What am I missing? His horse tested positive for a drug overage....coincidentally after running a remarkably improved race. Are you suggesting the test was incorrect?

Without offering an opinion on the specifics of this case, why does it always seem that we are more concerned about the "due process" rights of the cheaters than the honest horsemen that they are putting out of the business?

While I totally agree with this....I would also like to mention the honest horseplayers that are also being put out of business. Cheating is a disgustingly self-centered activity that is destroying this game.

i was confused as to how larry jones helped oaklawn at all, cheating or not.

but larry jones wears a white cowboy hat, surely he's one of the good guys? :cool:

There are no good guys from Hopkinsville.

I agree, but little is done about it. I've often thought that industry leaders, totally obsessed with the casual fan's view of the sport, are afraid to crack down on cheaters. (There was an interesting article in the NY Times on this subject as it relates to track and field - a sport which does impose real penalties, where each suspension/banishment is viewed by some as only reinforcing the notion that the sport is filled with cheaters.) In this age where racing is covered in the mainstream media as a niche sport (most papers don't have a racing beat writer), my sense has been that, if a well-known trainer was sent down, it might be a front page sports story in papers like the Louisville C-J, Lexington H-L, Albany Times-Union, the Saratogian and few others. Whatever minimal damage occurs in the eyes of the casual viewer would be made up in spades by the honest horsemen and gamblers who would invest more $$ in what they perceived to be a sport more on the up-and-up.

Pyramist: 74

Snowy: 22

Stoney: 95

The positive hasn't yet been confirmed.

Yes, tests can be incorrect. The racing jurisdictions know it, as the procedure for split sample testing to eliminate laboratory error as a cause for a positive, and as confirmation of a positive, is built into the system.

The only reason the public knows of this positive is because the owner decided to talk about it.

The track reps refused to talk about it with the press, as the case is still pending and the positive hasn't been confirmed - which if/when it is, will then lead to a hearing, and then to a decision by the part of the racing jurisdiction as to guilt or innocence.

I personally will wait until he's found guilty before calling Larry Jones a cheater.

But you go right ahead.

I reread the thread....I never called Larry Jones a cheater. Don't put words in my mouth to suit your agenda.

I will reiterate what I did say.....I believe the people who cheat, whoever they are, are destroying this game.

As I read the articles, they don't seem to be disputing that the horse had an excessive amount of clenbuterol in his system; rather, they seem only to be questioning how it got there.

Damn, I agree!

Someone said about Larry Jones, "He has been a real boost to the Oaklawn meet. I know many of you don't even recognize that but Larry has made a real difference for us fans."

You then said, "I agree, trainers who cheat do a lot for the fans......they steal money from them."

You're right - how foolish of me to have possibly thought you were referring to Larry Jones in your comment about trainers who cheat ;)

I think it must be a high positive, because the owner is so vocal. But Jones is asking for the retest, so maybe only borderline?

There was a trainer in the past year or two, who appealed a drug charge, had the sample retested, then suddenly the charge were dropped and the jurisdiction refused to talk about the result of the retest? Anyone remember this situation?

I would wait until the final test is in ... Jones does have a quarter of a century of cleanliness ..

OT a bit, but I remember a horse back in the 60's that came back positive for bute ... The trainer swore up and down nothing was administered to the horse so vociferously, and then tests came back just as loud positive, that someone got creative and quarantined and monitered this horse ... Still positive ...

Turned out the horse was manufacturing a substance that mimicked bute all by himself ... Very weird ... The horse's name was Star Ice, and I believe he was banned from racing because of this ...

I don't really care what his supposed record is. He gets form reversals on horses at all class levels that make him look shady to me. Because the reversals come with horses he's had all along - it doesn't get the same reaction that it would if the reversals came 1st off a claim or with a 1st time trainer switch.

An overage is overage. It's like when you are driving on the highway and you try to drive as fast as you can without driving fast enough to get picked up.

In some places the cops tend to let you can get away with more than others. In some situations you can have a guy pass you going 100 mph and you speed up 10 mph because you know if they get anyone - it will be the other guy first.

However, you're playing with fire...and sooner or late you'll get caught. It may take many years - but it will happen.

To me - the overage isn't a big deal - my opinion has already been formed by seeing enough of the guys horses.

The big deal here (at least to me anyway) is you have an owner who wants to make this out to be a case of sabotage!

Agreed--an overage is just that ... But as far as the form flip flops, can you consider that in 25 years with these dramatic improvements he still comes clean ??? Or are you suggesting he is that good ...

The guy used Clenbuterol--basically a brochodilator if I am not mistaken ...Legal stuff in legal proportions ... Nothing has been released about how much over the overrages are ... If they were minor, could that said horse suddenly inhale the competition ???

Admittedly, I have not followed the Jones profile like you have ... But I would prefer to wait out the subsequent testing although you make a case, as do those who see his record compared to other more busted trainers, and make a case for a misshap or even a frame job ...

I do agree that the owner was a bit florid in his denial, but the timing ...

wheres the fatman when you actually need a cycling analogy?

I think more than half of competitive cyclists claim to suffer from exercise related asthma, so that they can take a certain amount of bronchodilator.

they probably know all the good masking agents too.

The worst part of this is now the major media outlets have free reign to splash news of a failed drug test for a horse by Eight Belles trainer.

well, why not? it all happened. if racing doesn't want this kind of black eye, they should have taken steps long ago to keep it from happening--rather than smacking wrists and writing inconsequential fines.

What kind of fine or penalty exactly do you want? You guys seem to want blood but if this is the guys first violation in 25 years what exactly should happen to him? We dont know for sure but the medication in question is a legal drug that was probably found in a trace level above the allowable level. Calling him a cheater is a bit harsh especially considering his record. I admit I am a little skeptical about Jones and his seemingly meteroic rise from Ellis Park and his often strange form reversals. But this is hardly the smoking gun. I would like to know what "racing", outside of having a better system of testing and being a bit more open about what is happening with that testing, can do to avoid having positive tests?