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One other thing, bribing or banging some vet tech to find out what's being tested for and then drugging accordingly is not "getting an edge", it is conspiracy and a crime. At THAT, I did express outrage. That stuffs plain bull shit. No one deserves that edge.
I know for a fact that when Joe Guarino had his resurgence mid 90s at YR with Case doing most of the driving, that Guarino had a contact inside the Cornell trailer that would tell him what they would be tested for that particular evening. I also know he would pre-race some on the old back track very close to report time and for some reason would sometimes warm his horses up back there and never see the track before it was time to race. Don't know why or how he got away with it.
I am 100% aware of how racing operated in those days. People who raced clean, no matter what there level of skill or how sharp they were, batted .200 to maybe .250. Most raced in condition races and when their stead got down to NW $2,000 L5, they drew well and jogged. Then another 6-8 weeks of 4th and 5th place checks before they go down in class top win or be second. No matter how talented a horse person you are , you are a .200 trainer in these circumstances. You could drop in a claimer. Not wanting to lose him but looking to be more aggressive in his placement, you tag him for $10K more than he is worth. No takers. Nobody makes a dime but, you now fit NW of $2K again. If you tagged him at the value he has been performing at, there were 10 sharks, swimming the blood stained waters of the claiming box. Either way you go bust if you continue to play. One of those creeps would draw the lucky pill and in 2 weeks with some EPO, soda and breathing meds, he wins and the driver takes almost a 1/2 mile to pull him up. Double jumps the next start and the classy 10yr. old shaves 2 seconds off his lifetime mark. Now, the former trainer looks to be incompetent or at the least, a guy that time has passed by. The owner feels like a complete schmuck and finds a new way to get his action fix. This shit went on right until the VLT laws passed. Everyone knew harness racing had less integrity than, wrestling and roller derby. Hell, Boxing had more going for it. That was until the MMA gave the pugilistic fan an alternative. When a politician in NY was on the outs, his peers and pundits would "you will be seeing him on a bench at Yonkers Trots, next. To give any of these low life gutless creeps any remembrance other than what they excelled at cheating, is a great travesty of fairness to the straight guys.
Exactly Fuguzzi there were mutable trainers given the okay
Flis/Smutz LaPoff/Marino?
I am 100% aware of how racing operated in those days. People who raced clean, no matter what there level of skill or how sharp they were, batted .200 to maybe .250. Most raced in condition races and when their stead got down to NW $2,000 L5, they drew well and jogged. Then another 6-8 weeks of 4th and 5th place checks before they go down in class top win or be second. No matter how talented a horse person you are , you are a .200 trainer in these circumstances. You could drop in a claimer. Not wanting to lose him but looking to be more aggressive in his placement, you tag him for $10K more than he is worth. No takers. Nobody makes a dime but, you now fit NW of $2K again. If you tagged him at the value he has been performing at, there were 10 sharks, swimming the blood stained waters of the claiming box. Either way you go bust if you continue to play. One of those creeps would draw the lucky pill and in 2 weeks with some EPO, soda and breathing meds, he wins and the driver takes almost a 1/2 mile to pull him up. Double jumps the next start and the classy 10yr. old shaves 2 seconds off his lifetime mark. Now, the former trainer looks to be incompetent or at the least, a guy that time has passed by. The owner feels like a complete schmuck and finds a new way to get his action fix. This shit went on right until the VLT laws passed. Everyone knew harness racing had less integrity than, wrestling and roller derby. Hell, Boxing had more going for it. That was until the MMA gave the pugilistic fan an alternative. When a politician in NY was on the outs, his peers and pundits would "you will be seeing him on a bench at Yonkers Trots, next. To give any of these low life gutless creeps any remembrance other than what they excelled at cheating, is a great travesty of fairness to the straight guys.This is probably the best post Ive ever read on the Plop-or anywhere for that matter--sums up the State of the Industry for the most part very well-facts about the main problem--the real cheats--and why they need to be in jail.Chris Ryder--got out of the "cheat" game-by not racing claimers-as every time he got one going well-the low life cheaters would claim it . Casie Coleman--looks like the same thing--Linda Toscano, Pelling,Daley etc-no one wants to play the game where these crooks get a hold of your horse. Burke still races claimers--mainly because he has Weaver helping him-the man is a genius at finding value horses--and knows the value of a horse better than the owners or even the trainer. Racing would be better off-having all kinds of condition races where even the non juicers can race and make a steady income. Thats why Im partial to grading horses v accurately-better than trackmaster does(full of errors)--and use that for the future of the sport.
What are you supposed to do if you want to get back into the game as an owner and buy or claim something in the 50K range. Almost every trainer that has a horse racing worth 50k is batting 300 plus. What are you gonna do, get one and give it to someone at 160? Of course not -- no one is in it to lose money. So what's an owner (new or old) suppose to do?