Small:
Thank you for putting me in with some tough company, but Jimbo, who does
extensive and insightful analysis, should have been mentioned by name.
I think you will find that a lot of frequent posters will analyze the BC
extensively between now and the end of the month, and Jerry has been tolerant
of analysis which is only marginally connected to TG theory.
Switching threads, I would like to see some of the Survey questions posed by the
NTRA to \"core\" and \"casual\" racing fans be answered by some of the posters on
this board. I am still skeptical that there was an overriding concern among
horseplayers, casual and core, with drugs in racing and equine health.
I think horseplayers\' primary concern is to increase their bankrolls; as such
takeout/ taxation issues, arcane wagering rules and a lack of accountability
among stewards and state racing officials (just to name a few) might be more
pressing than the drug/equine health issues.
I\'d like to see a survey conducted among TG posters along the lines of the one
the NTRA commissioned, but the run up to the BC is not the time to do it. Maybe
during the dead of winter, when racing on the Inner Tube is depressing and
Frankstro is running Calder at Gulfstream and Fair Grounds cards are getting
washed off the turf would be a good time to conduct such a survey.
Equine health and medication issues are industry issues in my opinion. It
affects our host because performance enhancing techniques skew the database
which is at the core of the TG product.
These issues came to the fore at Derby time in kind of a perfect storm -- there
was the baseball steroid hearings of the previous fall, then Dutrow running his
mouth about training with steroids, then the tragic breakdown of the Derby
runner-up. I still find it so ironic that the trainer of this year\'s Derby
winner may have brought an end to the Steroid Era in Racing because he just
couldn\'t shut up (when Tricky was born he was vaccinated with a phonograph
needle).
And while I\'m on drugs, I feel compelled to mention that this is more or less
the one year anniversary of the slap on the wrist heard round the World-- the
one year suspension handed down to Patrick Biancobra. Racing really needed to
deal with PB severely and failed to do so.
