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[dilanesp]

Originally Posted by classhandicapper

I'm always very honest here (even if I'm mistaken) .

Back when I was a kid in the days of Barrera, Ferriola and others I didn't mind that some trainers might be cheating because I was young, trying to cash bets, it was mostly limited to claiming races (Shifty Sheik excepted) and there was less info in the DRF and other sources. So there was a chance I could get an edge from it too.

Now that I'm older or let's call it more mature, I realize how much the cheating is impacting other trainers, owners, breeder's, riders, and most importantly potentially the health of the horses. But what's even worse, the cheating (or rule bending if you want to call it that instead) imo is now more prevalent in Graded Stakes races. To me, it's bad enough when some old claiming horse with back class jumps back up after a few weeks in a new barn, imo Graded Stakes is a line that should not be crossed or tolerated at all.

Lava Man may be the horse that pissed me off the most, for precisely that reason. It was so obvious. Every time he left California, he couldn't duplicate his form.