Holy Crap

[miff]

Check out www.paulickreport.com(NHBPA responds to NY Times) to read a response to the NY Times article.

Seems Joe Drape and co got the facts/stats substantially wrong but what can you expect from those with a biased agenda.

[TGJB]

Miff-- I took a quick look at that thing, and unfortunately I don\'t have any blood pressure medicine near, so if I don\'t post for a while you\'ll know what happened.

The Times may or may not have gotten anything wrong. The response to the article INTENTIONALLY misrepresents at least some facts that I know of-- after that became clear I stopped reading because once you know that\'s true, there\'s no way I or anyone else can know if the OTHER \"facts\" are true.

They claim 25% of horses that race in this country are tested, by rule. a) They are not (as of 2008 they were testing 2 horses A DAY in Maryland), and b) there\'s testing and there is testing. To choose just one example, Pennsylvania announced in 2010 they were going to BEGIN to test for TCO2-- you think that \"clean\" tests from 2000-2009 mean anything?

This crap-- and that\'s the most benign term I could use-- is EXACTLY what is wrong with this f-----g game. Instead of taking that article as a wakeup call, the immediate reaction is to protect the status quo, circle the wagons. What f-----g nonsense. Idiots.

[Topcat]

sighthound Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> \"Asked about the e-mail exchange, Crist said,
> "Then as now, I personally believe NYRA was not
> aware it was deliberately applying an incorrect
> rate." \"
>
> How can you be unawares of something you are doing
> deliberately?
>
> This may get ugly regarding who knew what, when.
>
> Edit:
>
> The Daily Racing Form reports this line different:
>  \"Asked about the e-mail exchange, Crist said,
> "Then as now, I personally believe NYRA was not
> aware it was applying an incorrect rate."


Whenever the overall spin efforts get too much for anyone, calmly return to page seven of the NYRA Takeout/Interim report, and refresh yourself with Hayward\'s lengthy-paragraph e-mail excerpt . . . reset your mind . . . and continue to approach this with the kind of critical thinking necessary to regard it properly -- the same kind of approach demanded (to draw a parallel) by the present Penn State brouhaha.

[NoCarolinaTony]

You are talking about the New York Times of the 21\'st century now aren\'t you?

If you were talking about the Times of the 1950\'s through the 80\'s I might bite...your paper has lost it\'s integrity for years now...\"All the News thats fit to print\"..yeah right!!...I mean left....

NCTony

[NoCarolinaTony]

The last time we had a reason for breakdowns was the racing surface was not safe, and we got Polytrack et al.....now it over stimulating the Claiming purses with racino Money thats causing the bad behavior...and we still have breakdowns...Even at Keeneland on Poly.

What will the next over reaction be?....

I just cant wait to see.

NC Tony

[NoCarolinaTony]

Just Curious, when they do their Handicapping Seminars at Saratoga are they Pro Bono or are they Getting Paid a fee?

[HP]

Right, a 100% increase in breakdowns at Aqueduct and the article is an overreaction.  

And right again! the article is a product of a left wing liberal conspiracy at the Times, which has no credibility.  

If they write about it, that\'s no good, and if they don\'t write about it, someone would say they had their heads in the sand.  

HP

[NoCarolinaTony]

The Michael Gill part of that Story is really Old News (2010)

http://www.peta.org/b/thepetafiles/archive/tags/jockeys/default.aspx

PETA is LEFT of Center don\'t you agree?...Its partially a sensationalized story for Derby week..to enhance the cause...A Story the TIMES would Support (just my opinion with that slant on it) Why not right this story last month if you are really concenrned about Horse Safety?? (Its to sell papers this week to people who would not otherwise buy perhaps? After all its all business in the end of the day).

But with all that Being said, My point is DRUGS is whats doing this...always has and always will unless dramtic changes are put in place or current policies and laws are enforced or modified as needed...Incentives with Higher Purses may be todays reason for the breakdowns....so Now we lower the purses..the last time it was Track surface as the culprit...and we got Poly.

Stop the DRUGS STUPID!!! Don\'t Race UNSOUND HORSES...ENFORCE YOUR OWN POLICIES.

[HP]

Yes the timing of the story is to capitalize on Derby week, but what\'s going on at Aqueduct is relatively NEW news with the racino just coming in there.  I don\'t see the connection you are making to the polytrack issue at all.  Every business has sport has MANY issues to contend with.  They aren\'t all related.  Polytrack was an attempt to improve the safety of the game.  I don\'t like it, but there it is.  What does that have to do with the impact of raising purses on bottom level claimers?  Absolutely none that I can see...

Instead of railing at the Times and Joe Drape you should aim your invective at the people running the show, who can\'t even be bothered to follow the rules or figure out how to pay the players correctly.  Are you going to write to NYRA and tell them you think they should stop racing unsound horses?  Maybe.  But the article provoked SOME response and that\'s not really a bad thing, is it?  

You can knock the Times and the writers, but it doesn\'t change the facts, and they are ugly.  I love the game but I\'m not going to defend a lot of this nonsense.  Even when they catch the guys they don\'t do much.  HP

[JR]

What do you think the cause is or do you think there hasn\'t been an increase?

[TGJB]

Tony-- That\'s so far off the mark it\'s ridiculous. You don\'t like the Times editorial slant, fine, but that has nothing to do with their reporting or integrity, so if you have specifics there make your case. As For PETA, you\'re going to have to give me a working definition of \"left\" if an animal rights organization-- misguided, possibly intellectually dishonest or not-- lands anywhere on a left-right spectrum.

[HP]

Not sure I understand your question JR, but if you are asking about the increase in breakdowns at Aqueduct the article explains that there is more incentive to race unsound bottom level claimers since the purses have gone up dramatically.  HP

[JR]

You\'ve answered my question and, without having any inside knowledge of the sport, I\'m inclined to agree with you. Steroids and pain masking medications keep unsound horses running when they should be rested or retired. I believe the breakdown rate across the pond is half what it is in this country and I don\'t think they permit any use of steroids.

[sighthound]

We haven\'t permitted steroids for three years now.  Can\'t blame them.

[JR]

I was directing that question to NCTony. I was wondering what cause, if not the ones named in the article, he would attribute the increase to or did he not think there was any increase.