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Originally Posted by AndyC
Cheating to try to get an edge in a race has been going on forever. It is merely a factor in the handicapping process. Give me lower takeout any day.
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If cheating is "merely a factor in the handicapping process"...then why is the game in the shape that it currently finds itself? Why have the mutuel pools tumbled nationwide? Have you noticed a great increase in the takeouts in recent years...is that why so many of our brethren have lost interest in this game? Or do you suppose that the horseplayers have fled our game for the greener pastures that the casinos have to offer them...which is what the tracks would have us believe?
I'll tell you what I think:
Cheating has NEVER been as widespread as it is right now...but there is a great cover-up in place, to protect the "integrity" of the game. Ask your friend Andy Beyer, if you don't believe me. And the proliferation of these legal and illegal drugs is the main reason for the tiny fields that we are witnessing today. If a sustained effort isn't made soon to deal with the cheating element in this game...then the six-horse field will be considered to be a "full field" in a few years' time.
And that's a game that no one would touch...even with a 12% takeout.
