"Where do I go to get my reputation back"?

[miff]

PETA intent visible to a blind man,loons out to destroy racing by any means whatsoever.Loons manipulated and edited, not a trace of \"illegal peds\" or even a discussion of them recorded.Asmussen, like MANY high % trainers use tons of legal stuff, tap/inject and stack liberally, all inside the rules. Change the rules or shut up!Violations of immigration,min wage laws unfortunately prevalent in many industries but has no relevance to the core of the racing game and it\'s issues.

Only fools don\'t know the PETAs/NYT/Joe Dope et al write for sensational value, \"it sells\".Their negative biased slant on racing is obvious.

Racing has issues,anyone who has anything to do with the game knows that.The perception of racings problems are much greater than it\'s actual problems.Tough to correct the problems with 30+ independent venues, incompetent management and politically appointed stooges in control.Abusers in the game need to be outed and banned.

Meanwhile in 15 days, about 120,000 people will be at Belmont betting millions while another 20+Million watch on TV as CC tries for racing history.

PETA and the rest of the haters probably hoping for something negative to happen, ammo for the loons!

[smalltimer]

Kekomi,
Nice to hear from you again. Can I assume you\'re a vegetarian?

[TGJB]

Kekomi-- so essentially, you are saying the video doesn\'t prove Asmussen DIDN\'T do anything. Which a) would require proving a negative, b) from a PETA produced and highly edited tape.

Re Drape-- unless I missed something he is working off the same info (tape) everyone else is, has no extra knowledge or expertise than others, and less than some. I have not (and will not) watch the tape because I knew it could well be what it now looks like it is. But I heard about one part of the original tape, which Drape discussed in his article, where they felt a horse\'s foot and said there was no pulse-- the poor horse! They\'re going to run a hose with a dead foot! In actuality, no pulse is GOOD-- it means the inflammation is gone and the foot is no longer throbbing. Somehow that escaped Drape.

As you pointed out, I\'ve been about as outspoken as anyone in this industry, for a long time, about dealing with drug issues. But that\'s a whole different thing than framing/defaming specific individuals.

[HP]

Have to interject, just a little.  Are you saying over the years on this board, and even from you directly, there hasn\'t been any innuendo about cheating?  Yes it\'s based on data and figures, but ultimately it all boils down to a few simple things that aren\'t being addressed by the industry.  Every horseplayer I know sees certain names in the program and if you want to play you hold your nose and go along with it to some extent.  But the bottom line is everyone knows there is something wrong, and you even posted on \"off the record\" talks with a certain vet who acknowledged all the underhanded stuff you thought was going on (TCO2, etc.) was true.  

People know SOMETHING is up but racing does a really bad job of informing the public and has no real STANDARDS that apply in all jurisdictions.  Am I the only one that notices how well Pletcher does at Gulfstream before his annual Derby crap out?  Individual horseplayers are not experts on medication levels and other vet type issues.  Look at people talking about \"out of competition testing\" and you have to wonder \"if everything is on the up and up why does this matter?\"  But we all know it DOES matter.  

So there is a void, a gaping hole in the middle of everything, and a lot of idiotic speculation by unqualified people with vague suspicions, just like me.  But that\'s the problem with the void, it gets filled in, by PETA or Joe Drape or whoever else.  The void was created by the racing establishment which is run by political appointees who know nothing about horse racing, sports in general, or anything else.  It\'s sad that PETA smelled smoke and blew it into a fire that may have burned some people that didn\'t entirely deserve it.  Ultimately racing can only blame itself, for not doing a better job and letting this fester and continue forever.  If the pro-racing side is right and there\'s not that much going on, why can\'t they fix it?  And the speculation and innuendos go on here as well, albeit without deceptively edited videotape.

[TGJB]

That last clause is the point, not any of the things before it. You know where I stand, everyone does. I want there to be more transparency. I want test results to be published. I want real testing and real penalties. But the end doesn\'t justify the means.

If this thing turns out to be a bunch of crap, which right now seems likely, it will be harder to get things fixed, not easier. It will damage the game and individuals without creating progress.

[HP]

Oh this is absolutely going to backfire on PETA and now the status quo will be able to use this \"deceptive editing\" mess as ammunition against real change.  It\'s a total disaster.  They blew it.  I said before that Drape has little or no impact and now we can add PETA to that list, but it\'s actually worse.  PETA just did more to ultimately hurt horses than Assmussen.  That\'s a fact.  

I don\'t know if I agree with you on the end not justifying the means.  Conventional paths to progress NEVER get anywhere in this game.  It\'s summertime which means Monmouth Park.  You know what\'s going on there.  \"The Wild West.\"  And it\'s going to be exactly the same this year.  Guaranteed.  

I\'m watching \"The Wire.\"  There\'s a great quote in there.  \"There are no winners.  Both sides are losing.  One side is just losing slower than the other.\"  That\'s where racing is at.

[plasticman]

If that organization who made and released the tape wants to catch a cheater, they need to really show cheating. Showing me a tape of a man who uses colorful language and insults horses and other humans doesn\'t show me he\'s actually cheating with drugs or doing anything against racing rules and regs. Showing that tape and saying \"listen to the language, he\'s a bad guy, so he must be guilty of something\" is not going to cut it with me.

If Nehro was running with a bad foot, the state vet should have scratched him out of the post parade, if the horse warmed up lame, he would have been scratched, so that\'s not on Blasi and Asmussen, once they enter the horse, its up to the state vet to withdraw the horse if he\'s moving poorly in the post parade.

[TMW]

plasticman Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> If that organization who made and released the
> tape wants to catch a cheater, they need to really
> show cheating. Showing me a tape of a man who uses
> colorful language and insults horses and other
> humans doesn\'t show me he\'s actually cheating with
> drugs or doing anything against racing rules and
> regs. Showing that tape and saying \"listen to the
> language, he\'s a bad guy, so he must be guilty of
> something\" is not going to cut it with me.
>
> If Nehro was running with a bad foot, the state
> vet should have scratched him out of the post
> parade, if the horse warmed up lame, he would have
> been scratched, so that\'s not on Blasi and
> Asmussen, once they enter the horse, its up to the
> state vet to withdraw the horse if he\'s moving
> poorly in the post parade.


I agree with what you say but not the last sentence. The onus cannot be entirely on a track vet to force a scratched horse. As an owner and bettor, I always blame the trainer if a horse is entered for a race and is not sound -- and subsequently scratched by the vet or jockey. I have no personal insight as to whether or not Nehro was sound or not. Just not willing to let a trainer and/or assistant off the hook with the expectation that a track vet will essentially overrule their judgement and responsibility to enter a sound horse. They should know (and do know) when a horse is not right.

[P-Dub]

kencbs Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> FYI - there\'s a piece on drugs in racing on the
> latest Real Sports on HBO.  I just caught the last
> 5 minutes of it - highly critical of the sport.

That\'s putting it mildly.

I just watched the episode. After watching that sickening piece, Asmussen\'s \"reputation\" being tarnished is far down the list of things I\'m worried about regarding horse racing.