Could we possibly be making progress?

I think a vet is a great person to testify on the effects of the various drugs.  An owner also brings a great perspective because they’re a huge shareholder in the game and actually buy and pay expenses for the animals we’re discussing.  Gagliano and Gural are both intimately familiar with the industry from their various perspectives.  The HBPA represents horsemen.  

Who else do you think should be on the panel?  

The US Government’s involvement in Horse Racing will ONLY further damage the industry.   ANYONE that believes otherwise is foolish.

Yes, you’ve got some who have something to say but, so
what?  The problem isn’t having authoritative
sources voice opinions, it’s that even if you reach a consensus, no one, NO
ONE, is capable of doing anything about it.

Barry Irwin ? Really ???
If winning the Derby makes you an expert witness then where is Chip Wooley ?

I picture the questioning to go like this:

Rockefeller: Mr Irwin, do your horses use lasix?
Irwin: Yes, but they are all liars, they don’t really bleed

Rockefeller: Do all trainers use lasix ?
Irwin: Yes, but they too are all liars. Do you know some feed their horses green frogs?

Rockefeller: Does your trainer want to keep using lasix?
Irwin: Yes, but I think he’s lying. You know how those Brit’s are.

Rockefeller: Do you know Maggie Moss ?
Irwin: Yes, I asked her out once and she said she was busy, something about having to wash her hair, but I think she was lying.

Rockefeller: Mr Irwin, why are you here?
Irwin: I heard there was a free lunch ! 

Three executives, one vet…

Just think, if they called Doug O’Neill, they could have gotten “up close and personal” with the source of the problem, first hand, wouldn’t you say?

How about this panel:
Regulators Tino Rieger Ok, John Ward Ky
Trainers Dale Romans, Bill Mott and O/T Bart Evans
Owners Maggie Moss and Carl Moore
Vets Ken Reed Ky and Milton McClure La

 They stacked the deck, didn’t they?

They are going through the motion, feigning care. After watching a senate committee all but give Jamie Dimon a bj, and with so many 1%ers in the game, it will be a gratuitous waste of everybody’s time.

the only FOOL I hear is u…& a DUMB @SS to boot…GUAFB!!!…

Amen…ITS A START to cleaning the FILTH UP…PERIOD…

FBI/DEA???…THEY KNOW!!!…

Did Glenn Thompson RSVP No ?

Someone to represent the HORSE,
(Don’t tell me horsemen, vet, hbpa, tjc;
They all make a living off the horse, thus should be recused.)

The 22 April 1981 Sarasota Hearld-Tribune article (cited by Ray in a tweet earlier this morning) about the then-current underhanded dealings on and around the race track is an excellent read.  It underscores the inherent conflicts of interest in the industry, the basis for state racing commissions’ failure to act, and unfortuntely relates the recollections of a convicted felon in witness protection who claims to have fixed thousands of races, using tactics that are still employed to this day.

Some of more interesting quotes state,

“Racing’s overseers – state racing boards – largely have failed to respond.” 

“UPI questioned present and former racing commissioners, laboratory chemists, horse owners, track officials, trainers, veterinarians, law enforcement officers, federal officials and humane societies.  Some feared reprisals in employment or in more subtle ways at the track.  Others feared for the sport’s image.”

“Actual and potential conflicts of interest abound.  Many racing commissioners are horse breeders. Chairmen of the Kentucky, California and Louisiana commissions run their horses in their own states.  Other commissioners bet at races.  Veterinarians commonly own and race horses against those they treat.”

“…the drugging problem has turned up a ‘great reluctance on the part of virtually every racing commission to expose wrongdoers.” (attributed to Marc Paulhus, one of the witnesses on Panel 2).

“The state commissions simply don’t want to deal with a scandal of the proportions that would result from enforcement….state regulators are partners in racing; a portion of every dollar wagered goes to the state.” (Paulhus arguing for federal intervention).

“…the Drug Enforcement Administration, which monitors use of narcotics, calls it a low priority.”

At the time of the article, the convicted felon was in the witness protection program, fearing that his accomplices would kill to silence him.

So, it’s now 31 years later and the landscape appears to be essentially unchanged.  However, now the cheaters have greater access to high-tech compounding pharmacists/chemists; the price to “pull a horse”, as referenced in the article, probably hasn’t changed much; the sabotaging of the competition continues; and, the reprisals for whistleblowing remain a deterrent to exposing the misdeeds.

What has changed?  The stakes are significantly higher; there’s more money to steal, or siphon off as the article put it; but, more importantly, the internet has provided a forum like this for the sharing of ideas and the gathering of support amongst those emboldened enough to do something about it.  As Thomas Jefferson said, “A little rebellion now and then is a good thing and as necessary in the political world as storms in the physical.”  “The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.  It is its natural manure.”  It’s time to man up and take control from those who purposefully ignore the cheating; it’s time to expose the cheaters for who they are and what they do.  If you can’t beat them financially, you can potentially embarass them in these times of political correctness to at least give a second thought to the potential consequences of ignoring a cancer that’s eating every last cell of the industry.   Perhaps, one by one, each of us can make a dent in the machine that has plagued the industry since its inception and one by one watch the tyrants fall from grace.

Clearly, the federal government is not the answer, but it’s at least providing a temporary stage from which to move forward.  Use it as an opportunity to speak up and be heard!  Let the pen be mightier than the sword.

Don’t think the Humane Society doesn’t have an agenda all their own too, being part of this.  There is so much controversial nonsense surrounding them too; it’s not all about the horses for them either, and the more you look, the less they actually speak FOR the animals and the more they line their pockets.  They spend more on smear campaigns and salaries than they do on welfare programs.
Maybe they should be bringing vets and professionals in from jurisdictions that DON’T currently use lasix or allow the same levels of meds NA racing does…Australia, NZ, England maybe?  It obviously CAN be done, and if it means an overhaul of the trainers and methods used here, then so be it.  Maybe that’s what needs to happen to move away from young speed horses who retire as late 3 yo to perpetuate weak constitution, or worse yet breakdown.  Something needs to counter the emphasis placed on 2 yo racing in north America, on the dependency for medications to carry horses through their l24 month careers (if they are lucky).  A good shakeup is needed to start supporting long term goals instead of short term successes.  Not sure what this particular panel will do, but it’s a start…

Regulators Tino Rieger Ok, John Ward Ky I think Ed Martin covers for the regulators 

Trainers Dale Romans, Bill Mott and O/T Bart Evans 
I do think there should be a trainer represented.

Owners Maggie Moss and Carl Moore
Maggie Moss, the one who said she would leave the game if Lasix was made illegal?  The one who says that illegal drugs are the biggest issue in horse racing yet never threatened to leave the game because of them?  I’ll pass on her. No opinion on Carl Moore, but I think Irwin is a good representative of the owners.

Vets Ken Reed Ky and Milton McClure La 
We already have a vet, and one who isn’t paid based on how she treats horses.  I think that’s a much more unbiased type of person to have testify.

Yes,
they conflate their organization’s needs with their subjects.

looks a little FI$HY…U think???…

I’m looking forward to this hearing and I think panel 2 will have the most accurate concise and unbiased view towards helping to resolve the drug issue in horse racing.
The drug issues in other sports and the workplace seem to be going the same route.
I’m going to follow this very intently as I think we may have an opportunity to make some headway in our sport and business. 

If the Senate and the House of Representatives unmercifully grilled the bank & related Wall Street CEOs as the result of the 2008 crash, with the result being that they’ve all been given a free ride…

What possible reason is there to take THESE proceedings seriously? 

Just in case Doug O’Neill (on vaco via days) gets any heat from this, here’s Plan A:

Attorney General Holder takes his summer vacation;

O’Neill gets slotted in as Holder’s vacation relief;

The House supeonas O’Neill; DO’N ignores them;

O’Neill is held in Contempt of Congress by a majority vote;

Congress refers the case to a District Attorney, who then declines to indict his own (temporary) boss.

And O’Neill’s off the hook.  Ta Da.

Say, doesn’t this game plan look just like the current racing procedures (trainers getting wrist slaps for violations of the rules)?

I’m so along in years, and this current generation of Rockefellers are so low profile, I had trouble understanding this until I realized that it wasn’t Nelson grilling Hale Irwin, the professional golfer.  Then I got out of the sand trap.

But do note that a slight improvement has been achieved.  Long ago, a teacher handed back a graded history
paper, emblazoned with individual red ink edits circled around every instance
of my having typed the word, “Rockerfeller.”