Could this be Evidence Against Drug Use

[classhandicapper]

Recently, I was doing some casual research on trainer strengths and weaknesses. I noticed a strange thing about trainer changes. It came as no shock that several prominent trainers had oustanding records with recent claims. But to my surprise, several of those very same trainers did not have an especially good record with horses they recently acquired in some other way. That made me think a little. If they are doing something illegal, why are they moving up the recent claims and not the horses that were simply sent to them from a new owner etc....?

One possible reason is that they are actively selecting the horses they claim, possibly because they see something they can improve on. The other horses are just a more random group being sent to them.

I'm not claiming that some trainers aren't drugging horses etc.....

I'm just wondering if anyone else thinks this "could" be some evidence of which ones aren't drugging and just happen to be excellent horseman.

[kenwoodallpromos]

How random is the group? Are they claimers, geldings, or horses expected to improve and be used as breeders? I think generally you can classify racers as either claimers or potential breeders as far as general atitiude towards the racers. If I were an owner who looked the other way when claimers were drugged, I may still want my future stakes winners to be more clean and healthier.

[classhandicapper]

I don't have stats on the makeup of the group, but off the top of my head I would say they were the typical mix for a claiming horse trainer (mostly claimers).

The other thing I would point out is that a lot of people think some of the biggest juicers are stakes caliber trainers.

[kenwoodallpromos]

Very possible whenever 1 trainer angle is a big profit. But the pursr vs. size of fine is much greater with stakes runners.
If a horse is sent to a trainer from a new owner other than by a claim, then that leaves private sale or same owner tranfering to a new trainer- same owner, new trainer may mean a big change in training method or an extra boost.