welcome to horse racing in the USA.

If States relinquished their authority over racing jurisdistions and turned over the responsibility to each individual racetrack and due process was eliminated, guys like this character would no be able to exploit the system.

It is time, while States have big holes in their budgets, to negotiate the right to rule over license holders on behalf of racetracks, and kick the States’ respective butts out of the sport.

Yes, pay the States their tax bite, but get them out of the regulatory part of the game, because they are killing the sport with their ineptitute.

California racing is the shining beacon in this regard. Has anybody ever seen a State attorney general that could fend off a private lawyer? Answer: no.

So let’s get the lawyers and the States the hell out of racing!

The fact that there’s no embarrassment or shame on the part of Ziadie says it all.
It is my belief that horses should neither run or or train on drugs. Drug therapy for a sick or injured horse, yes. But neither of those horses should be in training until well.

That is the way in America.In England,A trainer Gingell got two years for milkshaking a horse.Another trainer,Henderson got 3months and fined 40,000 pounds for giving an illegal substance to the Queen’s horse.We have to be much more agressive in suspensions and fines or the integrity of this sport will be maligned forever.

How bout that wrote:

Funny, Why does it always have to be Paulick to bring this stuff to the light of day??
And then he is probably looked at like the beareer of bad news.

____________________

This ain’t bad news. It’s the truth.

Cheers to some more from The Paulick Report. ;-)

At least he did not discriminate between his horses – they all ran on drugs!

“The fact that there’s no embarrassment or shame on the part of Ziadie says it all.”

Isn’t THAT the truth! That says it ALL – about the expectations of tracks, trainers, owners, the State and national racing regulators … even the public.

Ray – how does one get the actual listing of violations against a trainer? Is it only available via the Association of Racing Commissioners International? If so, is this info available to the betting public or only to members?

Barry Irwin Says:
July 8th, 2009 at 11:42 am
If States relinquished their authority over racing jurisdistions and turned over the responsibility to each individual racetrack and due process was eliminated, guys like this character would no be able to exploit the system.

It is time, while States have big holes in their budgets, to negotiate the right to rule over license holders on behalf of racetracks, and kick the States’ respective butts out of the sport.

Yes, pay the States their tax bite, but get them out of the regulatory part of the game, because they are killing the sport with their ineptitute.

California racing is the shining beacon in this regard. Has anybody ever seen a State attorney general that could fend off a private lawyer? Answer: no.

So let’s get the lawyers and the States the hell out of racing!
———————————————————————————————————–

Barry Irwin has the kind of ideas that our industry needs.

I support this idea 100%

He also says we need the State vet to approve all drugs given the horses, anything else found would be a violation.

I support thois idea 100%

Who says the problems of racing can not be solved?

Get rid of the inept regulators!

Barry Irwin for CZAR !

Barry Irwin for Chairmen of the CHRB!

A new broom sweeps clean!

Please pay careful attention to Barry Irwin’s proposal: Get the lawyers and the governments out of racing. That includes the Federal government – all you who cry for a US Government agency with a tsar.

Most of these inept agencies operate under the cloak of Public Protection. (Kentucky a prime example). Fine examples of protection. Took two years to act on Dutrow.

(Not quite on point, but, one member of Kentucky Horse Racing Commission is running for a seat on the Breeders’ Cup Board !!!!!)

Can’t say the prospect of the racetracks being the regulators would be a cause for joy. Maybe, just maybe, the NTRA could find the way back to something close to it’s intended purpose. All the racetrack members could agree to follow uniform rules, procedures and PENALTIES as spelled out by NTRA. Naturally, to be successful, it would first be necessary to unload all the lawyers at NTRA.

As he has the standing in the community, maybe Barry Irwin can gather a few others of equal regard and begin moving the horse industry in the right direction.

rwwupl wrote:

Barry Irwin for CZAR !

Barry Irwin for Chairmen of the CHRB!

___________________________________

Barry Irwin on the TOC

Barry Irwin on the Breeders Cup board.

Barry Irwin on the Jockey Club Organization

Barry Irwin for NTRA presidency

Barry Irwin for __________

You get the idea. LOL :D

I would be happy to be able to pee directly into the toilet 53 percent of the time!

Here’s the irony, though: state government bungling should be eliminated, as Irwin suggests, but the threat of FEDERAL sanctions are also needed in order to give the cheaters pause. Racetracks have proven unequivocally that they are incapable of punishing cheaters appropriately, as they are (warning: further layer of irony ahead) afraid of losing the entries!

Why do you think that so many of the big name cheaters have had so few positives? It’s because racetracks have historically swept many of the under the rug, as they did not want to lose the horses, and believed that it would damage their reputations if trainers were caught cheating!

You really can’t make this stuff up…

more fodder for our good conspiracy theorists who at mention of every violation are reinventing the pavlov dog. looks to me as if Paulick is talking about “one” trainer instead of the whole sport. At first blush, declining to analyze closely, looks like the fellow has a large number of relatively minor violations for which he receives steep fines. So much for the theory that Florida Stewards wink their eyes or fail to test, or permit cheating without punishment.

My question would be whether there is a problem here in the Florida Racing Commission regs. Do they permit hanging by the toe nails for repeat jay walking. Do they permit punishment of repeat offenders, OR do they instead require appropriate punishment within guidelines for each offense?

Call the Florida Department of Business Regulations Division of Pari-Mutuel Wagering and ask for the report. It’s chock full of offenders, but Florida doesn’t quite know what to do about them. Have they enacted the stricter guidelines set out by the ARCI yet? When steroid regulations were enacted, Florida “got around to it” by giving trainers “warnings” for several months. Then, they said end of summer, the ARCI rules “could” be in place. Please. 40 states get to play games, protect 40 different payrolls, 40 different rules, 40 different ways to suck money out of the system.

National Government oversight. It’s our only hope.

I remember seeing Kirk featured in Thoroughbred Times about three years ago as an >up and coming trainer< in the industry having saddles horses for the likes of the Kinsman Stable, etc. I never met him, but have sat with his dad a few times during the Gulfstream meet this year. It just seems to me like another guy who is taking out of the industry rather than contributing to the industry.

What a joke! How can someone with this record be allowed to continue racing?
We, as owners and bettors, must wake up before it’s too late. The viability of our sport is in jeopardy. How can we possibly expect to attract and retain a larger fan base if racing is seen-clearly-as a ‘rigged game’ loaded with cheaters?
Until and unless there is a national, centralized racing authority with the power to enforce the SAME medication rules in every state, the Kirk Ziadie’s of this world will continue to proliferate. That said, a tough, no-nonsense policy of punishment is long overdue. Ziadie and his ilk will continue to cheat, often in tandem with unscrupulous vets, so long as the punishment is nothing but a slap on the wrist.
If all that you list above, Ray, is accurate, people like Ziadie should be banned for life. But guess what? I’m skeptical. Nothing’s going to change, at least not before it’s too late to save a sport and business that’s already on life support.

tiznow the drug-anti-drug is a legit debate although i’d prefer posters cease bringing it up with every issue. the idea that everybody in the sport cheats, which is something else that keeps coming up again and again, should be permitted to remain unchallenged only if it is true. Why tar and feather the sport because a few of our partcipants are psyhcos? I’d prefer to look at Paulick’s post a little differently. I see an impressive record of CONVICTIONS, and I’d like to know why cumulative multiple offenses fail to receive stiffer action. Sometimes things at the track are less clear cut than it appears when the spotlight shines. E.g. is this the guy at Calder the volunteers an entry every time the racing secretary calls. Has he done other things that are possibly in mitigation of some of the circumstances Is this maybe a guy who tries to keep his horses running instead of having them wind up in the killer truck, etc. etc.

I agree with ratherrapid. Why were there not stiffer penalties given the long list of convictions? The issue has more to do with a lack of severity in penalties than the powers that be ignoring violations.

Also, anyone who thinks that turning over enforcement to the tracks themselves would be an improvement is dreaming. A single national authority enforcing uniform rules from coast-to-coast is the only answer, though I’m not holding my breath waiting for that to happen.

Regarding the information from the Association of Racing Commissioners International database, they have been very cooperative with media requests for many years. I’m sure they do not have the staff to reply to all requests that might come in from the general public.

I think it would be a service to the industry if all the RCI rulings information (public records at least) were made available for to the public for searching. However, it’s a relatively lean organization, and it would require considerable programming before that could happen.

WHOBET… you’re right about the RCI section that you linked to…it’s a good service and certainly a start toward more transparency regarding rulings and violations. We’ll add a link to it on the Paulick Report. Thanks for the suggestion.

Aunt Bea…..It’s my understanding samples are numbered before being sent to labs so that the labs have no idea what horse or race they are testing.

I love conspiracies as much as the next person, but if I start believing that the labs know who owns the horse whose urine is being tested, I might as well put on the tin foil hat and start looking for aliens. Are some samples tested more carefully or for more substances than others? I think that’s very possible, especially in cases where a trainer is winning at an unfathomable rate. But I can’t see labs and chemists looking the other way just because a horse is owned by a certain person. That’s crazy.

BTW, as I understand the situation, the horse with an overage is reported to the state Stewards, who have the discretion to call a positive test or not. If I am wrong in this understanding, please correct me.

Surfer Joe:

2009 stakes winners

Team Valor 10
Dogwood 1

And Barry -

Good luck finding an “assitant” trainer on that 53% target!

Maybe Z can hire Bernie Madoff’s old accountant; I hear he’s available.

Perhaps, if Barry Irwin didn’t employ trainers such as Pletcher and Sadler, you could take his thoughts on this subject seriously, rather than viewing them as “holier than thou” hypocrisy.

To Don Reed:

NYRA did not choose to ban the public from Oklahoma. They were forced to do so by the New York State Racing & Wagering Board, which was enforcing a law enacted by the real brain dead — the NYS legislature.

You are correct that it was a terrible development — one which still resonates with racing fans in the Saratoga area.

To Jeremy Jet:

You are correct that transferring regulation from states to racetracks would be like handing the responsibility from one of the three stooges to another.

Rather, a real deterrent would be getting law enforcement officials to start slapping those with serious violations with a charge of sports racketeering for trying to alter the outcome of a sporting event.

That’s what happened to Greg Martin for the A One Jet milkshaking incident. The threat of jail time might make these guys think twice.

Ed: tell that to the Tampa jocks a couple years ago. Not familiar with Buddy Jacobson?

If he had taken the days during Preakness and Belmont season, the horse would have run under an assistants name, LIKE USUAL…. nobody would have been denied seeing BIG BROWN run…., don’t you get it??

Nick Kling, I think your on the right track, but unless I’m mistaken. Greg Martin never saw the inside of a jail cell…. as I’ve said before, cheaters are rarely punished, if at all…..last I heard, he was working in “restaurant linen supplies” in NJ, gee, thats not a racket job, is it??

No sympathy asked for, Nick. Just shining a light on the hypocrisy of it all.

Anybody that thinks Pletcher or Sadler are cheaters does not know how to read.

“Anybody that thinks Pletcher or Sadler are cheaters does not know how to read.”

Say what? Anyone who knows how to read a racing form, or watch races knows – to use the most obvious example – that Pletcher was the highest profile, most successful cheater in history until a couple of years ago when, after Saratoga, his horses mysteriously began to run like normal horses. Anyone who failed to notice that demarcation knows nothing about the game.

I could go on, but why bother?

Barry –

I actually am privy to facts, but am not interested in providing them to you. More to the point, the notion that overwhelming circumstantial evidence is insufficient for you indicates that you are either a hypocrite, or prefer to navigate the racing landscape with (very) rose colored glasses.

Let me guess: you believe that Pat Byrne is/was a superb trainer, and that it was simply a coincidence that Alday was his vet during his brief, blindingly anomalous, ascendant period. Correct?

And Todd’s numbers dropped off a cliff in the fall of 2007 and have never approached their former (inflated) heights because…?

It is not follow the money, it is follow Alday. Why is a guy like him allowed near a racetrack? Certain trainers went cold right after Biancone and his doc got busted.

Come on Aunt Bea, a 53% win percentage? A 31%? A 20% win percentage is extraordinary.

Nick, don’t forget the night Dickie was caught visiting his horses while being suspended… Was he missing his horses that bad and wanted to blow them kisses?

The first hour of the Nov. 2, 2007 “At The Races” with Steve Byk (Sirius Radio) is a classic filled with irony. While discussing Wild Desert’s fake workout in NJ before winning the Queen’s Plate, Steve Alday calls in because it is “pay back time” and proceeds to tell the audience how Dickie loves to cheat.

An 8 year old gelding named Cincinnati Jay (KY) (57 starts, 6-11-5 $77K) had just returned from a long layoff when he raced poorly on 6/20/09 at Arapahoe. He was entered again a week later in a bottom claiming race also at Arapahoe. Allegedly, the gelding’s front legs were iced for over four hours before the race. With ice-cold legs, he passed the vet exam. He ran in the back of pack as he had done previously, broke both front legs then tried to get up on stumps while his jockey laid on the ground with a broken back… CJ went down with a whimper, no news coverage, no public outrage, no deer in the headlight walk by Alex Waldrop in front of TV cameras and the Congress to proclaim that our race horses are our number one priority. No one cares because the horse was worth 30 cents a pound because it couldn’t even keep up with others bottom claimers, because his name wasn’t Eight Belles and because his horrible demise happened at a bush track and not on national TV.

Were all those involved with CJ’s fatal race formally questioned about his physical condition prior to post, drugs given and the lengthy icing of both front legs which he later busted? Was a necropsy performed? Were CJ’s medical history and vet records collected and carefully examined? Were owner, trainer, groom, exercise rider, private and official vets interrogated in order to fill holes in the safety net of that racetrack? DID ANYONE CARE?

If CJ had been found to have been already injured before his last race but raced anyway, would one or more enablers be sued for endangering the life of the jockey, for breaking his back, for animal cruelty, defrauding the betting public and further damaging the reputation of horse racing?

A quote posted yesterday in a thread discussing the various delinquencies of AZ racing: “IF they were ever to convene a Federal Grand Jury, and bring witnesses in, who IF they LIED, would go to prison, the whole story would come out. There would be indictments and convictions. It would INSTANTLY change the game.”

Setting a precedent in court and the threat of jail would quickly clean-up the game. As Travis Tygart said in front of the Congress last year: “A sport cannot police itself.” Racing welcomes miscreants and has attracted more of them. Owners who do business with cheating trainers are just as rotten. Water seeks its own level.

A central racing agency should be a privately run, non-profit organization to replace state racing commissions and should have the full support of Congress and the FBI on speed-dial to disinfect racing and keep it on the straight and narrow. This would help attract, retain and reward honorable owners and trainers.

Cheating pays, it’s contagious and the rewards are worth the risks. The good guys are going out of business or are forced to do things they would rather not do to keep a few horses.

NJJ: Steve Allday sounded like a regular caller and friend of the hosts including John DaSilva.

Lisa…how can you see really early in the morning on the track with those rose-colored glasses on! (Just kidding, of course).

Pletcher is in a class by himself in terms of organization.

Barry –

Presumably you believe that Bonds and Sosa (etc.) are innocent as well.

What a joke.

Jeremy Jet….

Barry Irwin doesn’t need anyone defending him, but I’m going to anyway. No one I have known in racing has been more vocal about wanting to stop the cheaters than Barry. He has pushed for reforms that would help clean up the sport to the point that I find it almost laughable that he would hire a trainer who is cheating.

I don’t agree with Barry on a lot of things, but I think we both want to see horses decide races, not veterinarians or drugs.

Ray –

I have echoed and supported many of Barry’s comments relating to a number of issues, and appreciate that he speaks out on controversial topics. But if you believe that Pletcher wasn’t a major cheater for a number of years because Barry has employed him, then your naïveté is astounding.

I do not know of a single serious observer of the game who believes that Pletcher wasn’t cheating, as the circumstantial evidence is overwhelming. Furthermore, I know personally that horses of his have tested positive for EPO when switched to other trainers.

Do I really need to point out that Alday is a damning common denominator? Do you think that it was a coincidence that horses of Pletcher’s were mysteriously dying at Saratoga during the heyday of his collaboration with Alday? Do you have any explanation (other than the obvious one) for how and why his horses stopped running like drugged horses during the fall of ’07, and have NEVER returned to their former patterns?

I can’t believe that you are actually that naïve.

Furthermore, the notion that “Owners with integrity don’t use trainers like these” is laughable on its face. There are countless examples of owners who publicly claim to be concerned about cheating, then give their runners to the trainers with the highest win percentages.

That correlation is sheer fantasy.

“Jeremy Jet Says

Furthermore, the notion that “Owners with integrity don’t use trainers like these” is laughable on its face. There are countless examples of owners who publicly claim to be concerned about cheating, then give their runners to the trainers with the highest win percentages.

That correlation is sheer fantasy.”

I agree with that statement. I have held a trainers license since 1974 and have dealt with many, many owners. What they say in public and what they actually do and say to their trainers is two different positions. I think Barry is good for racing and his voice should be heard however we all need to step up to the plate and now is a good time as any. Drug free racing is due. The cheaters need to be exposed and eliminated. Starting at the top. It should start with the owners first. But, what about the almighty buck? That is for owners to answer.

Aunt Bea –

You might want to stick to Mayberry gossip, as not a single thing that I have mentioned on this thread is a “rumor”.

That’s interesting, Bea, I didn’t realize that they had straw men in Mayberry.

Furthermore, you used the present tense, so you obviously haven’t even read my previous posts carefully.

There is alot of passion on this message board. As a horse owner in South Florida I have seen the rise of Kirk Ziadie. The drug aspect has been the talk of racing down here for the last several years. Ask yourself why there has not been a peep about this in the Daily Racing Form. Mike Welsh who covers the area does not want to rock the boat where Raph Ziadie still trains. As a fan of the game when I see a trainer like Marty Wolfson take horses from Todd Pletcher and Bill Mott and do remarkable things is it wrong to ask the question what did he do that the other so-called super tainers did not do. Oh yeah I forgot he put the correct size shoes on the horses was the response that we got.

I respect Barry Irwin for his program that he has put together at Team Valor because in this day in age of finding owners who want to get into the game is getting tougher with each pasing day. We as owners want to see a level playing field but at the end of the day we want to have fun and to have the ability to stay in the game without losing our entire investment. As an owner its tough not to look at the trainer standings and see who the trainers our who we suspect our cheating. Most of the cheating is in the claiming game from what i can see and that comprises 75% of the game. Fix the horse off a poor record trainer and make them look silly and make money and dump the horse on a non juice trainer and watch them go to the bottom of the claiming ladder. That is what I see across the country.

At the end of the day if you win enough to stay in the game and you take care of your horses after there careers our over what more can people want.

Thanks for writing, Big Dreams, our game needs all who love the horse, not trying to destroy the people around them.

http://www.bloodhorse.com/horse-racing/articles/51608/kirk-ziadie-appealing-60-day-florida-ban?source=rss

Extra juicy quotes from Ziadie the Victim, the juiced one is at the bottom:

“Ziadie appealed the ruling to the First District Court of Appeal in Tallahassee. The court is reviewing the appeal, and has put a stay on the 60 calendar-day suspension until after it completes that review.

Thus, it is almost certain that Ziadie will be able to saddle horses at Calder Race Course on July 11. He has entries in four races that day, including two of the graded stakes on Calder’s Summit of Speed card.

Ziadie, 40, has won four training titles at Calder meets and one at Tampa Bay Downs, all since 2006.

“When you are on top, everyone wants to see you fall,” he said on July 9 when asked about the heavy suspension.

Ziadie has 15 Calder wins this year through July 9, and is third in the track’s trainer standings.

The Pari-Mutuel division’s Web site shows him with 14 fines and/or reprimands for medication violations since the start of 2008. None of the other trainers among Calder’s top 10 in wins this year have more than five of those violations during that period.

“We abide by all the rules on medications,” Ziadie said. “I am not not sure why they (violations) keep coming up. Maybe some have been from carelessness or misjudgments (by his employees).””

Doesn’t anyone think it strange that the much publicized appointment of clean up czar,Tommy Thompson, to head the NTRA’s Safety and Integrity Alliance Committee has not commented here to ease all these concerns? They were quick to proclaim to the world and to Congress that they are in charge and they can police racing without outside interference. From The Blood-Horse, posted last 10-15-08: “The National Thoroughbred Racing Association officially unveiled a series of equine health and safety reforms October 15 that will be overseen by an independent monitor”.

Their inaction and silence is deafening. Congressional oversight now! It’s fundamentally clear that the racing industry cannot police itself. Please, do not even think that each state can do this! That’s the current problem — all the separate state racing commissions do or do not do whatever they please and who do you report them to? I know of instances where reports were called into the racing commission about horses racing with fractures and they did nothing — not even a hands on lameness exam with the excuse they have no funds! Gee, I’m short of funds this year, maybe I won’t pay my state taxes.

Also whoever suggested involving the FBI, hurray! Let’s end this lawlessness. FBI investigations with criminal penalties for fixing races in violation of the Interstate Horseracing Act for trainers, owners, and those that supply the drugs –dare I say the veterinarians? Of course, more severe criminal penalties when injury and deaths occur because of illegal substances. This must include the corticosteriod joint injections that veterinarians knowingly and greedily inject into horses that would otherwise never pass a lameness exam because trainers request them and owners willingly pay for them. No more inject and run which is blatant in claiming races across the country. Bettors are deceived, the field is far from fair, jockeys are at risk and horses are dying in the dirt but because they are not seen on national TV, they never make the news (just as someone commented above). And all the while, the industry feigns its ability to be able to count training or racing injuries or deaths so that the public can even know this figure. Maybe they just can’t count that high.

Flyonthewall,
I will play devil’s advocate.
The incentive for not juicing your horses would be being able to look at yourself in the mirror each morning and know that you are doing your best to live an honorable life; and to know that you are not potentially harmful substances into living, breathing animals who cannot object.

Joe – you are correct. I typed Arizona – meant Colorado … a (b)rain delay!

Bob Hope for Czar. Bravo.