NY Senate Bill seeks PED/Lasix ban on racing

[Al Gobbi]

S835-2013:

http://open.nysenate.gov/legislation/bill/S835-2013

[jeebus1083]

S835-2013:

http://open.nysenate.gov/legislation/bill/S835-2013

Perhaps the legislature should consider the repeal of the irrelevant "Blue Law" that bans racing and simulcast wagering on Palm Sunday and Easter Sunday, despite the fact that the VLT operations at these very racetracks are not banned.

[shouldacoulda]

If they make the restrictions too tight, nobody will come to NY. Are they trying to clean up racing in NY or finish it off?

[Delawaretrainer]

Ok, so I didn't read the whole thing but this really scares me. I am all for nailing cheaters....however because of the absolute insurer, the trainer is responsible no matter what and false positives and vet mistakes do happen. I've seen people lose huge purses because of a caffeine positive. It was a mystery how it happened, who would give a horse caffeine to win a race? Drinking a cup of coffee isn't going to make ME faster. There is always an uptick in bute positives on really hot days. Why, bad sample handling maybe?

I have seen the helper in the test barn stick the entire end of the hose in each and every horses bucket, transferring the saliva from horse to horse. Grooms mistakenly use the wrong bucket. Vet assistants have drawn up the wrong medication resulting in several horses getting the wrong meds. It's very hard to figure out because when a vet makes a mistake, they probably don't realize they did it unless the horse drops dead, which has also happened! They are human.

There are false positives from hay! One batch of medication was produced where lidocaine was also produced resulting in contamination and a rash of positives, thank god it happened to enough trainers they figured it out.

There was an extremely high bute positive (9x) normal on a horse that was given bute at the proper time. A mistake must have been made in the receiving barn by the vet there or th test was wrong. There was a question on he "peak" but the trainer got the penalty anyway. Combine the loss of purse, plus fines, and days, these cost trainers 15-20k a piece!!!

[DSB]

Very good points.

It's enough to scare a guy from racing there.. especially as a ship in.

[SandyW]

It looks like we will be down to match racing only if this bill is passed.
Any trainer or owner that would enter and race a horse under these conditions would be out of his or hers mind.

[OTM Al]

I say the next move should be to ban any horses that have raced in a PED allowing state in the past year. Then they will be able to reduce racing to three times a week and six races a day because less is more.....

[Robert Goren]

Every time somebody actually tries to something about the doping that is driving bettors from our sport, the horsemen cry bloody murder. It is so sad that the people who depend the the sport are trying their best to kill it. I am of the opinion that if cracked down years ago when the doping first started, horse racing would be thriving today instead of begging for money from slot machines to stay alive.

[OTM Al]

Every time somebody actually tries to something about the doping that is driving bettors from our sport, the horsemen cry bloody murder. It is so sad that the people who depend the the sport are trying their best to kill it. I am of the opinion that if cracked down years ago when the doping first started, horse racing would be thriving today instead of begging for money from slot machines to stay alive.

What, you mean sometime around 1860? It's never been clean, just like every other sport out there.

[the little guy]

What, you mean sometime around 1860? It's never been clean, just like every other sport out there.

That damn wall, once again, just got in Robert's way.

[Robert Goren]

What, you mean sometime around 1860? It's never been clean, just like every other sport out there.The use of "good" drugs started in the late 1960s and have gotten worse every year since, you can joke all you want about it, but it is still driving bettors from the sport. Your personal jabs at me isn't going to change that.

[johnhannibalsmith]

The use of "good" drugs started in the late 1960s...

http://www.historyhouse.com/img/c/cocaine_coca_wine.jpg

http://www.opioids.com/heroin/bayerheroin.jpg





Somehow I kind of doubt it.

[Tom]

The use of "good" drugs started in the late 1960s and have gotten worse every year since, you can joke all you want about it, but it is still driving bettors from the sport. Your personal jabs at me isn't going to change that.

So having some tracks allow lasix and some ban it will help bring people back to the game? Your hot horse at CD comes to Belmont, loses his meds and runs up the tack at 7-5.

OK, that would get my butt to the track.

Imagine if IHA had actually run in the Belmont, but without lasix, and got beat!

That would be special.

[Track Phantom]

Every time somebody actually tries to something about the doping that is driving bettors from our sport, the horsemen cry bloody murder. It is so sad that the people who depend the the sport are trying their best to kill it. I am of the opinion that if cracked down years ago when the doping first started, horse racing would be thriving today instead of begging for money from slot machines to stay alive.

Well said and right on!

[castaway01]

The use of "good" drugs started in the late 1960s and have gotten worse every year since, you can joke all you want about it, but it is still driving bettors from the sport. Your personal jabs at me isn't going to change that.

Yes, people really hate watching anyone who might be on a performance-enhancing drug compete. That's why the NFL's ratings are terrible and no one wagers on football... :D But you can keep posting the same thing over and over---it doesn't make it true.

Horses being drugged is about 1000th on the list of the things hurting racing. I think it should be stopped because it's wrong, but if there were no casinos on every corner, racing would be doing just fine. It's the vast increase in gambling competition that hurt racing (and that racing has not adapted to better compete), not horses being drugged, that has cut into racing's share of the wagering market.

[thaskalos]

Yes, people really hate watching anyone who might be on a performance-enhancing drug compete. That's why the NFL's ratings are terrible and no one wagers on football... :D But you can keep posting the same thing over and over---it doesn't make it true.

Horses being drugged is about 1000th on the list of the things hurting racing. I think it should be stopped because it's wrong, but if there were no casinos on every corner, racing would be doing just fine. It's the vast increase in gambling competition that hurt racing (and that racing has not adapted to better compete), not horses being drugged, that has cut into racing's share of the wagering market.

The only way horse racing would be "doing just fine" would be if it had forever remained the only legalized form of gambling in the land. Did anyone in their right mind believe that this would actually be the case?

I have been frequenting racetracks and OTBs for 30 years, and -- to satisfy my morbid curiosity -- I like asking the racegoers that I become familiar with whether or not they consider this game to be "honest".

NO ONE has ever told me that they considered this game to be honest and above board. Most players may not think that the jockeys sit around and plot the race's outcome in the jockey's room before the race...but almost all of them believe that instructions often go out to jockeys to do less than their best in the race...and almost all believe that legal or illegal drugs are behind the outrageous longshot victories we see. Throw in the "supertrainers"...and the horseplayer's worst fears are confirmed; Illegal drug use is widespread...and the industry doesn't care enough to eliminate it. A recipe for disaster!

It wasn't the expansion of legal gambling that brought this game to its knees. The primary culprit was the disgust that players already had developed for the way the game was run.

The expanded legal gambling just supplied them with another game to play...

[Show Me the Wire]

thaskalos.


I think you found the answer to why do we play this game.

"NO ONE has ever told me that they considered this game to be honest and above board. Most players may not think that the jockeys sit around and plot the race's outcome in the jockey's room before the race...but almost all of them believe that instructions often go out to jockeys to do less than their best in the race...and almost all believe that legal or illegal drugs are behind the outrageous longshot victories we see. Throw in the "supertrainers"...and the horseplayer's worst fears are confirmed; Illegal drug use is widespread.."

We think we can out wit and out play the thiefs.