Drug O'Neil keeps on a butchering
 

http://www.paulickreport.com/blog/se...n-doug-oneill/

Who the hell wants to win a race at Los Alamitos?

What a guy. Special place in hell for him.

I asked O’Neill, given what happened to Burna Dette after being dropped so sharply in class, if he would do the same thing again with another horse.

“I definitely would,” he said. “I’ve been blessed to win a lot of races with horses that dropped like that. It’s easier on them.”

He won't do it again that drastic though, any trainer wants to be as far away from possible from publicity like this. Pretty comedy.

This exerpt caught my eye: Arthur has pushed for the rule change, saying a trainer and owner had been seen “high-fiving” each other when a horse of theirs was claimed from a race in which it broke down.

Hard to imagine this can happen, if it did, I would love to know who they are.

Thomas, this is true comedy.

It is amazing how these trainers and owners who have been given so much by this sport and these horses would be willing to drop horses who are obviously ready to break at any moment to these low levels rather than just retire them. Although you see it everyday. See race 1, PID tonight, Azura. Just ran in an allowance $42,900 purse lunged at the start and got beat about 3 lengths, race before ran 4th in an 85k stake race and before that won an optional 32k race. Tonight is entered for 5k. Hope she scratches

O Neil cant be defended on any level.. On the 8/9 Suffolk card there were 2 Zito Lapenta Mdn's dropping from 20 to 4 claimers both horses were 200 plus k and both were to slow to compete in NY. I also saw an Ex Phipps 4 year old that was out of Finders Fee racing as well.

The real question is does a horse's previous owner need to be responsible for the life of the animal that they purchased or bred and raced? Tough issue in the case of the two LaPenta Zito's yesterday ther were purchased in 08 for real money who knows how much was poored into the training feeding and vetting for these for the last 18 months. It isn't unresonable that each had 100k of added expense until they were claimed away.. Should Lapenta have to inspect or be involved with the horses future because he raised his paddle the highest in a auction in 08? Tough question

He really entered Tuscan Evening (having a heart attack) into this discussion? WTF ...

O'Neil is an a-hole. I'm sure there are plenty of people waiting to hand him an anvil on his way down.

I thought that was real classy also

Someone enlighten me here: are claiming horses typically insured? And, if so, is it for a preset level or does it fluctuate depending on the last race level?

No, although some tracks will insure a 'claim' on a horse that breaks down. In Illinois you might get half your money back.

It isn't tough, why does a guy like LaPenta even have to run those horses for 4k, why not just retire them to an adaption facility, donate 6 months of care ($1500 roughly at an adaption facility) and clean the books.

These guys are sharp enough to understand that if their trainer is telling them they should run their 6 figure horses for 4k at Suffolk that they aren't very good horses.

The big difference between the 2 situations is the Zito horses were never any good, they have been slow from the start. They obviously want to sell them at that price but more importantly from the trainers standpoint, get a win to pad the stats. Since trainers are almost exclusively selected, hired or fired based on win %, Zito figures he can pick up a couple more cheap wins (like C. Clement does every year at Suffolk) as he already was 2 for 3 there. He won one and lost that one and now has 3 more wins to add to the %.

O'Neil drops horses that have been successful at higher levels when they are broke down hoping to get the claimed and maybe even win as well.

There is a big difference between selling slow horses and broke down ones.

And I do not think that it is the responsibility of the owners who bred or bought the horses at auction. It is the responsibility of the current owner and trainer to protect the horse. If they can't spare the couple of grand they shouldnt be in the "business".

The claiming price is the max they will get if the horse is insured regardless of what the horse was covered for.

It says a lot about people who are willing to keep their horses with trainers like this.

Its a charcter flaw, some call it business.

I don't know LaPenta at all, but it is hard for me to believe that he is in it for the 'business' side of it. It is structured as a business for obvious reasons.

Also, it is much easier to donate and be done with it because you have a specific end date, you don't have to worry about the horse getting claimed, hurt or anything else that can possibly go wrong.

This way you eliminate the day rate and everything that goes with it.

"O’Neill said he turned down offers from individuals to buy Burna Dette beforehand because the owner wanted to win the race and hoped to keep the horse."

Can you really, ever again, trust anything coming out of that mouth?

In the last 5 years O'Neil has had 23 appear to have broken down. He makes a lot of starts but that is a lot of dead horses. Dale Romans with a similar sized outfit during that same period had 5 break down.

Chuck, "It is easier on them." ---o'neill.

I agree that the situations are different TOTALLY.. I doubt HoF trainer Zito give a flyin Fcuk about winning a Mdn 4 at Suffolk.. It's just the easiest way to stop the bills to his owner..

Well to be fair he had I think 4 break down in stakes which in itself is quite remarkable

He likes wins like everyone else. Maiden 4's show up in the win column the same as grade 1's.

Getting Maxine back off of injured reserves should help his win % improve

Lets not forget the near breakdown of Lava Man. Who knows how close that may have been after he came back with "the ankles of a 3 yr old" from the voodoo doctor.

Scavs the horses might be ok and perhaps in the hands of a trainer that can focus on them a bit more that might become useful claimers? You have to believe that Zito gave it his best shot but once it became evident that the stock would not be the type that Lapenta cares to campaign perhaps the barn stopped giving their all to get them as perfect as possible.. Not suggesting claiming from Zito is all that bright just that you shouldn't HAVE too retire a 250k 3 year old because one trainer and owner have bigger fish to fry.

Winners share was 5k I wonder if he will even bill the trainers award?

It's been a real treat to handicap the horses he sends to CT that can't cut it at Philly or Penn National. I don't remember any breaking down but I could have missed one.

There is actually a lot of money to be made off him since most of his horses go off as heavy favorites or close 2nd choice. Toss the low level claimers and assume the ALW horses are live.

Since Feb1
Starter/Allowance/Stakes - 7 Starts 5-0-1
Claiming 10K+ - 6 Starts 2-3-1
Claiming < 10K - 14 Starts 2-1-1

He has been listed as owner for several that have come to CT directly from SoCal. All have run in claimers and he is 1 for 7. I'm not sure how shipping across the country to run for 11K purses makes sense, but he must be making money off it.

I'm sure he doesn't work for free

He had a couple big droppers bite the dust this winter at Philly

i thought it sounded like absolute bs as well.

I guess but sometimes a freebie is appropiate.. Zito has done awesome for Lapenta but maybe this cast aways are on the arm?

Tuscan Evening was 0-for-11 in Europe - and was beaten 20+ lengths in a maiden race at Cork in Ireland in her final Euro start.

Obviously our medication had moved her way up.

yes.. if a horse drops into a 5k claimer, it can only be insured for 5k. their values are always fluctuating.

edit: probably not "typically" insured, though we do have a lot of claimers we write.

I highly doubt it but why would anyone really care anyway?

Lasix will do that for some horses.

O'Neil
 

O'Neil dropping the horse in for 2K is an example of why "it's a dead game" Laddy. and guys like Doug are bringing horse racing to a slow death.
A sport I love played by animals that should be loved at all costs

Didn't she lose a Group 1 (the Irish 1000 Guineas) by less than a length?

Doug O'Neil is the true definition of "a wolf in sheep's clothes".