This no-attribution June 16 New York Times editorial was presumably written by the New York Times sports editor, a person whose detailed knowledge of the drug-abuse subject is obviously incomplete at best. Horse racing has problems, yes; this editorial misses its target without coming close. 

His opening paragraphs support each other’s misunderstandings of the illegal-drug issue by suggesting Furosemide’s practical purpose is to “shed water weight and boost horses’ performance,” while alleging the racing industry “turns a blind eye to drug use.” Of course, none of these arguments is based upon scientific proof or a fundamental understanding of the terms he uses, and they simultaneously ignore facts of the racing industry’s constant vigil against illegal drug usage.

And then, to mix Doug O’Neill’s “dangerous… concoctions” (TCo2) with “trainers who repeatedly boost horses with … milkshakes … and shock-wave therapy” as though these selections fell into the realm of illegal drugs, makes a complex mockery of the editorial’s value to gullible New York Times readers — sorry to become redundant there.

Unfortunately, this kind of professionally irresponsible pap too often passes for legitimate criticism just because it appears on the inappropriately vaunted pages of the constantly misinformed New York Times. 

Marshall,
Why do insiders seemingly always justify the status quo?
Why does change always come from outside?

Why do insiders split hairs about the inconsequential?
Why do outsiders see the big picture?

Why do insiders mock outsiders as if they don’t get it?
Why do outsiders patiently listen to insider gibberish?

No kidding. This article is a joke at best. 

The NY Times has really gone downhill! They think they are reporting the truth when all they do is lie, lie, lie. A third grader could have written a better opinon without the sensationalist lies attached. How can anyone take this seriously when this is one person’s misguided opinion?
I feel sorry for the people who subscribe to this newspaper. They really think they are getting news. If they lie about this topic so much what other stories are based on misguided truths?
The writers at the Times think they are the “intelligencia” of this country when they are a bunch of clowns who would rather discuss paint drying on the walls than really get out there and do their own research.

When did the NY Times become judge and jury for horse racing?

 Getting a horse fit is performance enhancing too, should we ban that as well?

The N.Y.Times has not changed it’s opinion of Horse racing since the shutdown in 1909.

Tracy and Arthur continue to race in OTHER STATES WHERE THE POTS ARE BETTER on Lasix
I, personally, would like to see Tracy (the human) race without Lasix..he might come to a differently understanding of it’s uses

Because outsiders do not do their research they rely on news media and their outsider buddies for their facts, ie milkshakes, when did baking soda electrolytes and sugar become “drugs”? I could go on..

Once again, more gratuitous, insulting ”advice” from NYT – a company that can barely manage to stay in business, whose management treats its employees DISGRACEFULLY, and whose CEO has become a senile intellectual buttress of the University oif Gilligan’s Island.

THANKS but no thanks.

I ran a 2yo filly last week without Lasix and she won by 4 3/4 at Churchill Downs in a men special. You may be very interested to know that she bled a 1 on a scale of 0 to 5 prior to the win.

I believe what you just described is the very core of the problem.  If honest trainers are barely making it against the cheaters, what direction is the sport heading?  What is the next venom to be abused by the cheaters?  Where does it stop?  How many honest people push the envelope to feed their families? 

The NYTimes is right on, casting light on the dirty corners of racing, and you don’t like it.  Its articles on TB and QH racing have started the wheels moving on reform that will benefit the horses, and so many of you cannot stand that because it interferes with your primary goal–money.  You want to be left alone because the lax rules of racing permit all kinds of abuses and just keep making questionable trainers and owners richer.  If that is being misguided, if saving horses’ lives and protecting jockeys from injury, is misguided, then misguided has become a positive description of common sense.

The ONLY part I might even remotely agree with in this editorial is the horrible job of penalties the racetracks hand out in response to violations (and I am referring more to the repeat violations than the occasional “overage” that might be easily explained).  Everything else, like has been stated here already, is just uninformed biased opinion.  However, I have to ask yet again:  If we as fans and members of the racing game can point out all the innacuracies…then WHERE IS THE INDUSTRY TO STAND UP FOR ITSELF??”  Even if the industry responded by admiting some fault and said we are changing things…starting with this…then they would get some more credibility.  It is sad and downright infuriating that the NTRA and other organizations just seem to sit there and do nothing, figuring that the big bad bully of the media will just go away. 

The article may be incomplete and not well thought out but at least it sheds light on some of the problems racing has into the public’s eye- racing has done nothing but fluff to stop the cheating in horse racing- had they addressed these problems long ago the NYT and Congress wouldn’t have gotten involved-horse racing has lost most of it’s fans and if it were a normal business it would be a shadow of it’s former self- the only reason it has any life left is because some nefarious politicians were paid off to allow slots at race tracks – racing is so full of it it makes me sick- even the argument they used to get slots is a complete lie- it was supposed too make racing better- 95% of horse racing’s product should be giving pony rides-it’s insulting to call them race horses- how many races on a 10 race card are more than 2 horses actually trying?

Give me a call to discuss in complete detail Chip. Contact me at 859 873 1003 and they will put you through. No problem. Here is a hint moron: Lasix is a performance enhancing drug and anybody that allows others to use and doesn’t use it on their own horse is putting their horse behind the 8 ball. But you already know that Chip. WTDW is a good horse, as is well documented, but he cannot give lengths away to other horses.

 That is the dumbest thing I’ve read regarding this debate.

 Actual facts? Such as?

So, you are saying that if the only thing that allows him to perform at an elite level is a performance enhancing medication, then clearly, he is not a good horse. 
 
In the Barry Irwin Utopian Racing Universe where will he fit when he has to run clean ?  Lasix is nowhere near the “performance enhancer” you continually and falsely claim it to be.  I believe the same as numerous other posters have pointed out, that if you are insistent that therapeutic medication be banned from use, then why don’t you, Tracy Farmer, Ogden Phipps and anyone else lead by example and immediately cease running all of your horses on any medication. Judge its results on your stable’s performance, bottom line and vet bills.  Pay particular attention to the additional expenses associated with care and associated delay with managing which bleeds.

Oh, and personally, I’m not offended by you lashing out on the defensive and calling me a moron as a reply to my very legitimate question, but surely, when your gross hypocrisy is exposed in such a fashion you can be more creative than that.

So, you are saying that if the only thing that allows him to perform at an elite level is a performance enhancing medication, then clearly, he is not a good horse.

In the Barry Irwin Utopian Racing Universe where will he fit when he has to run clean ? Lasix is nowhere near the “performance enhancer” you continually and falsely claim it to be. I believe the same as numerous other posters have pointed out, that if you are insistent that therapeutic medication be banned from use, then why don’t you, Tracy Farmer, Ogden Phipps and anyone else lead by example and immediately cease running all of your horses on any medication. Judge its results on your stable’s performance, bottom line and vet bills. Pay particular attention to the additional expenses associated with care and associated delays managing a horse which bleeds.Oh, and personally, I’m not offended by you lashing out on the defensive and calling me a moron as a reply to my very legitimate question, but surely, when your gross hypocrisy is exposed in such a fashion you can be more creative than that. At least Glenn Thompson backed up his bizzare beliefs and stopped running his horses on Lasix. Why don’t you do the same.  If you won’t, then stop criticizing others. 

Since when is the NY Times the public’s eye? Last I checked it was the news of the liberal lefties that have no clue to what the rest of the country is about.
If they report half truths about racing what other lies are they reporting? Oh wait, the Times lie?
They are reporters of what they want reported in their way. I think the Post does a better job at really reporting the news than the Times. Seriously anyone who can’t see the one sided reporting that the Times does I feel sorry for.

You have to call people Moron Barry? Is your blood pressure raging right now?

Sodium bicarbonate (SOE-dee-um bye-KAR-boe-nate), also known as baking soda, is used to relieve heartburn, sour stomach, or acid indigestion by neutralizing excess stomach acid. When used for this purpose, it is said to belong to the group of medicines called antacids. It may be used to treat the symptoms of stomach or duodenal ulcers. Sodium bicarbonate is also used to make the blood and urine more alkaline in certain conditions.  ”And a dangerous drug at that.”

“I was able to identify with almost every person I
talked with.  At some point in my life, I
had either done that work, been in that situation, or knew people who
were.  You have too many newsrooms where
the writers don’t look like, dress like, eat like, or talk like the people
they’re reporting on.”

Jim Nicholson, (renowned) obituary writer for the
Philadelphia Daily News, (October 1982-2000).

Granted.  Now.  If you want a newspaper to survive, the front pages are devoted to the drooling readers.

It supports the rest of the costs of producing a newspaper that reports what about 25% of the readers need to know, and without which, would be absolutely screwed.

Well said Chip - he has no expense himself. He passes it all on, plus plenty more, to the investors. As far as the moron comment, typical of him. He calls everyone that doesn’t agree with him a troll or moron or whatever whenever exposed – and Paulick, Haskin,  and many on here seem to want to kiss his a$$. Such as Don below. I promise you none of those that admire hime so were a part of Clover Racing Stable……….

I think you’re correct in saying Lasix is abused. However, I also think Lasix and Milkshaking serve more to minimize the negative effects of extreme exercise in horses than to energize or debilitate those same horses.

The “performance enhancing properties” of Lasix and Milkshaking might be observed as not actively contributing to the running horse, but as actually allowing the horse to feel better.

This common perception of performance enhancement is not proven by scientific means according to the RMTC conference of June, 2011.

You must be well motivated then.  Smooch, Smooch.

 Not only do you not understand what a drug is, you have no concept of dose dependency. The effect of a drug is entirely dependent on dose.