This was touched upon a few weeks ago. See the \"Todd\'s tubes...\" thread where this point was raised, but it was argued that though Pletcher didn\'t finish first, his horses still ran decently enough, just not well enough to win.
Theories for consideration:
1) You can\'t win \'em all. Even Pletcher and White Mercedes can\'t win \'em all. Nothing\'s changed. It\'s your imagination that they\'re having any kind of a tough run.
2) White Mercedes takes a vacation with his wife in the dog days of Belmont lull time before Saratoga starts up. The \"oomph\" will return at the Spa.
By the way, in a related note - of course, hidden in the IN BRIEF section of Saturday\'s DRF - was the following:
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\"PANEL TO ISSUE STEROID PAPER
A national group seeking to reform medication rules in the United States will produce a position paper by the end of the year that will seek tighter regulation of the use of anabolic steroids, according to the group\'s executive director.
The United States is the only country in the world in which nearly all major racing jurisdictions allow the unlimited and unregulated use of anabolic steroids, which are used to build muscle mass and restore horses\' appetites after strenuous exercise.
\"Everyone agrees that we need tighter regulation,\" said Scott Waterman, executive director of the Racing Medication and Testing Consortium, which met Tuesday in Dallas. \"That\'s where we will be starting from.\"
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When the Todd Pletchers and Doug O\'Neill\'s of the horse racing world are unable to use anabolic steroids, the game changes dramatically, and we find out that they\'re no so smart after all. Fat chance though. Right?
JohnTChance
