White Knight ???

[jimbo66]

I remember a number of discussions on this board where the host and many others referred to a specific vet with reference to potentially circumventing the rules.  It hasn\'t been brought up in a while, but nonetheless I do remember quite a bit of it.

Anyway, this morning on Steve Byk\'s radio show on Sirius (which is excellent by the way), he had that same vet on his show to talk about the recent statements by the RCI about the \"abolition of any medication at all\" in U.S. racing.  Anyway, before the segement started, I assumed that Dr. Allday would be taking the \"pro medication\" stance and STeve would be taking the \"no medication is good for racing stance\".  Much to my surprise, the roles were reversed, where Allday went on for a good 10 minutes about how great this will be for racing, while Steve worried about the impact that taking lasix away from a pretty fragile breed will have.  

My question I guess is that has this \"infamous\" vet \"found religion\" or is he the most two faced person on the planet?

[TGJB]

The drugs they are talking about are not performance enhancers. Stopping use of them will have no effect on use of those. If they were catching guys using illegal drugs now (and some would argue if they were even testing for them) you would be seeing positives for illegal drugs. This is a B.S. proposal about legal and relatively innocous ones.

(To be clear, when I say performance enhancers I\'m talking about things that are being used illegally to move horses up, not Lasix etc.).

[dannyboy135]

jb,
   Not sure where I stand on this but don\'t you agree, that Lasix and other legal drugs now serve the purpose of camouglageing the illegal drugs and that the no medication policy will make detection easier.

[miff]

Just remember, if they truly purify the game, there will far less racing which could be problematic for the game on the whole.

Can only say that without the help of dedicated vets,the horses I was involved with would not have started nearly as many times.I suspect the clueless clowns that run the game will eventually throw out the baby out with the bathwater re the illegal vs legal stuff.

Mike

[Footlick]

They used to race horses in this country without meds.  No other country in the world allows raceday medication, if I remember correctly.  Do you think this dependance of meds is a result of more horses ending up in the breeding shed because they were successful on the track because of the use of raceday meds, hence breeding more horses who have the weaknesses that raceday meds are used to help?  Or is it because we race primarily on dirt where the rest of the world races in turf, is racing on a harder surface continually part of the problem?  Also, if there were stricter enforcement and penalties for positives, do you think that would help?

[TGJB]

Miff-- baby/bathwater analogy is dead on.

[joekay]

It works in the rest of the world, why can\'t it work here?  Just looking at the horses on World Cup day, they looked terrific.  And also 5 ,6, 7 and 8yos still in great form.

[Kasept]

First to Jimbo, thanks very much for the kind words re: At the Races. I try to keep everyone upbeat, informed and entertained with ATR, and it\'s satisfying to know it\'s appreciated.

My stance with Allday Tuesday and then with Satish Wednesday, as JB seems to echo, is that the press release felt slapdash, and fashioned without any attempt to gain unification of purpose industry-wide. It certainly came without regard for other dedicated agencies like RMTC that are working tirelessly to improve the landscape via model rules and consistant withdrawl times. Worst of all, the way it was worded was an effrontery to American trainers and owners, while based on a faulty premise that the rest of the equine world is some pristine and driven snow model of purity.

I think it\'s noble of RCI to try and take a leadership role by attempting to draw potential lines in the sand, (i.e., Ed Martin\'s call for NYS RWB to review Dutrow\'s licensing), but this feels like window dressing which can\'t level the playing field an iota while failing to truly combat the actual \'evil-doers\'.

Some follow-up on the topic next week will include Ed Martin Tuesday (11a) to elaborate on the press release, as well as more from Allday and RMTC leadership. Plus, also from the RCI conclave, Satish Sanan and Dick Powell (AmWest) on the volatile Exchange Wagering presentation. Plus.. Tom Ludt on repairing the damage to TRF caused by the NYT smears; Barry Meadow on player issues and the usual array of ATR hijinx 9a-12p/M-F on Sirius 126 & XM 243.

Steve

[sighthound]

No.  Lasix simply dilutes the urine, but detection methods are so sophisticated not a concern.

[sighthound]

They used to race horses in this country on cocaine and heroin, too.

[JohnTChance]

Regarding this topic, especially with baseball starting again and retired trainers un-retiring... it occurs to me that Toronto Blue Jay Jose Bautista is the Larry Jones of baseball. I don\'t understand how the slugger, or the horse trainer, gets the eye-popping results he does. But that\'s just me.

JohnTChance