drugs >> bleeders ??

[entropy]

IN a country far, far away where all drugs are banned the leading trainer, with a record far superior to his peers, also produces the most bleeders. he has a reputation of looking after his horses very well even to the extent of riding some of them himself in trackwork.

still some raise questions as to whether undetectable drugs are connected to the higher incidence of bleeding attacks. is this possible or just paranoia ??

[Observer]

Interesting question. My feeling on medications, legal or banned, is that if a horse is using it, there is a weakness somewhere, or someone is willing to put the horse at a potentially dangerous risk. I guess one could argue that in some cases, the medications could enhance the horse too much so that they are able to exert more than is physically best for them .. at some point .. something's going to give .. whether it be the heart, the lungs or the legs.

[entropy]

also the trainer involved is arguably amongst the top 12 in the world and would not race his horses unless they were 'ready' ( excl their 1st up run where they might not be at peak fitness ).

i believe andy beyer recently said he believed drugs were more rife in the US currently than at any time in the past.

over the last couple of mths i have come to believe it is a world wide problem.

http://www.asianracing.nu/ubb/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic&f=9&t=000012

http://www.asianracing.nu/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=1&t=000006&p=

the latter post deals mostly with rick englander and scott lake. englander says he chose his trainers based on their high strike rates (my inference > use drugs most effectively).

imagine how useful the exchange of knowledge would be between, say 5 trainers, all using different drug regimes.

[Observer]

I took a quick glance at the second post, and I have to admit, I do not speculate about which trainers are going about winning by illegal means. I have worked around horses to know the difference one single person can make in a horse, whether it be good or bad, and how some days, the horse can just be exceptionally good or exceptionally bad. Most people don't like to believe it, but horses really do have their own personalities and also have their good days and bad. Besides, I thought in this country we're "innocent until proven guilty."

And in the case of Affirmed Success .. how long is this old guy supposed to keep hammering out top efforts? From the very beginning when he debuted at age 3 he showed he was special. After winning his first three starts, he then ran third in the Jim Dandy before trying the Travers. That was five years ago. He is now an 8-year-old. I don't think many would disagree that he's lost a step from his best racing days, but he was good enough to turn the tables on Wrangler to win the Toboggan in his last start.

These connections deserve a lot of credit for being so open minded with this horse to allow him to try different things .. at which he has succeeded. Not only is he a nice sprinter, but he is also a good miler, AND a good turf runner. Currently, according to BRIS, his record stands at 35-14-9-5 with earnings of $1,886,014. Maybe Affirmed Success will perk back up to peak form with the warmer weather, but if he doesn't I'll lean more to it being his age rather than sheer speculation about some "funny" stuff.

[takeout]

http://opinions.bloodhorse.com/viewstory.asp?id=8879

[entropy]

good article takeout. thx.