Drugs - Just say no...

[HP]

Handicapping the \"juice\" guys. Having seen a fair number of these guys in New York...

After awhile, the cat\'s out of the bag, and everybody starts to (over)bet everything these guys put on the track. If you see what\'s happening early, you can cash the juice guys when they start winning off their claims with horses that don\'t figure. After awhile, you can get nice prices going against them - they will be bet down to even money when they should be 2-1 or 5/2. I\'ve had good results with straight win bets in these cases - plenty of the \"juice\" nags will still get in the picture and screw up your exotics.

They do get beat. The crowd will follow them too long. Nothing lasts forever. Not that different from deciding what to do with a Bill Mott trainee. If he\'s a short price, either try to beat him or pass. If he\'s a price, you might want to give extra weight to the possibility that the horse can move up. Easy game! HP

[Mall]

As Chris suggests,the use of drugs in racing is a complicated question. One thing that is almost guaranteed to come up is the claim that \"racing officials\" are turning their back, or at least a blind eye, to the problem. Who these officials are, or exactly why they would do this, is never explicitly addressed. First of all, it is not, as one poster suggested, the owner of the track who is in charge of enforcing the medication rules. They don\'t have the people or know how to do the job, though there was a less litigious time in our history when the tracks were able reduce stall space based on suspicion alone.

The group who is in charge of investigating & bringing charges for medication violations is the Thoroughbred Racing Protective Bureau. That would be the group, for example, which investigated & brought the past charges against Mr. Gill & some of his trainers, the very charges which are being cited as proof that something is probably going on now. The logic that the TRPB was willing to do something in the past, but knows something is going on but is unwilling to do anything about it now, escapes me completely. The TRPB does not, however, have the final say on what the penalty will be or if someone will be reinstated. That responsibilty rests with the Racing Commissions, & it is not uncommon for the TRPB to ask for a more severe penalty than is imposed, or to oppose reinstatment.  The crux of the matter is that in order to act, the TRPB needs more evidence than the kind of suspicion, which in many cases they share, that is sometimes treated as gospel on bulletin boards.

Moreover, the TRPB is more than willing to consider and in appropriate cases act, on information it receives, including information it receives from serious fans. This is something I learned when I was asked, by someone I guess I can describe as one of this Bd\'s most prominant posters,to look into one aspect of the use of EPO. I hope to cover some of the details of what I learned in a separate post. For now, suffice it to say that as of a few minutes ago the 2nd in command at TRPB is aware of, and understands the logic of using, the 90 day rather than the 72 hr test, though the former would introduce a new protection for those who claim horses.

Finally, if you have what you honestly believe is relevant information,the person to contact at the TRPB is Jim Gowen, (410)398-1499.

[Alydar in California]

Bob wrote:

 \"Alydar:
I\'m including you here because I wanted to kill two mockingbirds with one stone. Sheesh!\"

Didn\'t Atticus Finch teach you that it\'s a sin to kill a mockingbird? They are harmless birds, innocent of any wrong. In other words, they are quite unlike these trainers you will be writing about.