Thinks he can walk on water

[Fairmount1]

Anyone else hear his interview on TVG?

Even in jest, this guy is a little too arrogant to me.  Ummm, and his stats about Kittens Joy.....where was KJ as a stallion the last 9 years???

Hmmm....

[richiebee]

Ramsey\'s line was something like \"Some days I feel like I can walk on
water, but if the ice breaks halfway across the pond...\".

There are so many other issues to get upset about in Racing (I read that while
the foal crop nationally will continue to decline, the NY bred foal crop will
be increasing by nearly 30%. Just what we need -- more horses like the
Brilliant! Knock Quietly, entered in the 7th race at Belmont Monday, a 5YO NYB
who has earned nearly 180K off a lifetime record of 41-1-10-5), I really have
no problem with an owner who loves to gamble having some success and enjoying
it. He is the kind of owner any track would love to have: he enters a lot of
horses and pushes a lot of money into the mutuel pools.

Unrelated matter: Back in the goodle days, when the erstwhile Chuckles the
Clown and I would lock horns on everything, I posted that a young rider named
Channing Hill, who had just arrived in NY, might be OK. Chuckles said that
Hill was a couple of bad rides away from being a busboy or working in a dry
cleaner.

Hill is a natural lightweight who has, for the most part, avoided serious
injury throughout his career. While he will probably never be mentioned with
the elite riders nationwide, it is interesting to note that his strike rate
when riding for Wayne Catalano is somewhere near 33%.

[Rick B.]

richiebee Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> [Hill\'s] strike rate when riding for
> Wayne Catalano is somewhere near 33%.

Amazing how much better of a rider a
guy becomes when he marries a top
trainer\'s daughter (Shelbi Catalano).  

Seriously -- good kid, has the hands
and the instincts; like many, just needs
to be on better horses.

[Fairmount1]

Richiebee,

I was hesitant to post the following just because I believe many on the board believe I have an overly-cynical view regarding drugs in horse racing.  I just want to see continued improvements in the pursuit of clean racing.  Regardless, I think it qualifies as one of the important issues you are alluding to in your post.  Please clarify if my information is not paraphrased accurately (that\'s directed to anyone that heard it).

Donna Barton Brothers reported on Saturday that she had discussions with Dr. Scollay regarding the rule requiring state vets to administer lasix to horses that started almost exactly a year before in Kentucky.  No major incidents or problems have happened since the first six weeks of the change.  15,000 horses have been administered lasix since the change occurred.  More importantly,.....

Lasix amounts that show in urine tests are 30% lower than before the change indicating that horses are truly being given the lasix at 2 hours prior to post, rather than the likely 1 hour out that was happening over and over (DBB stated this could have been a result of private vets having to rush from barn to barn to barn to administer the lasix but still it raises suspicions).  And even more interesting, there are no \"unidentified substances\" showing up in the tests any longer.  Honestly, this information instills more confidence in me about racing in Kentucky.

However,......What I\'m \"upset about\" as richiebee states about all of this is Why Wasn\'t Scollay or others telling us that unidentified substances were showing up in the tests in Kentucky before this change???  Nonetheless, this change obviously has worked to a certain degree.  JB was this information (unidentified substances?) included in any open records requests you made (as I recall you attempted to get records from Ky at some point?)

[richiebee]

Fairmount1 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------

 
> However,......What I\'m \"upset about\" as richiebee
> states about all of this is Why Wasn\'t Scollay or
> others telling us that unidentified substances
> were showing up in the tests in Kentucky before
> this change???  

I think it is unreasonable for horseplayers to expect full disclosure from the Racing powers that be. Racing would rather handle incidents internally and without fanfare, leading me to believe that what is concealed from horseplayers might drive many away from the game (or at least alter their wagering behavior), that what horseplayers do know is the proverbial tip of the iceberg.

When the law finally caught up with leading NYRA trainer Oscar Barrera, and confronted him with evidence that his horses were racing on Lasix long before the diuretic was made legal in New York, the decision was made to handle the matter internally. Oscar was told to cease and desist or face permanent expulsion. No hearing, no suspension, no redistribution of purse monies. OSB went from miracle worker to a trainer who went 0 for 130 between May 1988 - January 1989.

Barrera died of a heart attack in April of 1991. An obituary of sorts was published by Andrew Beyer in the Washington Post of April 11, 1991. Excerpting from that article:

\"It is doubtful that any trainer, in any country, at any time in the history of the thoroughbred species has performed feats to equal Barrera\'s. Depending on whether he accomplished them with horsemanship or with chemistry, he either deserved to be enshrined in the Hall of Fame or banished from the sport.\"

Just to show how long we have been playing on an uneven playing field, and how little conditions have changed since the days of NY\'s \"Unholy Trinity\" (Oscar,  Pistol and the Gas Man) consider the following excerpt, from the same article, written slightly less than a quarter of a century ago:

\"Even after the magic had disappeared and Barrera ceased to be a significant factor as a trainer, he left a permanent mark on New York racing. Most other trainers believed that Barrera was cheating flagrantly, and many of them concluded from his success that crime does pay. For all its pretense of being the great citadel of the sport, New York may have the most drug ridden racing in America. Implausible trainers regularly emerge from obscurity to perform mini miracles and, in some cases, to move to the top of the trainer standings. Bettors in New York speak matter-of-factly about \"juice trainers,\" and many are surely alienated by the presumption that so many people in the game are cheating...\"

[I do not recall if the Beyer article was reprinted in the industry house organ, the Daily Racing Form.]

Another example of less than full disclosure: I have been told by two reliable sources that a fairly prominent trainer at Monmouth had five or six of his horses die suddenly a few summers ago, allegedly from what has been described as the misuse or abuse of a bronchial dilator. This most unfortunate incident was not addressed publicly; apparently Bob Kulina told the trainer to be off the grounds by sundown. (Bob Kulina and Lou Raffetto gave yours truly the same ultimatum in 1986, but thankfully it did not involve equine mortality).

My point Fairmount (and excuse me for being overly anecdotal) is that  Racing has an interest in covering up incidents which reflect badly on Racing, which show that the watchdogs (track officials, stewards, state racing commissions) are asleep at their posts. That is part of the reason that \"unidentified substances\" will probably remain unidentified. Racing really does not want an incident involving a prominent vet, breeder, owner or trainer to come to light. When violations and misdeeds do become public, Racing is repeatedly and surprisingly reluctant to punish the offenders to a point where the punishment will have the desired deterrent effect.

[TGJB]

Richie-- if I\'m correct horses take longer to recover from races on lasix, and since Oscar ran them twice a week that seems unlikely.

You\'re gonna have to tell me why Kulina threw you off... we had our own problems with him a long time ago. We won the confrontation.

[richiebee]

JB:

I am certain that Lasix was part of the equation; maybe OSB was a \"Lasix
Adjunct\" genius. Who knows how large or small a dose the runners were
receiving? If they were running at those short intervals, they might not have
been dosed for each race.

At about the time OSB was on the wane, \"Pistol\" Pete Ferriola drew 90 days for
Lasix positives; the Pistol claimed that he only used Lasix for workouts.

This has always bothered me. NYRA took great pride in their no Lasix stance at
the time; it was part of NYRA\'s identity. I think at that time (late 1980s)
NYRA and Oaklawn were the last holdouts, yet the Pistol took a mere 3 months.
Another place where some book throwing would have been appropriate, but
instead there was wrist slapping. One would think that Lasix would be banned
from the backside entirely given NYRA\'s philosophy towards the drug at the
time.

I\'ll get back to you with the R. Kulina tale. Short version is that he was
right, I was wrong, but again, thankfully, it did not involve (a) drugs (human
recreational or equine); (b)the health or welfare of any equine; or (c) the
result of a pari-mutuel event. We aren\'t talking Tony Ciulla or the \"Fix Six\"
gang here.