Ask The Experts

Wood Result explanation in three words:  This Hard Land

How can some of you be so blind?  Modern day supertrainers and their vets are pushing the envelope with every medicinal/chemical edge they can find.  They are pushing far into the grey areas of the rules.  I don\'t believe they have a \"magic bullet\" undetectable PED, but they definitely are not getting the results they achieve through hard work/horsemanship, etc.

Re: the report on horse deaths (I don\'t care if it focuses on Baffert)....this is what troubles me.

\"But the program has a flaw, and I think it’s a major one. There is no requirement that veterinary records of deceased horses be submitted to researchers conducting the post-mortem examinations. Those records are an important component for researchers who are trying to meet the program’s objectives.

You would think that owners, trainers and veterinarians would want answers as to why a horse broke down or died suddenly from heart failure, internal bleeding or some other cause. You would think they would do whatever they could to save other horses from suffering a similar fate in the future. And that would include agreeing to a policy that requires veterinary records to be submitted on all horses that died.

If you thought that owners, trainers and veterinarians in California wanted to do that, you would be wrong. Sadly.

For three years now, the CHRB has gone round and round with horsemen and vets on this issue. The CHRB’s Medication and Track Safety Committee proposed an amendment back in 2011 that would require six months of veterinary records be submitted on horses that died at California racetracks or licensed training centers.

And they appear no closer today to getting board approval than they were when the proposal – an amendment to CHRB Rule 1846.5, Postmortem Examination – was first made.

“Over strenuous objections from owners, trainers and veterinarians, the board has not moved forward on this proposal,” said Dr. Rick Arthur, the CHRB’s equine medical director.

CHRB commissioner Bo Derek has pushed this proposal hard, but the resistance to change has been formidable. Many horsemen and veterinarians believe it’s nobody’s business. And that, of course, is one of racing’s biggest problems: they think it’s their game, everyone else be damned.

Am I the only one who is PISSED OFF about this? If these deaths are just coincidental, as Miff wants us to believe, what do these owners/trainers/vet\'s have to be afraid of, in respect to recent/prior vet records.  I\'d like to know just which persons were on record objecting.  I\'d be willing to wager I could guess a few of the outfits that would be on this list and you won\'t find Jack Vanberg or other less than 10% guys on that list.

We need transparency.  I want to know when I\'ll Have Another is getting \"shock therapy\", whether I agree with the practice or if it should be allowed doesn\'t matter.  I want to know if and when Vyjack is getting his tank topped up with some packed blood (whether It is his own blood harvested at a prior date or not...whether it\'s considered legal or not) followed by a little harmless R&R time in the hyperbaric chamber.

Way too many questionable practices going on with these guys that need to be KNOWN to the world.  If Miff and others are OK with these practices, at least the rules can be made clear and we can be provided with the info to handicap/wager responsibly.

Jeff Mullins went on record to say folks who bet on horseraces are idiots and don\'t deserve to know what goes on behind he scenes.  I was hoping to outlast the Jeff Mullins\' of the world.  Happy that we are rid of JM, but its apparent in today\'s racing community there are many who subscribe to the \"if you can\'t beat em, join em\" excuse.

Me?  I\'d rather go back to the hay and oats days (I know there\'s been cheating since the beginning of time...but I prefer the odd case of some fool putting pepper spray on his horses bum or a shady jock hitting horse with a battery, compared to today\'s well funded outfits equipped with supertrainer, chemist/vet/nutritionist/shockwave/hyperbaric chambers.

Rant of the year complete.  Go Orb!!!

Watch the race again and try to imagine a circle the field win.  Guess i\'m just not that creative or have a need to understand the \"why\".  Tons the best?  I figure Pioneer of the Nile wins if you take the overland route.  But maybe you\'re right and i just don\'t get Geometry!

I gotta throw my 2c in.  99.9% lurker here, but I\'ve been reading your guys\'s opinions for many years (and respect quite a few of you) and am suprised at this conversation.  Calvin is NOT just a Churchill jock.  He may come across as a yocal, but he\'s no dummy.  If he recognizes a bias, he tries to use it to his advantage.  Other pinhead jockeys follow suit after seeing 3 wtw jobs and figure front speed is king and then go hell bent for leather setting unsustainable pace up front (If Calvin sees this, he can take advantage of this, too).  We see this scenario play out every week at any number of race venues.  Do you just dismiss this as a \"lucky\" set- up for an otherwise ordinary plodding closer that had no chance, withstanding the ridiculous early pace?

Calvin doesn\'t just react.  He anticipates.....sometimes I supsect with knowledge.  \"knowledge\"....you ask?  Go and dig up a replay of the \'93 ARK derby. Anyone here think that Rockumundo won that race just by luck (because he paid $200+)?  Wake up.  The man\'s been doing this for a couple of decades.  MTB needed luck to win, but no way he\'s in position to capitalize on that \"luck\" without Calvin\'s ride.  Do you think these are just aberations and random paths chosen by Calvin?

Not me.

End of rant