Are We the Last Generation of Horseplayers?

[richiebee]

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.