I’m shocked…SHOCKED! To hear there’s chicanery going on at these tiny bullring meets in the middle of nowhere. Please Uncle Sam…come save us from the evil doings of master criminal Kim Veerhusen.

Ah, Nebraska.  Where a jockey was caught with a buzzer in his posession immediately after winning a race and was given a suspension and a fine:  the suspension was through the end of the meet, which amounted to about two weeks, and the fine was the proceeds of the $200 win ticket bought for him by the trainer.  If he had been caught in his home state (Illinois), where he was suspected of “plugging horses in,’ he would have been suspended for life.  

Haha…so the Feds should spend resources used toward tracking other drugs in this country to stop the cheating of one gyp trainer at a bullring offering $5,000 purses?

An open invitation……

Horse                         Purchased $                  Race Record

Collegiate                   $ 400,000                      7-1-1-1  $ 74,095
Old Ninety Eight           $ 400,000                      8-0-2-0  $ 11,148
Knight’s Blade              $ 525,000                      4-1-0-1  $ 17,175
Standing O.                 $ 250,000                     8-1-1-2  $  25,770
Kinsella                      $ 2,200,000                    5-2-0-1  $ 65,505
Phantom Avalanche       $ 230,000                     0-0-0-0   $ 0
Nylons                        $ 220,000                     13-3-3-1  $ 41,421
Carriage Trade            $ 1,500,000                    1-0-0-0   $ 0
In This Life                  $ 400,000                      6-0-0-1  $ 4,923

I personally am really, really tired of reading your ceasless negative commentary of what is wrong with this business.  You never offer a constructive solution, you just like telling people what THEY are doing wrong.  If you are in fact, the all knowing expert you present yourself to be then try presenting  a constructive solution to some of the issues.  By the small sample of statistics above, it is clear that you are no expert.

Just for the record Mr. Paulick, there is nothing mean spirited in my above statement.  Too many people seem to be using your site to do nothing but bash and criticize the business, yet do not offer a single realistic, constructive solution.  I am tired of reading all the negativity from self proclaimed experts, and, as an advertiser of yours or not, Irwin is one of the biggest negativists on your site.  I didn’t make up the statistics above, they came right off of the Bloodhorse auction database, and Equibase.

Cliff must be one of the leaders of our sport in disguise.

Jon Cohen.

I’m not sure I see the negativity in Barry  Irwin’s comment. He is actually proposing a solution to a problem that The Jockey Club spent enormous resources discussing recently at its annual Round Table. Your position seems to be that it’s OK to cheat.

I won’t say your comment above is mean-spirited, but it is completely irrelevant to the issue. You seem like a very sad person, and I feel sorry for you.

Your statement “cheating is rampant” can’t be proven. To this point the only frog juice positives are being found at marginal, low-level tracks, by gyp trainers who could never hope to compete on larger circuits. Involving the feds won’t put a crimp in cheating at any level. And even  if it did, folks like yourself would continue to point at ghosts, throw around unproven facts and say the fed wasn’t doing enough.

Make the game better dept;

Let’s not overlook the horse
as we get tangled up
in the myriad issues
connected to class 1 violations.

All trainers guilty of class1 violations should have ALL horses removed from their care;
ALL horses in their shedrow placed on vets list;
(Look what happened in new Mexico)

Cherry-picking a small sample of failed purchases reveals either a complete lack of seriousness or intelligence. One could easily do the same for EVERY SINGLE OWNER who has acquired and/or bred many horses. To suggest that such a list somehow reflects either expertise, or a lack of it, is the height of ignorance.

It is also ignorant to attack those who offer serious criticism as “negative”. Of course it is helpful to offer specific suggestions of how problems might be solved, but Irwin has done that in far more cases than almost any other high-profile owner.

Check out the horses that did well during the Arlington Festival this week end. Jakkalberry, Lake Drop, and Bayrir did not race on lasix.

Got to feel sorry for those suffering from extreme siege mentality. It really is pretty sad to watch.  

“Did the punishment fit the alleged rule violation?”

Rhetorical flourish aside, over and above the insignificant punishments & historically speaking, the industry unwisely chose & continues to choose to routinely cast a veil upon, turn a blind eye to, actively sweep under the rug & in general, minimize incidents of cheating in a (failed) effort to maintain a superficial facade of integrity.

Even now, the response to the demorophin positives has been desultory & apathetic given its severe nature.

It turns out that what amounts to a kind of tacit complicity has been & continues to be extremely corrosive & much more costly than dealing with the problem of cheating, head on, those many moons ago when the present course was plotted.

As profoundly ignorant it makes them appear, I’m not sure the powers-that-be get that yet. 

And yet another surprise,

The STRAW MAN ARGUMENT.   Is this “expert” predictable, or what ???

So true,
No accident that veerhusen ended up with a horse
Named “cheatin cowboy”- he’s rubbin it in your nose.
For testing positive for a class 1violation.
His barn should be treated as a crime scene behind yellow tape.
We would all learn a lot.

Followup: According to Tom Sage, director  of the Nebraska State Racing Commission, the maximum penalty stewards may give is “current meeting, plus 10 days,” along with a $1,500 fine. The commission, by statute, follows Association of Racing Commissioners International model rules and may suspend a licensee from one to five years for a Class 1 violation and fine the licensee up to $5,000. Gage said the commission has not yet set a date to consider the Veerhusen ruling. “We hope to do something by the end of September,” he said. 
I would be guessing that he will get more than a slap on the wrist, they ruled off a trainer for 3 yrs for class 1 violations and still after 3 yrs will not re-license him. So before everyone gets their pants in a wad, see what the commission does

I take it, you think Saratoga trainers like their horses better than Fonner trainers?

http://www.paulickreport.com/n…

If you or someone you know is paying too much at a sale, maybe you should save your cobra venom for the breeders that have successfully distorted the purse structure in this country and have inbred and speed bred the breed into fragility.

this is so discouraging that someone would be that greedy have no conscience whatsoever he is not being punished near enough

Rampant: occurring or flourishing unchecked
Thoroughbred Rulings: a compendium of official actions by various racing commissions or authorities.
So you wanted me to go to a place listing where cheaters have been caught (checked) to get the idea that cheating is somehow unchecked in American racing?
You can’t prove a negative.
And we will leave aside the fact that most of the database is filled with instances not of “cheating” but mundane rule violations and fouls. A lineman who holds isn’t cheating. He’s blocking in an illegal way. Now holding is rampant in the NFL. Should we call in the Fed to regulate the game? Or can we leave it up to the local refs to handle it?

 Wait…you mean this “joke” of a racing commission is just following some kind of uniform model rules? And they have statutes telling them to do it that way?
I don’t believe it. These hick Nebraskans can’t be trusted and my pants are already wadded up. Send in the Federal Government to untangle them.

Nebraska now leads the nation in wrist slapping.  This is criminal!  How long will the Regulated continue
to accept the incompetence of the Regulators?  Dermorphin has now shown its presence in
Nebraska and Doug
O’Neill has been suspended for
forty days in California.  (Don’t be
concerned, his assistant has everything under control.  Including “Richard’s
Kid”).  Do you know what that
means? It means that the regulators of horse racing still have not given the
criminal type trainers anything to fear.  In plain english, that means the bad guys and now
gals are still running the show and the usual  permissive efforts to control things continue
to fail.   I fully realize that the commissioners and their
sponsors pay no attention to their critics, but eventually I will get through
to someone who cares and can lead a cause for reform.

In the very near future several other states will demonstrate
their abilities to deal with these scum bag trainers and I am sure that a great
many stakeholders in the business await these adjudications. If results are
business as usual, like Nebraska, demonstrations in front of the offices of
Governors would not be out of place.   

Where is the HBPA on this issue? Have they revoked the memberships
of any trainers?  What about the
ARCI?  Have they revoked the membership of any commission? 

I don’t know enough trainers in either location to say positively. But to indict the entire sport based on the actions of players at the game’s lower levels and margins is foolish.

Originally Lasix was intended for known bleeders. Now every horse is routinely given the drug even though not All horses bleed. They are given the drug because it is believed it enhances performance. Further, there are many possible causes of EIPH and Lasix does not help all bleeders.

Lasix is intended to treat diseases like conjestive heart failure and pulmonary edema and is never used in healthy people. It is not the benign drug one might believe. It has many undesireable and even dangerous side effects….too much info. to go into here. Healthy animals should not be routinely given this drug.

One of many questions/concerns: I seriously doubt anyone has considered how long the horse takes to regulate his electrolyte balance (very important) following lasix and some horses race with as little as 6 days between races and IV Lasix. The simple matter is, although the drug is legal it is abused in race horses.

Cliff,
“Lineman holding”
meets the definition of “cheating”, ( for about everyone who familiar
With the sport;
And, as you say, is rampant.
So to your first part cheating is rampant;

Your second point about fed intervention;
It’s does appear overkill for Feds to police minor infractions;
(the final draft Of that legislation is a work in progress;)

The horsemen have boxed themselves into a corner;
Their multiple grades ( grade 1-5) of medication violations leaves them a difficult task, trying to make artificial distinctions in what constitutes a rule violation; or “cheating”
since the public makes no distinction in degrees of cheating;
Grade 5 violation- cheating is cheating like grade I “cheating” to all sportsmen; only difference is magnitude of penalty.
Finally, the term “cheater”, is extended beyond grade one violations to include all rule violations;

 My reply was for Cliff, not you Stanley inman.

I’m in total agreement. Wagering on horse racing crosses state lines and the rules, regulations, and licenses should as well.

Breeders only breed horses that people who race want to race.

You’re right, Barry, though I do believe there was some sort of multi-state plan worked out by Joan Pew of Pennsylvania a while back

Actually, commercial breeders breed horses that people want to buy at sales, which, unfortunately, is not the same thing. It also accounts for a good deal of the degradation of the breed over the past 30 years or so.

Tinky, that’s basically my point. Either way, it’s the people who buy (and home-bred) and then race these unsound horses that are the real problem. 

Hmm…you know…I would like to think if someone is going to try and cheat in this game…that they would at least have the smarts not to do it with a horse named “Cheatin Cowboy”.  That is just asking for a karmatic kick in the (word that I would use but otherwise would get me sent to the abyss of moderator land).

Somebody has to re-write Nebraskas rule book for penalties and fines.This punishment is not in line with the use of this substance.It is a real joke,with happenings like this horse racing will never improve their attendance and handle.

Marc, I agree with your suggestion to call in law enforcement on these serious drug violations.  Whose call do you think they will respond to?  That call should come from the state racing commissions.  When I was the commission steward in Pennsylvania we were assisted by the state police in several matters.  Successfuly, I might add.

The Miami Times story was an eye opener for many who might have assumed that the Division of Pari-Mutual Wagering was doing its job.

I happen to agree with Barry Irwin…it seems to me that the only cure for horseracing IS federal intervention. No one is doing anything, and this kind of crap just keeps going on, and on……….Why are people happy with the status quo? Why dont people want to clean up the sport. It breaks my heart to see what horseracing has become!

 My bad…I had posts sorted wrongly! My apologies.

Jon,
     I personally have owned nine of the above mentioned horses. In racing you need one or two good one’s to support the loss of eight or ten bad one’s. I have been a client of Barry’s for more then ten years. A few of my good ones. Bred a filly, sold half based on a million and a half dollars. Multiple grade one winner, we still own her. Bought another filly for a reasonable price, won a grade one the next day, sold her for three million. Bred the winner of the Kentucky Derby, who is now worth how many millions. Bred the winner of the Breeders Cup juvenial, sold for three million. So while you can disparage Barry, very few have had his success. remember in racing if you win one out of five, you are doing well. In addition we race for the sport and the enjoyment. Great relationships, and travel. What have you done of any significance in racing, except shoot off your big mouth. The world would be a better place without haters like yourself.
Steve K

 txs. beat me to it.

this is an unbelievable comment. ever been to Nebraska Cliff?  Been on a Nebraska backstretch?  Have any understanding of the history of horse racing in NE??? 

Anybody besides me like to see some “evidence” that:

1. cheating is “rampant”.
2. the frog juice positives are being mishandled by the racing commissions.
3.  that horse racing is doing a worse job than any other sport in dealing with illegal drugs–see Melky Cabrera.
4.  that a “national commissioner” solves this problem–see M. Cabrera, Ryan Braun, et. al.

I don’t see any negativity in Mr Irwin’s comment He just was stating that horse racing needs a national governing body All other major national sports have such It helps to keep the rules of the game and the penalties uniform,consistent,and swiftly dealt with when violations are incurred How this would hurt a legitimate horseman or vets I fail to see

Spot on, Danzig and Barry Irwin. This is a law enforcement task that requires insight into the minds of cheaters and criminals. We need trained officers who are NOT appointed by racing industry insiders or politicians to aggressively oversee the investigation and prosecution of criminals in racing.  

Only the federal government can bring the expertise and resources necessary to achieve uniformity of rules and enforcement. Those of us who see federal oversight as a principal solution to racing’s drug and integrity issues ought to call our U.S. Congressman and Senators urging them to so-sponsor and support the Interstate Horse Racing Improvement Act.

Too many people making money at all levels with the status quo.

If you mean doing something right is charging “investors” ridiculous mark ups and playing big shot owner with other people’s money, then yes, you are doing something right.

All race day medications should be banned including Lasix.  I say this as a trainer of Quarter Horses, my horses run drug free, or don’t run at all.  I do not see anything wrong with bute or any other drug given as a therapeutic medication but under no circumstances should it be given on race day. Anyone that uses a class 1 narcotic should be banned for at least a year and given a large fine and any purse money should be taken away.  If they get caught more than once they should be banned for life, this would get peoples attention then maybe people would start to realize that we will not put up with the abuse.  Until they start handing out stiffer penalties people will still try to cheat and look for ways around the testing procedures.  You can’t beat a cheater and winning without honor is a hollow victory. 

Right on!!!  I am so tired of hearing about the Doping, it’s making me want to stay away from the tracks and racing in general.  And, I’ve been a life long fan.  The trainers that are caught dopping need to have better regulation and stiffer penalties.  What these States are doing about the Demorphin is crazy!  A 1500.00 fine and a slap on the wrist.  They need to have their license suspended for at least a year for the first violators and purse money dispersed .  If that said trainer is caught again, they should be banned!!!! 
This isn’t only cheating out the bettors and fans but, the Good Ole boys/girls too.  This should be a class 1 Felony!  Not only that but, they put every single horse in the race at risk and every jockey at risk.  Look at the breakdowns with the QH’s that have tested positive!  Is it really worth their lives and well being?  Owner’s that employee these trainers need to be fined as well.
This is one instance, that I would welcome PETA to get involved!  This is abuse, plain and simple!

Hey Cliff. Jump off. I am one of those hicks from Nebraska. I also breed over 100 mares a year and have farms in Kentucky, Ohio, Ontario, and New York. What skin do you have in the game to make this statement. Moron

At least something was done to this trainer, even if people do not think it was harsh enough. There still hasn’t been anything done to any of the people that had positive tests in New Mexico this summer or in the past few years! I primarily race in New Mexico and it is a free for all! The racing commission claims there are rules and consequences, but no one has yet too see anything happen to a huge majority of the cheaters! New Mexcio racing might as well advertise as the state that lets there horseman run on anything and everything! Welcome all CHEATERS!

One thing is sure about that list that you have listed there and that is the fact that Team Valor isn’t cheating. Thanks for pointing that out!

asdfasfdasdf

Cepatton28 as well as Marc:  If I am not mistaken, the National Humane Society has come out against 2-year olds racing as well.  Should horses that young, and with their bones still developing, be exercised and raced strenously?  It seems that too many owners and trainers have unrealistic expectations of racing their 3-year old in the Triple Crown and start their horses early to prep them.  I know that the topic was frog juice and we are digressing but just wanted to get your input.  Thanks.