Quote:
Originally Posted by azeri98
Why should being count in big races count more. He's being singled out because he's the best, just like Bonds and Clemens in baseball while other PED users are in the HOF. It shouldn't matter if it's the Derby or a 5k claimer. It is not irrelevant how others are punished. It's very relevant. It should be a standard penalty for all. Since the Derby there have been many trainers with drug offences regarding their horses. None were suspended from Churchill Downs. Therein lies the problem. It lacks credibility when you don't punish equally for the same crime. They will never ban Asmussen or guys like McPeek or Romans. They run too many horses at Churchill. Baffert was an easy target for 2 reasons. He's dominated the Derby lately and doesn't run a string at Churchill Downs.
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1. I think cheating in a big race brings more shame to the industry and is more visible to the public. Plus there's more money at stake. So there are plenty of good reasons to hit a cheater in a big race harder.
2. Take your Bonds and Clemens example. Do you really think that if they caught a high school baseball player using steroids, that this is an equally big deal to catching Alex Rodriguez? Because I don't and I don't think baseball generally does.
3. It is irrelevant how others are punished and I am frankly sick of this argument. There are thousands of unsolved MURDERS in the United States. Thousands of them. All over the country. We still don't know who sent out that Anthrax in the months after 9/11. We never found out who killed the Black Dahlia.
And other murderers, such as OJ Simpson, beat the rap at jury trials.
So, we shouldn't prosecute murderers then? Some murderers aren't punished. They don't get the "standard penalty".
I cannot express the level of contempt I have for this argument. Here's a guy who cheats and administers dangerous drugs to a horse in the Kentucky Derby and people come out and say that he should just go on and keep doing what he is doing because we aren't good at catching people who do this? Really?
Would you accept this argument if someone committed a serious crime against you, or someone you love? Would you say "that's OK, the perpetrator should get away with it because other people get away with it"? Or would you, correctly, want them to throw the book at the person.
4. Baffert is (hopefully going to be) punished because he was caught cheating in the Kentucky Derby. When they caught Peter Fuller, a much lesser name in racing, cheating in the Kentucky Derby, they punished him too- indeed, they did it a lot faster than they have with Baffert. Your thesis that they are going after him because he is big is wrong.
