Stronach Group announces ban on race day meds

[taxicab]

Originally Posted by dilanesp

The reason they let horsemen push them around is the same reason employers will sometimes agree to an unwise labor contract rather than risking a strike (or a union will do the same).

If you are going to take on the horsemen on Lasix, you will face a strike. The horsemen are absolutely committed to their doping of horses. They will refuse to enter. They will alao sue the track claiming that only the CHRB can ban it. That suit will probably fail but will cost money and take time. Meanwhile the track will sit and lose money.

It's a game of chicken. Perhaps the horsemen will blink and enter because they will be taking a huge hit too. But given their absolute commitment to Lasix, it's hard to see them backing down.

I understand the logic of your post.
It's correct..........in the short term.
But in the long term.......it's not.
Please understand who/what we are dealing with in this instance:
1) Horsemen
2) PETA
3) The mainstream public/politicians

Simply put:
Horsemen can't be trusted to do what's right.......they have zero business sense........pure greed has taken away their ability to distinguish between right and wrong.........just observe how they are behaving right now.
They think starting Friday,it's needle use as normal........which is true until PETA/Politicians/the voting public shut them down.........probably in the election of 2020.
The horsemen in their blind greed are the only ones that can't see this coming.
If everybody involved in horse racing doesn't show they are willing to give up injecting race horses with all drugs immediately...........horse racing will be banned in California in the very near future.
Horse racing does not have a leg to stand on in the public's eyes when it comes to medicating horses........that's just the way it is.
So basically D,Santa Anita had two choices:
Ban lasix use on the spot,probably shut down until no later than the fall meet.....and show the outside world they've turned over a new drug free leaf........take a short term loss.
Or:
Give in to the horsemen.......race for another year or two........and watch a horse racing ban hit the ballot soon enough.
It really should of been an easy choice for Santa Anita.........and they screwed it up.

[Spalding No!]

Originally Posted by chadk66

so how is peta going to react when they start seeing two or three horses a day come back to the grandstand after pulling up covered in blood

More like two or three per month if that makes it better. Not sure they'll be covered in blood necessarily, either.

[dilanesp]

Originally Posted by taxicab

I understand the logic of your post.
It's correct..........in the short term.
But in the long term.......it's not.
Please understand who/what we are dealing with in this instance:
1) Horsemen
2) PETA
3) The mainstream public/politicians

Simply put:
Horsemen can't be trusted to do what's right.......they have zero business sense........pure greed has taken away their ability to distinguish between right and wrong.........just observe how they are behaving right now.
They think starting Friday,it's needle use as normal........which is true until PETA/Politicians/the voting public shut them down.........probably in the election of 2020.
The horsemen in their blind greed are the only ones that can't see this coming.
If everybody involved in horse racing doesn't show they are willing to give up injecting race horses with all drugs immediately...........horse racing will be banned in California in the very near future.
Horse racing does not have a leg to stand on in the public's eyes when it comes to medicating horses........that's just the way it is.
So basically D,Santa Anita had two choices:
Ban lasix use on the spot,probably shut down until no later than the fall meet.....and show the outside world they've turned over a new drug free leaf........take a short term loss.
Or:
Give in to the horsemen.......race for another year or two........and watch a horse racing ban hit the ballot soon enough.
It really should of been an easy choice for Santa Anita.........and they screwed it up.

One other point on this. Los Al and Del Mar are not going along with the Lasix ban. This is really important, for two reasons-- (1) it lessens the burden on horsemen if they were to strike against SA, because they know they can start running again in the summer; and (2) more speculatively, they could petition the CHRB to take the dates away from SA and give them to Los Al and Del Mar.

If Santa Anita really wants a Lasix ban to stick, they are going to need backing from the other tracks.

Look, I agree with you about the dire shape that we are in here. We could get killed by a ballot initiative in 2020, and we also could get killed if they start running at Santa Anita again and there are a bunch of fatal breakdowns (which can happen even just by random bad luck).

California racing is going to need to dodge a bunch of bullets here.

[cutchemist42]

The thing is, and this might sound callous, but even if Santa Anita reopens and goes back to "normal" breakdown rate, the deaths are going to be reported and given more attention.

There is still a general public that doesnt know the sports dirty secret that a lot of horses die doing this. Put you shoe on the other foot, if I'm Peta I could easily make the point why horse racing is a relic of the 20th century. They just have so much ammunition right now and Santa Anita allowed the media to take notice by not taking care of their tack and forcing trainers to run horses when they shouldn't have been.

Just aucks that DelMar will get dragged down when the public votes this out of existence in a few years because according to IanMeyers, Peta has the politicians listening.

[chadk66]

Originally Posted by bob60566

Why did the horse need Lasix to compete?

is this a serious question?

[chadk66]

Originally Posted by Spalding No!

More like two or three per month if that makes it better. Not sure they'll be covered in blood necessarily, either.

it was more of a generalization. let's roll with yours. how will they react to it?

[chadk66]

I'm curious how many of you were around and actually attending races prior to the whole country going ahead with lasix for all?

[Dahossdaboss]

Originally Posted by chadk66

I'm curious how many of you were around and actually attending races prior to the whole country going ahead with lasix for all?

I’m curious when the last was that you actually attended a race or even followed the sport.

[chadk66]

Originally Posted by Dahossdaboss

I’m curious when the last was that you actually attended a race or even followed the sport.

last fall I was at races and I follow things a fair amount now. not sure what difference that really makes anyway. I've forgot more about these animals than you'll ever know

[ubercapper]

Originally Posted by chadk66

I'm curious how many of you were around and actually attending races prior to the whole country going ahead with lasix for all?

I started going when I was about 8, so 1967, attended whatever So Cal track was running at least one day every week until about 1977, then two-three days a week, all live.



I don't recall what year California went from having to scope in order to get the drug to today's rules but over thousands of races I never saw a horse show visible signs of EIPH.

[Spalding No!]

Originally Posted by chadk66

it was more of a generalization. let's roll with yours. how will they react to it?

Probably not much more than they currently react to the normal 1-2 instances per month where lasix is allowed.

The 50-fold increase in the rate of external bleeding you are predicting is a lot different from the more likely 3-fold increase that will occur where lasix is banned on raceday (assuming nothing is done to stand down or permanently remove those type of bleeders from the racing population).

It's the difference between a mountain and a molehill.

[dilanesp]

Originally Posted by chadk66

I'm curious how many of you were around and actually attending races prior to the whole country going ahead with lasix for all?

In California, I was still underage when Lasix took hold in the early 1980's (Desert Wine in 1983 was an early example of a horse who used it), but I certainly remember the transition.

[dilanesp]

Here's an article from 1983 about Lasix and Desert Wine.

https://www.nytimes.com/1983/06/05/s...-of-lasix.html

[Tom]

Drugs and alcohol?

[Dahossdaboss]

Originally Posted by chadk66

last fall I was at races and I follow things a fair amount now. not sure what difference that really makes anyway. I've forgot more about these animals than you'll ever know

What circuit do you follow?