While the state said this was random, they also said that they are selecting barns/trainers based upon random picks as well as information provided and other factors. The guy is shooting 50% -- why wouldn't they pick him? Is this a shock? Right, wrong or indifferent, he would be the guy I would suspect they would pick. As a side note, the results people are seeing from Levine at Monmouth are understandable to an extent. OTOH, those who automatically call him "cheating" merely from a results standpoint, detailed or not, probably more often than not have to call him "cheating" or come from a place of "he must be cheating" so to speak.
I think he'll end up the meet around where he normally does % wise -- 30%, maybe more due to the distortion of the #'s. The wins will be much higher, but then again, how many people knew that he has twice as many horses on the grounds as he had last year? Anyway, while they might be barking up the wrong tree, you have to be concerned even if you are the ultimate Mr. Clean.
I am all for holding people accountable -- trainer responsibility (perhaps revisited, and modified), owner responsibility (something that is practicle and feasible) and vet responsibility (more random searches, rules, regulations, higher accountability, etc.) and a higher level of overall, universal rules and regulations. However, being concerned even though you are Mr. Clean, extends to the owner as well (although the owner cannot control what he can't control).
People yell and scream because they "just know" that someone is "doing something" or "cheating" -- as a byproduct of the results. Weak arguement as far as I am concerned. Where there's smoke there's fire? Yes, true, not all the time, but true. Do unusually high %'s, record # of wins, etc. automatically mean cheating? No. Does it sometimes? Yes. But to arbitrarily say that you "just know" when it is and when it isn't -- that's BS. It's also BS to say who what % of people are cheating and who is not. This is a very blurred and very tainted landscape we are looking at. It's not a pretty picture and I hope the industry has been pushed into even more action than it's taken in recent years.
Eric
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