What angers me

[thelyingthief]

As a horse-player, seeing trainers of proven improprieties return to the track after a brief suspension.

These men have in fact STOLEN money from the wagering population. They are criminals who happen to be 'horsemen', yet are treated as outside or above the reach of justice; to be a 'horseman' is equivalent to being above criminal behavior. If I engineer a theft of the wagering pool, by utilizing past post procedures, say, and am caught, I stand before the bar for doing so. I can be imprisoned and/or fined.

How is that the horsemen are not also treated in this manner? I don't need some negligible relaxation of the wagering impost, I get that via my ADW's. I do need a racing environment free of corruption. Frankly, there is no argument for lenience in these matters, as far as I'm concerned. At the very least, a proven instance of rules violation should require a return of the bettor's wager, either by the culprit or the track, or both. If you wish to pick my pocket, and I discover it, why shouldn't I have recourse?

tlt-

[andymays]

They need to have uniformed testing with uniformed penalties. Roger Way (rwwupl) has a great idea about how medications should be dispensed at the track to help with this problem.

Having said that I believe that the article below and excerpt I have posted are true. There have been rumors for many years in California that certain Trainers were targeted while others were ignored. This will go to court and I think the Trainers listed have a good shot at winning the case and maybe a couple of million each from the CHRB.

Horse Racing needs to pick a date where everyone starts out fresh and plays by the same rules from that day forward.

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CHRB Whistle Blower Sues Agency

http://www.bloodhorse.com/horse-racing/articles/62861/chrb-whistle-blower-sues-agency

Excerpt:


He claimed, in an interview, that he has the documentation to prove that Fermin and Shapiro misused the testing system for Total Carbon Dioxide (TCO2), known as "green sheets," to target individual trainers for prosecution. They also used insider information to warn favored trainers of upcoming tests for particular medications

Read more: http://www.bloodhorse.com/horse-racing/articles/62861/chrb-whistle-blower-sues-agency#ixzz1MWGrmmcK

[andymays]

http://therail.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/05/14/racings-drug-problem-more-complicated-than-it-looks/

Excerpt:

And a variety of racing organizations are moving toward establishing minimum threshold levels for drug testing, to eliminate the absurdity of a test positive when a horse shows one part in a trillion of an illegal drug, far below the level that could have any possible effect on performance. Some states still have a zero-tolerance policy, and, as the testing technology gets steadily better, able to find ever-more-tiny concentrations of drugs in blood samples, more and more horses will test positive, just from environmental contamination. In most other sports, and, for that matter, in police testing of suspected drunk drivers, it’s only a test above some threshold level that results in a disqualification or conviction. The same should be true in racing.

But racing has fallen far short in two other areas: the kinds of drugs that are still allowed, and the far-too-lenient penalties imposed on those who violate the rules.

http://therail.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/05/14/racings-drug-problem-more-complicated-than-it-looks/

[proximity]

As a horse-player, seeing trainers of proven improprieties return to the track after a brief suspension.


or never even really leaving the track at all like scooter davis at charles town..... horses now trained by billy davis. :rolleyes:

[comet52]

thelyingthief stands up for better ethical behavior... is this deliberate irony or something?