Big stink over Gill at Penn

[Boscar Obarra]

http://www.paulickreport.com/blog/gill-center-of-controversy-again/

[Dana666]

That was really interesting. In about 30 years of my association w/the game, I\'ve personally never heard of jocks getting together saying they wouldn\'t ride for an owner. Very strange stuff. Not sure what or how anyone can go after Gill or what he\'s doing that many other owners/trainers haven\'t been doing for the the past 50 years? It\'s part of the nature of the game. Is it worse when you do it with 5K claimers compared to DW Lukas who did it in Triple Crown races? I suppose you can do vet inspections before the races, right? What else can you do?I had some dealings with Chris McErlean years ago, and I can say he\'s a very good guy and very honest. If there is some administrative action to be taken, I would trust his judgment, but I really don\'t see what they can do unless they find out something illegal is going on.

[richiebee]

Dana:

I know the point you are making about D Wayne, but I do not remember DWL ever
ordering his vets to disassemble the carcasses of his fallen runners, as Gill
once did at Gulfstream.

Gill has a long record of ignoring the rules of Racing, medication related and
otherwise. Unfortunately there is not much Racing can do, because they have set a
precedent by allowing Richard Dutrow to compete at Racing\'s highest levels with
his almost incomprehensible past record of violations

[jma11473]

Fifteen horses broken down, eased, or not able to finish a race for one owner in three months is a bit noticeable, even in racing. Can\'t blame the jockeys for acting because they are the ones with their lives on the line out there. I think the track has to at least try to do something if Gill is racing unsound horses because otherwise they\'re asking for PETA or someone else to jump on the issue.

[devilinahorsesuit]

Sorry, Dana, sawing off the leg of a horse ain\'t \'part of the game.\'

Maggi Moss has an open letter to Gill that\'s worth reading:

http://www.paulickreport.com/blog/maggi-to-mike-%E2%80%98please-get-out-of-racing%E2%80%99/

[Dana666]

I don\'t (didn\'t) know about all that other stuff; the analogy I made with DW Lukas was to infer that anyone can take take take and run horses into the ground and then throw them away when done with them, whether they be 5k claimers or Grade I types. I\'m not even referring to Gill\'s other alleged (horrific) abuses of which you all seem to have much more knowledge. I certainly wasn\'t condoning any of it.

[jbelfior]

This guy should be banned for life. Who trains for this human waste?

Good Luck,
Joe Belfiore

[nyc1347]

its all crooked.. these guys get off with slaps on the wrists and theres no control whatsoever.   if they actually did something serious there would be no popularity in horse racing, just like any other celebrity multi-million dollar profession.  can you imagine a person like \"The Rock\", \"Hulk Hogan\" , Brad Pitt, Leo Dicaprio, kobe bryant, etc getting banned for life?   im not saying those people did anything or whatever but there HAS to be a certain status within the horse racing industry just as anything else to maintain the public coming back.. just as a smarty jones from \"PA\" or Barbaro...  the \"country\" only loved those animals cause of the media.  Michael Gill is just an extreme of all of what we normally see on a regular basis..  If u say screw gill.. i say screw vick, bryant, every popular wrestler from the wwf that died from heart attacks and steroid use, barry bonds, a-rod, the 2009 yanks, sammy sosa, and 39483948 other people. Gill uses the same mentally but on a higher scale..  right?

[P-Dub]

nyc1347 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> its all crooked.. these guys get off with slaps on
> the wrists and theres no control whatsoever.   if
> they actually did something serious there would be
> no popularity in horse racing, just like any other
> celebrity multi-million dollar profession.  can
> you imagine a person like \"The Rock\", \"Hulk Hogan\"
> , Brad Pitt, Leo Dicaprio, kobe bryant, etc
> getting banned for life?   im not saying those
> people did anything or whatever but there HAS to
> be a certain status within the horse racing
> industry just as anything else to maintain the
> public coming back.. just as a smarty jones from
> \"PA\" or Barbaro...  the \"country\" only loved those
> animals cause of the media.  Michael Gill is just
> an extreme of all of what we normally see on a
> regular basis..  If u say screw gill.. i say screw
> vick, bryant, every popular wrestler from the wwf
> that died from heart attacks and steroid use,
> barry bonds, a-rod, the 2009 yanks, sammy sosa,
> and 39483948 other people. Gill uses the same
> mentally but on a higher scale..  right?

Uh, wrong.

First, I don\'t know what Brad Pitt or Leo DiCaprio have to do with this conversation. Or the others for that matter. The only person you named that has any similarity with Gill was Vick, another who brutalized animals that didn\'t have a say in their activities. There have been numerous protests by animal rights groups regarding Vick, our society doesn\'t look too kindly on those that torture and brutalize animals.

The others you mentioned were only hurting themselves, and most knew of the consequences when they took steroids, etc.. I think we can all agree on this.

So lets get back to Gill. Here is a guy that allegedly uses pain killers to mask the pain and injuries of his horses, many of them of the cheaper variety that are prone to nagging problems. He keeps them off the track at a farm where nobody can really inspect the care he gives them.

He then runs them when they are not healthy, sometimes with pre-existing problems that he allegedly masks with pain killers, and then the public gets to witness gruesome breakdowns at markedly greater frequency than the norm. It has been reported by experienced track people that these horses don\'t pull up, but rather keep on running on the broken down legs that have been blocked by drugs. Allegedly.

Excuse me sir, but this guy is in an entirely different league when it comes to scumbags. To say if something was done serious there would be no popularity in horse racing?? The general public has no idea about this stuff, its only the hard core fans and racing people that know about this. Go ask somebody that is a fringe fan, ones that watch the Derby and know of Barbaro, and ask them if they have ever heard of Michael Gill. They haven\'t.

This type of sickening, borderline criminal behavior, is the type of thing that can and will turn off people that have a genuine interest in the game. I understand that in this game, unfortunately, breakdowns occur. Comparing Gill to the others you mentioned, while they aren\'t saints, is completely missing the point.

This scumbag needs to be stopped, and making excuses for his behavior isn\'t the way to start.

[Halo Fire]

It has been reported by experienced track people that these horses don\'t pull up, but rather keep on running on the broken down legs that have been blocked by drugs. Allegedly.

I\'ve never read this in the media. Is this proven or just hearsay?

Who are these experienced track people?

[shanahan]

Halo Fire Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> It has been reported by experienced track people
> that these horses don\'t pull up, but rather keep
> on running on the broken down legs that have been
> blocked by drugs. Allegedly.
>
> I\'ve never read this in the media. Is this proven
> or just hearsay?
>
> Who are these experienced track people?

Halo - Tony Black and Steve Byk had quite a conversation on it yesterday...those would be two people, although Byk intimated that Gill was singled out and that there are far more expensive horses going through similar with high end owners...of course, no names.  I hate it when they assume we all know.

[Halo Fire]

Shanahan,

I have no agenda so I\'m asking questions. Perhaps he is using a painkiller,  perhaps not.

I just read that Mr. Gill had 10 breakdowns in the last 13 months? If true, there is something wrong. That is an outrageous statistic.

[shanahan]

Halo - it\'s worse than that...I believe the # they spoke about on the show was 15 in 4 months.  This includes horses they can\'t track - the ones who disappear from the scene.

He and Paragallo have a lot in common.

[jbelfior]

Life is fair, eh!

Bobby Frankel\'s gone at 68 and this vermin still gets to crawl the earth.


Good Luck,
Joe B.

[nyc1347]

Im not making excuses for anyone at all.. the idea is that when a person has a certain status at a \"higher level\" that excuses are made for these people to continue their actions until things REALLY get out of hand such as Gill..   yes Vick is directly involved with torturing animals but how about the KFC company?  This company tortures animals as well and people do continue to eat at KFC correct?  Hogan, mr. perfect. a -rod have all done drugs but they have also effected their sports forever and records and/or history.. even bonds and sosa..  How about Tiger Woods?  if not for that accident would he not have got caught for his actions?  or called out for?   He was doing these actions waaaay before the media got a hold of it. and so was all of those celebrities.  Gill is a prime example of being called out NOW..  his horses have broken down for years but until it became out of hand no one said anything.  How many other trainers have gotten caught for illegal injections or drugs and suspended and still won races?  

Gill is wrong for everything he is doing but when u are in an environment of acceptance who wouldnt continue doing it being in that mindframe?  Its like being a drug addict and going for help in a room with people doing drugs.