While not 100% directly related to horse racing, this morning I stumbled across the trailer for a documentary entitled Bigger Stronger Faster.

The film, from the the producers of Fahrenheit 9/11 and Bowling for Columbine, looks at steroid use in sports and the culture that creates cheating to ask the question, is it still cheating if everyone is doing it?

The opening paragraph of the synopsis says it all:

In America, we define ourselves in the superlative: we are the biggest, strongest, fastest country in the world. We reward speed, size, and above all else: winning at sport, at business, and at war. Metaphorically we are a nation on steroids. Is it any wonder that so many of our heroes are on performance enhancing drugs?

It’s good to keep in mind as our discussions and debates about the state of the game unfold, that horse racing is a reflection of a bigger picture. That’s not so say that things can’t or shouldn’t change, it’s just harder to break out of patterns that are ingrained in every aspect of our culture without real incentive and “reward” for doing so.

Posted by dana on May 31 2008    
Filed Under: 2008, Industry, Greed, Drugs, Film, Racing

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In a word, wow. Not that he had the toughest of competition today but I think someone may have slipped a little Winstrol laced Kool-Aid in my “what am I going to do with an hour to post” beer.

And did anyone call Macho Again? I took a quick look around and didn’t see anyone call that one! It looked really good for Racecar Rhapsody but he couldn’t hold off the hard charging Icabad Crane and Macho Again. Too bad too, my strategy involved a series of tri boxes of Big Brown, Racecar Rhapsody and the field. I also had a much more limited series of exactas, that did not include Macho Again.

Back to Big Brown, I was impressed with how well he rated and how effortlessly he took over to ultimately crush the field. That’s one more thing to check of my “prove it to me” list… can he intentionally rate? Check.

The Belmont should provide an opportunity for him to prove the one last thing that I’d like to see (and just in time too!)… how will he handle some real competition? His only competition so far has been his post position in the Derby. Casino Drive should be the first real competition of the equine variety to cross his path. Bring it on!

In other news, besides missing the Preakness trifecta by 3/4, I missed the Dupont Distaff exacta by nose thus concluding a full day cashing no tickets.

Here’s a note of interest in the Bloodhorse article about Big Brown’s retirement plan:

When the colt will be retired is completely controlled by his owners, IEAH Stables and Paul Pompa Jr.

Do you think there’s a clause in the deal that nullifies it if he’s injured? Do you think the money has changed hands or does it change hands when he’s retired? In other words, who assumes the risk? Maybe they both do if there was some payment now with the balance payable upon retirement. If Three Chimneys assumes the risk it will be interesting to see just how sporting IEAH will be about it… clearly they could certainly count on continued purse money!

Well, congrats to Big Brown and Macho Again and West Point Thoroughbreds… now there’s a partnership group I actually like!

Posted by dana on May 17 2008    
Filed Under: West Point Thoroughbreds, 3yo, Drugs, Greed, Prove it to Me, Wrap Up, Pimlico, Preakness, That's Why They Call it Gambling, Breeding, Gambling, Retirement Watch, Triple Crown, Racing

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Casino Drive acting up in the paddock prior to the Peter Pan (Bud Morton)

According to the past performance, Casino Drive, yesterday’s impressive winner of the Peter Pan and everyone’s favorite new potential foil to Big Brown, was sans meds. No lasix, no bute… although it looked like he had one too many green teas in the paddock!

John of The Race is Not to the Swift points out that this may be another case of a reckless owner (although I STILL don’t agree that entering Eight Belles that was reckless as he claims) as Casino Drive will be asked to go a mile and a half on his third start.

I’d like to see Ready’s Echo in the Belmont as well, perhaps someone over at Pletcher Inc. can work with him to get him to sit closer to the actual race? He could be pretty interesting under those circumstances.

Me pregunto qué ha sucedido con Tomcito? Él no parecía cómodo por ahí y como Superfecta señala en los comentarios, funciona muy bien en las mañanas, pero no es lo que eleva a la pista. ¿Qué sucedió? (Gracias Google Translate!)

Posted by dana on May 11 2008    
Filed Under: 2008, Bud Morton, Drugs, 3yo, Belmont Stakes, International Racing, Racing

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Last updated 05/08

I never want to be one of those loud mouth people who complains without making suggestions. In part I thank art school for that. In “crit” classes (critiques - you show your work and discuss it with your fellow students) you’re never allowed to say that you either like or don’t like something without discussing why (at least if your professor is on the ball).

The hardest part of any situation that produces hurt, anger and/or frustration is not being able to unequivocally say “it happened because of X”, “it’s X’s fault”.
When the fault is obvious you have a clear cut place to channel that anger, hurt and/or frustration… or at the very least, a starting to point to understand why it even happened!

What happened in the Derby is a very sad symptom of a lot of complex and interwoven issues. As the media coverage escalates and the “activists” call for our heads, I think it’s our duty to make suggestions about how to proceed. It’s hard, for me at least, to defend our sport (that I love) by saying that we have installed some synthetic tracks. Why? We need to do more, a LOT more.

So here are my ideas. They’re meant to start a discussion that includes gathering more ideas and suggestions, refining these and tying to figure out how to make them actionable. None of these are original ideas and certainly have been discussed elsewhere, but this is meant to compile them into one big list.

Keep 2 things in mind 1) these are ideas, not decrees and 2) that I created this list throughout the day (i.e., haven’t been laboring over it), so consider it a draft or a “brain dump” (one of my most hated corporate expressions, right up there with “bio break”… ). Also, the order is random.

Enough with the caveats, here’s the list…

Collect data on all break downs to determine:
- age, sex, equipment, connections, breeder, race type (general information)
- lineage (any developing patterns in breeding)
- surface type & condition (was the track sealed?, synth, dirt, grass, etc - do tracks keep maintenance records?)
- necropsy (condition that could have been foreseen with a certain exam?)
- New: information should be a publicly accessible database, not just for breeders but for everyone (dana - added 05/06)
- New: convene panel of equine vets to determine parameters for acceptable proportions of height, weight and leg circumference (Aelinie - added 05/08)

Also, let’s find out what other countries are collecting and learning.

Ban whipping
- “most horses will give you everything they have without the whip” - Jerry Baily
- “I think we should do away with whips completely” - Randy Moss
- “…usually the horses that want to run don’t have to be whipped” - Jim Squires
- “Our sport looks to newcomers like a bunch of people beating horses with sticks” - comment at GbG

Ban drugging, period
- Race days meds
- Ban steroids (test before sales)

Create serious consequences
Not only for trainers but for owners and vets - when everyone is on the on the line there is more pressure to adhere. Consequences should also exist across jurisdictions.

Stop over sealing tracks
Create national standards for track maintenance and fine when track conditions are found to be unsafe with bigger fines when horses are injured because of it.

Breeding
- Reduce number of mares covered to a reasonable annual amount - New: 75 - (Cyd - added 05/08)
- Compile data from at least the past 5 years on all recorded breakdowns to find sire patterns (use the first bullet point under “collect data”)
- New: penalties for rushing off to stud - (Superfecta - added 05/06)
- New: stop breeding unraced horses - (Superfecta - added 05/06)
- New: Jockey Club could refuse to register the offspring of stallions who couldn’t at least make a minimal number of starts (Jen R - added 05/08)

Racing Ages
- Do away with 2yo racing and race them longer
- Create race conditions that do not allow horses with sires under 5
- New: Only race 2yo at the end of the year and only on turf - (Katie - added 05/06)
- New: 2yo under saddle sales end - (Katie - added 05/06)
- New: cutting back the distance of 2yo races - (Jen R - added -5/08)

Derby
- Limit the field to 14-16 horses
- Change the graded earnings structure to favor more appropriate horses

BC
- Don’t let Derby aged horses run in the Classic / “Distaff” (as an incentive to keep them running longer)

Educate “consumers”
- Why do people routinely buy horses out of unsound sires?
- Why are unsound horses rushed off the track to breeding career?
- Minimize “demand” through education
- New: make data from breakdowns (mentioned above) publicly accessible so people can do their own research (dana - added 05/06)

Bone Scans
- New: Some sort of sanctioned bone-scanning process before every horse’s next race? Kind of like a sobriety test—you don’t pass the exam, you’re scratched - (Ernie - added 05/05)

Progress
- New: What I would like to see most of all, however, is some progress - (Nick - added 05/06)
- New: Some of these things can be done more quickly than others, like banning racing - set some time lines and communicate about them regularly - (dana - added 05/06)
- New: top to bottom of audit of the whole industry (Jeremy - added 05/07)
- New: National ruling body created should also include a broad cross section of interested parties (Joan - added 05/08)

And lifetime bans for crap like this.

I think the NTRA (Hi Alex!) should create a task force charged with taking a serious look at how to make racing more safe that addresses issues across the board create a national ruling body with the authority to make and enforces changes. Not just synthetic surfaces but looking at all of the above, and possibly more, to see how each thing contributes and what can be done to address it. It’s daunting, but it would be a start. [New]

That’s what I think, what do you think? And I don’t want to hear “you’ll never be able to” or “no one would ever”…

Posted by dana on May 05 2008    
Filed Under: Randy Moss, 2008, Industry, Greed, Drugs, Breeding, Research, Racing

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I wouldn’t be surprised if this poll ended up unanimous, but let’s just see.

In our last poll, put up admittedly close to the Derby, Z Humor turned out to be a winner after all with top vote count for biggest surprise as Derby winner with 4 votes. Not far behind was Recapturetheglory and Eight Belles with 3, although 2 of those votes for Eight Belles came in after the race (way to show some respect people).

Cowboy Cal, Anak Nakal and Bob Black Jack all received 2 votes while Adriano hit the board with 1 vote.

Thanks to all who voted, except for maybe the two that voted for Eight Belles after the fact, didn’t your mama raise you right?

Posted by dana on May 04 2008    
Filed Under: 2008, Poll, Industry, Greed, Drugs, Fans, Derby Trail, Kentucky Derby, Racing

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