produced and highly edited tape.
Re Drape-- unless I missed something he is working off the same info (tape) everyone else is, has no extra knowledge or expertise than others, and less than some. I have not (and will not) watch the tape because I knew it could well be what it now looks like it is. But I heard about one part of the original tape, which Drape discussed in his article, where they felt a horse\'s foot and said there was no pulse-- the poor horse! They\'re going to run a hose with a dead foot! In actuality, no pulse is GOOD-- it means the inflammation is gone and the foot is no longer throbbing. Somehow that escaped Drape.
As you pointed out, I\'ve been about as outspoken as anyone in this industry, for a long time, about dealing with drug issues. But that\'s a whole different thing than framing/defaming specific individuals.
Have to interject, just a little. Are you saying over the years on this board, and even from you directly, there hasn\'t been any innuendo about cheating? Yes it\'s based on data and figures, but ultimately it all boils down to a few simple things that aren\'t being addressed by the industry. Every horseplayer I know sees certain names in the program and if you want to play you hold your nose and go along with it to some extent. But the bottom line is everyone knows there is something wrong, and you even posted on \"off the record\" talks with a certain vet who acknowledged all the underhanded stuff you thought was going on (TCO2, etc.) was true.
People know SOMETHING is up but racing does a really bad job of informing the public and has no real STANDARDS that apply in all jurisdictions. Am I the only one that notices how well Pletcher does at Gulfstream before his annual Derby crap out? Individual horseplayers are not experts on medication levels and other vet type issues. Look at people talking about \"out of competition testing\" and you have to wonder \"if everything is on the up and up why does this matter?\" But we all know it DOES matter.
So there is a void, a gaping hole in the middle of everything, and a lot of idiotic speculation by unqualified people with vague suspicions, just like me. But that\'s the problem with the void, it gets filled in, by PETA or Joe Drape or whoever else. The void was created by the racing establishment which is run by political appointees who know nothing about horse racing, sports in general, or anything else. It\'s sad that PETA smelled smoke and blew it into a fire that may have burned some people that didn\'t entirely deserve it. Ultimately racing can only blame itself, for not doing a better job and letting this fester and continue forever. If the pro-racing side is right and there\'s not that much going on, why can\'t they fix it? And the speculation and innuendos go on here as well, albeit without deceptively edited videotape.
That last clause is the point, not any of the things before it. You know where I stand, everyone does. I want there to be more transparency. I want test results to be published. I want real testing and real penalties. But the end doesn\'t justify the means.
If this thing turns out to be a bunch of crap, which right now seems likely, it will be harder to get things fixed, not easier. It will damage the game and individuals without creating progress.
Oh this is absolutely going to backfire on PETA and now the status quo will be able to use this \"deceptive editing\" mess as ammunition against real change. It\'s a total disaster. They blew it. I said before that Drape has little or no impact and now we can add PETA to that list, but it\'s actually worse. PETA just did more to ultimately hurt horses than Assmussen. That\'s a fact.
I don\'t know if I agree with you on the end not justifying the means. Conventional paths to progress NEVER get anywhere in this game. It\'s summertime which means Monmouth Park. You know what\'s going on there. \"The Wild West.\" And it\'s going to be exactly the same this year. Guaranteed.
I\'m watching \"The Wire.\" There\'s a great quote in there. \"There are no winners. Both sides are losing. One side is just losing slower than the other.\" That\'s where racing is at.
If that organization who made and released the tape wants to catch a cheater, they need to really show cheating. Showing me a tape of a man who uses colorful language and insults horses and other humans doesn\'t show me he\'s actually cheating with drugs or doing anything against racing rules and regs. Showing that tape and saying \"listen to the language, he\'s a bad guy, so he must be guilty of something\" is not going to cut it with me.
If Nehro was running with a bad foot, the state vet should have scratched him out of the post parade, if the horse warmed up lame, he would have been scratched, so that\'s not on Blasi and Asmussen, once they enter the horse, its up to the state vet to withdraw the horse if he\'s moving poorly in the post parade.
plasticman Wrote:
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> If that organization who made and released the
> tape wants to catch a cheater, they need to really
> show cheating. Showing me a tape of a man who uses
> colorful language and insults horses and other
> humans doesn\'t show me he\'s actually cheating with
> drugs or doing anything against racing rules and
> regs. Showing that tape and saying \"listen to the
> language, he\'s a bad guy, so he must be guilty of
> something\" is not going to cut it with me.
>
> If Nehro was running with a bad foot, the state
> vet should have scratched him out of the post
> parade, if the horse warmed up lame, he would have
> been scratched, so that\'s not on Blasi and
> Asmussen, once they enter the horse, its up to the
> state vet to withdraw the horse if he\'s moving
> poorly in the post parade.
I agree with what you say but not the last sentence. The onus cannot be entirely on a track vet to force a scratched horse. As an owner and bettor, I always blame the trainer if a horse is entered for a race and is not sound -- and subsequently scratched by the vet or jockey. I have no personal insight as to whether or not Nehro was sound or not. Just not willing to let a trainer and/or assistant off the hook with the expectation that a track vet will essentially overrule their judgement and responsibility to enter a sound horse. They should know (and do know) when a horse is not right.
kencbs Wrote:
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> FYI - there\'s a piece on drugs in racing on the
> latest Real Sports on HBO. I just caught the last
> 5 minutes of it - highly critical of the sport.
That\'s putting it mildly.
I just watched the episode. After watching that sickening piece, Asmussen\'s \"reputation\" being tarnished is far down the list of things I\'m worried about regarding horse racing.