I dont think we need their head, but we do need to stay one step ahead of the Vet's and Trainers who do try and gain the edge.

If I am not mistaken, the horse he mentioned was none other than IWR in the Gothem, but he said he was not sure if Dutrow's crew administered it.

My point here is simple, the Detention Barn makes no sense if there is not a zero tolerance policy with heavy penalties for any infraction. Measuring the penalty on a case by case basis basically makes the Detention Barn a joke. I refuse to believe that Mullins was not aware of the rules that nothing can be administered. He had to know what he was doing was wrong but worth the risk with these type of penalties.

I personally don't try to guess who cheats and who does not and I find it laughable that people peg certain trainers as those who don't cheat. It would not shock me if Matz was caught with a positive and I would feel no different about this if Matz got caught.

hopefully he hides the hoses and bicarb better than he used to.

he's a guy who has run afoul of the rules more than once, and knows all about the rules and regs in place in a detention barn. he chose to ignore the rules.
fact is, he and ny cut a deal. and it sucks. if that's all the time you get for ignoring detention barn rules, then yes, it's a joke. i'm beginning to think it's all a joke. dutrow still has a case he's fighting from a year ago, as does asmussen. pletcher still has one over his head from the bc with wait a while, as someone pointed out above. trainers think it's a joke, and usually refer to suspensions as vacations. then, when they return, they get better horses from owners looking to cash in on whatever magic bullets these trainers use.

you call it wanting a lynching? i call it turning a blind eye, forgiving repeat offenders, and excusing what shouldn't be excused. the guy's a repeat cheater. seven days, bfd. oh, but it was 'just a mint'. yeah, cause mullins said so-and god knows he's always honest. :rolleyes:

you don't have to guess with some of them-they have records of their repeated offenses. mullins being one of them, dutrow another, assman, oneill....you know, the trainers getting more and more horses to train every day.

BTW, they should of had an episode where Barney gets accused of messing with kids(not exactly a stretch.) The town would want his head, and Andy would investigate(and save stickfigure's bacon.)

I am not defending Mullins either. He has a checkered career in terms of cheating and, as it should, people are angry with a guy who appears to keep trying. I am annoyed that he tries to say he didn't know. The first thing a trainer does even when they are shipping to Philadelphia for a maiden race or claimer is to be clear what the states' rules are. I could possibly understand more if the horse got something that was legit in his state but banned in ours. But he did this in a DETENTION BARN. There is no excuse. Should he be beheaded? Of course not. I mean, look what the frenchman got for snake venom. And he has been banned from two countries already. But what is unfuriating is his brazen smile as he acts like we are all a bunch of fools who will buy his bs. That is why there is alot of rage about him. We wouldn't feel the same way about Matz because Matz has never been found with hoses and bicarb hanging from his trunk. There are trainers of great character out there and some of them have had positives. Mistakes are made. Particularly with these large stables that stretch the organizational capacity of some of these trainers. However we don't talk about them that much. We do talk about the ones that have demonstrated poor character in the past, as we should. Mr. Mullins is one of them. He deserves a suspension that doesn't fit so nicely into his schedule. And we deserve a clean game where the information we use in handicapping is all that needs to be considered. We also need a game that is regulated by one body where the rules are clear to all. Dam, just listened to TVG, we also need a game where the world doesn't sit in heightened anticipation awaiting Go-Go's decision regarding what horse will be blessed by his presence. jeesh what a game.

I'm all for banishing the cheaters when they get caught. In this instance I just feel like the whole story is not out there. I'm not sure what happened, and the story that is out there makes me feel like Mullins might have be misled to believe that Air Power was acceptable. Maybe I'm 100% wrong, but what punisment do you want? To banish him for life because he wanted to give a horse cough medicine. That's like the feds putting John Gotti away for life for tax evasion.

In my opinion, the best response of the day!:tro:

It is because she's really replying to me but has to act like I'm on ignore. BFD. :rolleyes:

But if the whole story isn't out there who do you think that benefits? He has one of the favorites to win a race that is the holy grail of the sport. I just don't like these "suspensions by appointment". It is a sham. Every suspension you see from Jock's to trainers get dropped usually by half or more. And most of the time for no other reason than they aren't appealing it. Than if they do appeal it, they get suspended for less time still with another "suspension by appointment". They do need to get tougher. Obviously Paragallo has been violating rules of decency in the sport for a very long time and people still try to cover it up. Campo stands by Paragallo even when Achilles of Troy appeared to be unable to stand when he came back to Campo's barn a few weeks ago. But what gets lost in this whole trainer's as cheaters debate is ... US. The fans who enjoy the game and bet the game. When they cheat, they aren't just taking advantage of the other horses/owners/trainers but they are taking advantage of us who bet these horses without all the information available. He accepts the suspension, it should start now! Not when it is good for HIM.

Pants, did you start drinking early this morning? Who are you talking about? lol

having a guy get put away for air power-yeah, that sounds extreme. but when you phrase it as 'a repeat offender did it yet again'-does it still sound so innocuous? he's a cheater and more than once, and he just got caught again. whether he was giving the horse 'just' air power, or air power with a little something extra is beside the point. how many times should a guy be allowed to violate the rules? five, ten, twenty five (apparently you win an eclipse award for best trainer once you crack two dozen). how many is too many?
perhaps they should institute a points system. lesser offenses, lesser points. bigger offenses, bigger points. point out, get out.
my take is that the punishment should fit the level of the crime. small time trainers don't have the deep pockets of some of the big name trainers. so, a violation in a graded race should be higher $-wise than a $5k claimer for instance. i have said all along that penalty money should be based on a percentage, not a flat rate. $2500 means next to nothing to mullins, but is a lot to some other trainers.

thing is, until owners start going to trainers who follow the rules, this stuff will continue. supply and demand.

I've always said, I don't care if Mullins was giving Gato Go Win a dose of his grandma's chicken soup, he broke the rules and if he's too stupid to know what the detention barn is for, well he's too stupid to train. If he knows and broke the rules anyway, he's too big of a cheat to train. Either way, I fail to see how he's not too (fill in the blank) to train. By all means, lets let him run a horse in the Derby so that when the media does any digging whatsoever should I Want Revenge win, they'll throw this back in our faces. Great job.

Why do people take this so personally? I don't think what the media says about Mullins, Dutrow or 8 Belles reflects upon me at all, the same way I don't think the steroids scandal in baseball reflects upon me at all. While I may bet more money on one than the other, I've learned it's just better to do what someone above said and adjust my handicapping accordingly. If a horse is hurt that's another story, they don't have a choice like Barry Bonds, etal.

it's taking it personally that some of us want cheaters to be penalized? or maybe even run out of the game if they continue?

The only problem with this argument is that administering Air Power on raceday is illegal in CA, too.

so much for that....

That's what I meant by personally; this poster obviously takes whatever is said on tv about horseracing personally. If Merlinsky is an owner, I understand that. Why you (Danzig) took what I said personally, I don't know.