Quote:
Originally Posted by Track Phantom
Additional thoughts.....
1. There are zero morals in this game by those that earn their living from it. In golf, the code of ethics is so high that a player is required to penalize themselves if they do something against the rules, even if no one else sees it. The importance placed on integrity, both real and perceived, is bigger than any one individual in the game of golf. Do you feel that horse racing has the same mindset?
2. If ever there was a trainer that could utter "the game has been too good to me, I'm not willing to infringe on the integrity of it" it is Bob Baffert. He has won every major race multiple times, already won the Triple Crown, and has built an empire through his accomplishments in this game. It sickens me that despite all the good fortune he's been awarded, he would still think it necessary to create a bit of "insurance" on Saturday and so blatantly in front of millions of people. Then act like there is "nothing to see here". I say this giving him the benefit of the doubt that he won all of these races fairly and nothing gave him even the slightest edge that would be deemed illegal. If there is "more" to his accomplishments than we know, I would say the statement above increases in intensity by 10000%.
3. The integrity oversight in the game is non-existent. It is, and always has been, the well-educated, dedicated, hard-core racing fans that raise holy hell in these situations for anyone to even take a look at it. For the game to rise out of this "shady sport run by shady people" purgatory it exists in, the people policing the game have to make some very hard decisions. Not only does it seem they are unwilling to make the decisions, they seem equally unwilling to investigate.
4. Those that earn their living through reporting on this game are way too close to it to be objective. For anyone who earns their living in such a situation and can't at least concede the Belmont activity doesn't look good and should be discussed, they aren't serious about what they do. I've seen more talking heads act like the rest of the public is a bunch of tin-foil hat lunatics to even question anything as out of line. They are so over-the-top shills for the sport that it is insulting.
5. People need to stop conflating the need for Justify to be helped (i.e. he would have won anyway) from whether or not there was an attempt to help Justify. It's not as if Justify was some piano dragger that needed the red sea parted in order to get to the finish line. One thing doesn't have anything to do with the other. It's simply whether or not Restoring Hope was purposely used in a way that was beneficial to his barnmate and at a determinant to his own chances.
6. There are a lot of lethal, poisonous darts facing this game. You could make an argument that "this or that" could be the "one thing" that brings the game to its knees. This may or may not be true but if true, the "too many horses consolidated into too few barns" has the possibility to be at the head of the pack. There are so many ancillary issues associated with this one phenomena. Not sure what can be done but seeing a stakes race with 9 horses in it trained by Bob Baffert, Chad Brown and Todd Pletcher feels like the beginning of the end.
7. A "rabbit" and a "blocker" are two completely different things in this context. Connections that enter a rabbit in a race with the attempt to soften the early pace is still acting within the boundaries of trying to win the race with said rabbit. It might be on the outer reaches of those boundaries but it isn't that far fetched to see a rabbit forget to stop and keep going despite the early pace. One cannot say that about a blocker who's only roll in the race is to actually create havoc for others.
|
Another amazing post.
I would especially echo 1 and 2. I play poker sometimes, another game dominated by sleazy characters and without effective regulation. And I practice law, which isn't quite as terrible as racing or poker but is underregulated by insiders and has plenty of ethical problems.
I don't think everyone cares about having an honest game, but an honest game starts with aggressive regulators. Golf is as honest as it is because if you sign your scorecard after doing anything against the rules, you are totally disqualified. There is no half-punishment. If my profession would disbar dishonest lawyers, we would suddenly see people acting a lot more honestly.
To me the most disappointing thing about this is NY won't even investigate. Why not? Why not at least conduct an investigation and bring everyone in and swear them under penalty of perjury to tell the truth? It's only the biggest race in 4 years in the entire state of New York.
They don't do this because the regulators want to protect their friends. And that says everything.
