Dumbfellas.

[Mall]

The 17 individuals who were indicted have been described as low level associates in the Gambino crime family. Just how low these guys were on the food chain is clear from the fact that only 2 have nicknames, & they\'re both pretty pathetic for mobsters, to wit: \"Cookies\" & \"Pebbles.\" The impression I had reading the indictment is that the fed\'s primary focus is to destroy what little is left of a once powerful crime family by whatever means presented themselves. Although there are a number of rumors regarding what else the feds learned about racing from the wiretaps, I will be very surprised if this case signals a stepped up federal govt interest in going after trainers who drug their horses. The unidentified performance enhancing substance administered to Rocket isn\'t even mentioned until Count 87, & I\'ll venture a guess that the main reason Greg Martin was indicted is because he is a good candidate to cop a plea in exchange for testimony against team Uvari.

One would think that even the lowest level member of a crime family which has been decimated by convictions based on wiretaps might consider the possibility that his or her conversations were being recorded. Then again, these are guys who thought they could circumvent the reporting requirement for bank deposits of $10k or more by making a large number of $9500 deposits at the same bank. And now that I understand their fairly straightforward & not necessarily morally objectional betting scheme, the idea of making a few extra bucks defrauding the IRS seems nothing short of pure genius. After all, hardly anyone has ever heard of a case where the feds used the tax laws to bring down a powerful mobster.

On a more upbeat topic, of the three finalists I just can\'t decide who deserves the Eclipse Award for best owner: the guy who just paid the largest fine in Ky history for trying to bribe another owner to scratch her horse, or the guy who\'s vet amputated his horse\'s leg at GP. I\'m sure they\'re both deserving, at least of something.

[twoshoes]

> On a more upbeat topic, of the three finalists I just can\'t decide who deserves the Eclipse Award for best owner: the guy who just paid the largest fine in Ky history for trying to bribe another owner to scratch her horse, or the guy who\'s vet amputated his horse\'s leg at GP. I\'m sure they\'re both deserving, at least of something.<

Mall - Excellent post. My vote goes to the former with the kicker that, in my eyes at least, he was complicit in making the Breeders Cup Classic a Boat Ride. Taking stock of what\'s happening leaving the gate is one thing - discussing tactics with one of your trainers who happens to train one of your main rivals before the race is beyond the pale.

[Chuckles_the_Clown2]

Add Ramsey\'s bag of dirty tricks to his association with Bobby Rotten and he\'s a tough vote.  

When the officials at Gulfstream found Gill\'s dead horse with his foreleg missing that had to make them suspect the worst.

Official1: Da f****** horse\'s leg is cut off.

Official2: \"Whadyasayin?\"....\"Hey dis horse has his f****** leg cut off\".

Official1 \"I told ya his f****** leg was cut off\"

If you think the remnants of the Gambino crime family \"Cookies\" and \"Pebbles\" are a couple notches below wiseguys, how stupid would Gill\'s people have to be to think they were gonna cut a leg off to hide something? If the horse had been nerved Gill would have been better off to leave the leg on and claim lack of knowledge. All removing the missing leg did was set the wheels of suspicion in motion. Further evidence in my mind that nothing wrong was done.

I\'m rooting for \"a friend of mine\", Michael \"Da Ripper\" Gill. Cheating doesn\'t follow the path up to the owner. Heck we don\'t even hold trainers accountable for it.

CtC



Post Edited (01-19-05 09:33)

[JohnTChance]

Reference has been made to the vet who cut off the leg of one of owner Michael Gil\'s horses down at Gulfstream Park in 2003. The name of the vet was Philip Aleong, DVM. That winter, Gil\'s horses ran their eyeballs out. Some truly stunning performances came from that barn. Fan outrage was like I\'ve never seen before.

While Gil and his various franchise trainers and house vets moved on to various points North, South and West, with varying levels of success, and varying levels of explosive pop, my general perception is that Gil\'s horses never ran quite as explosively since then (that is, without Aleong).

What ever happenned to Aleong? He quietly faded from the headlines, but he\'s still around Florida.

Who does he work for now? One of his clients is trainer Kirk Zaidie, a 40% winner currently at Tampa Bay Downs. Beware. And so it\'s goes... merrily... Aleong.

JohnTChance

[Chuckles_the_Clown2]

Is Ziadie really that high at Tampa?...lol I rarely bet that track, but I will be there in a little over a month. I\'ll have to check that out. .

You know they tested that leg extensively. It came back clean but for the poison used to kill the horse and allowed race day medications under threshold limits.



Post Edited (01-19-05 17:58)