Penn National Scandal "Vets were the guys that taught the trainers how to cheat"

[Andy Asaro]

https://twitter.com/racetrackandy/status/890543318739763200

Excerpt:

I hate the job the Feds did with this case at Penn Nat. They went after the wrong people, letting the crooks walk whilst going after someone who was doing little more than trying to keep up with the Joneses. It was a waste of time, money, and judgement, and the ultimate failure of the case sends out all the wrong messages going forward. Separate from that, the system of checks and balances that we currently lean on has neither. The National HPBA claims that the Feds had no business sticking their noses in racing’s business, but that’s just crap. The Feds got involved because the inmates were running the asylum. The fact that they proved to be so completely incompetent should in no way lead us to believe they won’t try again with a better result. Let’s stop patting ourselves on the backs for running off a Rick Dutrow here and stringing up a Murray Rojas there and get to some greater truths. We are the problem, all of us. We don’t need to fix “them,” we need to fix us. And we need to do it soon. Tic-toc. Tic-toc.

[cj]

I've always thought the vets were the ones with the most culpability. It is a shame they weren't made an example of at Penn.

[HalvOnHorseracing]

It was a very good article. Clearly there was a culture of cheating that extended to the core of the backside, but five years of investigation and the best they could come up with was guilty on seven counts of misbranding. That was pathetic. The answer is not more federal investigations but to eliminate the culture of cheating that pervades some tracks. The rot extended far beyond Beattie and a few vets. It went from top to bottom at the track, and nailing Murray Rojas wasn't a decisive victory in the war to clean up the backside. In the end the guiltiest paid the smallest price. We need a culture where the bad guys are not tolerated by their peers as well as track management.

[proximity]

prime 2000s pen juice won EVERYWHERE in the region.

[castaway01]

I've always thought the vets were the ones with the most culpability. It is a shame they weren't made an example of at Penn.

It's been that way going back 50 years, or however long Dr. Allday has been prowling the backside of various racetracks with little reproach (Google it). Of course it's a chicken-and-egg thing. Do you blame the person who paid for the drugs, the person who asked for the drugs to be given, or the person who knew the proper amounts to give and at what times?