Timothy Hooper - Legit or Thief?

[Tavasco]

I\'ll preface by saying, I THINK, trainers who cheat with PEDs should be labeled thieves rather than cheats. Furthermore, those that employ thieves are also thieves and deserve to be put in the spotlight.

This week the board was full of chatter about hard facts (chemistry,admissions, etc) vs circumstantial cases creating belief and/or illusion of theft by trainers with jump up performances.

I play the races virtually every day both major and minor tracks. What I am doing is compiling a list of all the usual suspects. So far in addition to Lance Armstrong, Jamie Ness, Doug O\'Neil (Pitino,et al), ENRON, Dutrow (good riddance). I am considering Timothy Hooper, Wags Nags (Owners), Angel Rodriguez(Jockey) and their vet (?) for inclusion on the PEN NAT\'L wall of shame.

Note - I suspect these characters above to be PED-cheater-thieves. As a horse player I am accustomed to being wrong more often than right. So they may be saints my purpose is to ID and publicize those in the sport stealing from the legitimate participants.

Anyone with meaningful info on Timothy Hooper and/or suspected cheater-thieves please weigh in. Maybe PP\'s should id the vets along with trainer, jock, sire, etc.

On a lighter note
TAP appears to lack humanity, unlike say Motion, Shug, Baffert, Lucas.. so he\'s probably an I\'ll-do-anything-to-win-cheater-thief (Duh!). Armstrong, Bonds, Ben Johnson, also lacked the appearance of humanity before being exposed as uncivilized and criminal. TAP your days are numbered, get out now, WHO you are speaks so loudly - we can\'t hear a word you\'re saying.

Like most here, I love Horse Racing - I want cheater-thieves run out of the sport. Like roaches and rats they\'ll run from the searchlight!

On a practical note.
If chemical testing systems don\'t work too well - Hey governing authorities wake up! cheater-thieves are ruining your business! How about lie detectors! truth serum, and water boarding for repeat offenders.

A new race classification called the Non Allowance Race where suspected cheater-thieves can be excluded by a majority vote of their peers. Those who are known to be honest.

Limit the cheater-thieves to races vs each other.

Discount purse payouts by say 80%-90% to trainers on the usual suspects list. Levy huge fines against security bonds required of suspected cheater-thieve trainers & Vets for proven violations. Make it too expensive to be even suspected of cheater-thieving. Attack/penalize the suspects put the burden of proof on the suspects.

Who do you suspect of PED larceny?

[P-Dub]

Honestly, I don\'t worry about \"cheaters\" or who may be \"suspected\" of cheating.

For me, there are more than enough races to bet on. I bet against a Ness horse a few weeks ago, odds on horse, and that horse ran out. So even if you have a race with a suspected \"cheater\", it doesn\'t mean that their horse will turn in a head shaking performance. If I get the right odds, I\'m not going to worry about a horse that \"might\" be juiced.

Some days are better than others.  Today I had a phenomenal day. 2 winners at Keeneland that pd 26.60 and 46.60.  Another at Calder that pd 45.80, and one at Penn that pd 74.60. Not once did I look at trainers of other horses and let it affect my play.  I liked these horses for various reasons, got a good price, and fired.

I\'m not saying some trainers aren\'t trying to get an edge.  I\'m saying it doesn\'t happen often enough to bother me. If you want to talk about cheating because it affects the purity of the Triple Crown, or some other big race, I get it.  But to walk around paranoid every day, wondering if a race I\'m wagering on has a \"cheater\"??  For me, it doesn\'t come into play nearly as often as some make it out to be. Its all about price. If I bet on enough overlays, getting bit by an occasional \"questionable\" outcome isn\'t going to affect my bottom line as much as it would if I consistently bet lower priced horses.