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I know the O/T involved here. He's a good guy; he's not some unscrupulous bottom-feeder claiming trainer. His wife is the listed breeder. They run only their Ohio-bred homebreds; they don't claim off others, and I don't think they get claimed off of either. Every year he has one or two that are competitive in Ohio-bred stakes, and a handful of others.
I haven't been at Belterra this summer and don't know the particulars of this situation, but I am confidant that the horse was properly inspected; it has four workouts this summer, none of them sharp, but one could say that about many Belterra runners; and I am sure the stewards and racing office and outriders and Dr. Jackson were extremely careful in their approval of this entry.
All I'm saying is that this was most likely an extremely unfortunate event, devastating to everyone that had a part in it, and not the inevitable result of the actions of shady, lazy, careless bad actors that are ruining the sport. It's easy for critics far from the scene to immediately assume the worst, but in this case I think that that's not the right assumption to make.
But in this day and age there isn't time for more measured responses, it's all "sound and fury."
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