Kellyn Gorder - buh bye for 14 months
 

What possible "therapeutic" benefit would Meth provide a race horse?

http://www.paulickreport.com/news/th...th-suspension/

Effects on race horses:

http://www.surebetracingnews.com/zil...ven-to-horses/

i don't know how it got in there....

classic

BTW He didn't say that anywhere in the article cited.

makes sense, i thought with his name, he was a women
also, makes sense, b/c i thought he/she was a "live" trainer......and now i know the answer to both

-bt-

Didn't have quite the same success at Tampa and GP this meet as in years past either - in fact, was virtually invisible... coincidence?

Win% by year:

2012 - 26.7%
2013 - 18%
2014 - 19%
2015 - 11%

what?

Yup, if i remember correctly, he use to be decent with younger horses down in TB, that's where i picked him up at. i think he's had a few at Keeneland so far this meet.... check that 15 starters 1-5-1, still good for hitting the board.

http://www.equibase.com/profiles/Res...e=T&eID=218910

-bt-

It is amazing how many "innocent" guys claim that "it must be contamination!"

Contamination is suddenly becoming a serious issue. :rolleyes:

It's sad that anyone here would immediately presume the worst of a person like Kellyn Gorder, not to mention gleefully celebrate him having to deal with this kind of problem. He's had one clenbuterol overage from 1700+ starters in 10+ years, but behind the scenes has been using Class 1 drugs that readily test at any lab? Right.. That makes perfect sense.

His reputation as a horseman among his peers -- and employers like ultimate straight arrow owner Bill Casner -- is impeccable. But believe whatever you want. If they're going to make 'examples' of someone like Kellyn Gorder without practical common sense, there's no reason for any trainer to stay in the sport.

20 picograms.

20 ten trillions of a gram.

20/10,000,000,000,000.

You're an attorney. You'd have a field day with this. It's so obviously a residue contamination that it would be laughable if it didn't involve someone's career and reputation.

:tro:

Very bizarre compulsion here to pile on a guy who has never shown any signs of being a juicer, but obviously the only explanation for his average to slightly above average success rate over the years has been all the meth he pumps his horses with.

You're a women, you wouldn't understand.

I absolutely would have a field day with it. What troubles me is the claim that it must have been caused by contamination. It seems to be the new defense to claim that not only that you are innocent, but a victim as well. It smells like BS likely because it is.

There is no excuse for a stimulant such as meth to be in a horse. Further, there is particularly no excuse to have injectable medications, syringes, needles and oral medications not properly labeled. As the handling and labeling of these objects is clear in this day and age any trainer would have to be either cheating having these lying around or just plain damn stupid.

I know if I was representing a trainer I would make sure they would not say anything stupid like it must have been caused by contamination, rather, I would hire an expert to figure out the chances of that happening, formulate a solid defense and make statements based upon verifiable facts instead of blaming a straw man which only leads to those justifiably poking fun at the excuse.

I hope he is innocent of the charges because I like Gorder as a trainer and find this crap disturbing. But I also think it is fair for people to have their doubts when there was a finding against him after which he had the opportunity to present a defense (and I know that administrative hearings can be a joke, but you can always at some point get it into a real court and present a viable defense whereby you can make a statement as to what your defense is and that it will vindicate the client in a court of law), is coming off his two best years as a trainer, has unlabeled items in the barn and has a drug in a horse's system that has zero justification for being in a horse's blood at any levels.

I think its funny that your upset that people have cynical feelings regarding this situation, feelings that have been developed not on this singular instance but over tons of cases and long periods of time for those that follow racing.

The reaction has nothing to do with Gorder and everything to do with the sport.

;)

"Has never shown signs of being a juicer"?

Is that the criteria now? Or is it just the *likeable guys* that can get this type of defense?

The "contamination" defense is laughable. Contaminated by exactly what? What possible explanation could there be for methamphetamine in his barn?

It offers ZERO therapeutic benefit, and is banned in every North American racing jurisdiction.

The Steward Ruling by the KHRC doesn't disclose the amount detected in the sample - I can only presume that the "20 picogram" amount being sited is the threshold - why that isn't "0 picograms" is the head-scratcher.

So the guy starts nearly 1000 horses from 2012 - 2014 and averages a 21.1% win rate, then post-bust it drops to 11%...But he's one of the good guys so how dare anyone presume this is nothing but a witch hunt?


Unreal....

Is it remotely possible that a worker in the barn had the meth and touched something that the horse ingested?

Show me his big move-ups off trainer switches. Show me his increased breakdown rate. Show me his litany of suspensions or fines. Your numbers are just the basis for irresponsible conjecture. He's been in the high teens in win % pretty much his whole career and you showed me one outlier on each side, both of which apparently prove your point.

I'm not a doctor or a scientist, but what is the more logical conclusion? That he's been shooting his horses up with meth to be a slightly above-average trainer for years, or that one horse of his came in contact with an almost incomprehensibly small amount of it for one reason or another?

I'm not saying he shouldn't be scrutinized or even suspended, but the pitchforks and scalp cravings should be reserved for real cheaters, who clearly game the system again and again. There hasn't been a whiff of suspicion around Kellyn Gorder until this moment, so excuse me if I give someone the benefit of the doubt for once.

Wonder why?!

thats amazing

You're welcome to read the linked article where he states that all of his employees were drug tested and none failed. But I'm sure that a worker shook the hand of a meth head and then handled a bunch of needles - that makes complete sense.

I'm not continuing on with this, feel free to keep on keepin' on amongst yourselves.

I for one an glad when this sh1t gets found out and the cheaters are getting punished. US racing is a laughing stock globally, principally due to this "head on the sand" mentality.

It's obviously the well-known "Kellyn Gorder Effect", in which a trainer nobody gave two sh!ts about 5 minutes ago becomes the reason for all of US horse racing's ills.

Jim I'm a board certified toxicologist and this is highly unlikely.

I do not disagree with your sentiment regarding real offenders, but the statement I bolded is a misnomer. Europeans love to look down their nose at American racing, but in actuality, they love to buy our stallions. The Japanese love to buy our stallions, and Sunday Silence more or less revolutionized their breeding industry. The main track in Dubai was converted to dirt so that Americans would get more involved. South Americans clamored for simulcast racing from the US, as has most of South Africa. Additionally, Wesley Ward has laughed his way to millions in purses and sales to European interests with his exploits over the last 5 years.

What our problem is, and your chart made it very clear, is that we have too much racing. This is a well-known fact, but is actually what people largely stick their heads in the sand about.

related barn search turned up syringes and unlabeled bottles of medication, according to the stewards’ rulings.


seems dangerous to have medicines with no labels, i might give that a try at my house and see how it works out for me.

Thanks Knicks. I'm not defending the guy just trying to throw a scenario out there to see if it is possible. Obviously I don't know what I am talking about but that won't stop me ;)

Baloney. 'Cynical reaction' is a lazy response.

People here that don't participate in the sport close up have had the benefit of Chuck Simon in particular attempting to educate them regarding the nuances between 'drug positives' and 'medication overages' and the unique elements of operating a public stable. I've tried to do the same in 10 years of broadcasting ATR with features like the RMTC reports and Horse Health with Dr. Allday.

There is more than enough data for people to fairly discern what is identifiable as edge-taking, outright attempts to cheat and circumstances that are readily understandable and/or logically explainable. If you're cynical, it's about you.

Your opinion is biased, I just read the article, the is more evidence than you are suggesting.

When stories, like this one, eventually get out to the international racing community - you may want to read what is said - particularly in the comments sections of the British press. It may open your eyes a bit.

There is no doubt that we produce the finest thoroughbreds in the world, and there is global demand for their racing ability and stallion prospects.

I do not buy the argument that we have "too much racing". It simply isn't true. The majority of racing in this country is mid-bottom level claiming at places most of us don't even bet.

There are only a handful of A-List tracks in this country, and from Keeneland to Aqueduct racing stock is paltry.

Why do horses in Europe, Hong Kong and Japan start more often than ours?

Simple question.

If one doesn't think there is too much medication in racing, and there are too many pushing the envelope with medication (legal and otherwise), then this whole episode is probably offensive to one's sensibilities. I get it.

:tro:

i was thinking the same thing, that the amount of racing has to be different. and we have a lot of dirt racing, whereas turf is limited for races, thus more starters for less races countrywide in europe and elsewhere. less tracks, less opportunities would automatically inflate the number of starters.

it's not a simple graph that can be taken at face value.
as for gorder-if this is a one off, than i'm sorry for him. but all trainers who get a reputation started from no positives. i can see where people get jaded when they hear a trainer got a positive, that it's just assumed 'here we go again'. and all of them have friends who support and defend them. and you hear the same defense over and over...

just googled, and found this in a ny times article:

The average horse in the U.K. started 6.3 times in 2006, according to the most recent statistics available from the International Federation of Horseracing Authorities. That is exactly the same average start for horses in the United States. Horses in France raced slightly less, with an average of 5.8 starts. In Hong Kong, the average number of starts was 7.8.

My opinion is indeed biased.. It's biased through a filter of knowledge and comprehension.

Lol. There are so many ways samples get contaminated though.

I don't care what the hypocrital global racing community thinks about our racing. That's exactly why Meydan switched to dirt. To lure our laughable stock.

Well said.

There is next to zero chance that anyone especially a trainer in the position that Gorder is in would knowingly or intentionally give their horse meth.

The idea that a street drug, especially Meth in the state of KY (meth capital of the US) , found at the picogram level wouldn't be the result of contamination is the hard to believe part.

It is close to impossible to police your horses 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. It is extremely hard to eliminate all human contact from your horses.
At the picogram level the horse could be contaminated by almost any contact. A maintenance worker from the track pees in the receiving barn stall after fixing a broken light bulb or cleaning the stall. A feed company employee. A test barn employee. Someone at the lab. Maybe the assistant trainer cashed his check before the race ad didnt wash his hands before putting on the tongue tie?

All sound a bit far fetched but a whole lot less far fetched than Gorder intentionally giving a first time in a year starter meth.
I'm amazed that people actually think that any viable trainer would try that.

The fact is that being a trainer nowdays is a nightmare. The rules are never actually spelled out for us, we virtually have no rights regardless of whether we are actually at fault, if we win too much we are suspicious, if we dont win enough we are clueless...

Often we arent getting paid for our services yet because a live animal is the the middle of this we have to keep on taking care of it to the best of our abilities or we are the bad guys. When a terrible incident like this happens despite it likely being completely out of our control, the internet judge and juries convict us instantly and we are blamed for the demise of racing and the euros disdain for our racing (they dont seem to like the NFL too much and they dont seem to worried).

Say you loan your car to your 17 year old kid to go to the mall. He picks up some of his friends and maybe one of those friends is a little shady and has a little bag of meth that he hides in the glove compartment when no one is looking. Now you get in the car and get pulled over for speeding and when you open the glove compartment out drop the little bag of meth that you had no idea was there. Cops arrest you for possession. Are you really a criminal?

:tro:

Makings lots of sense Chuck.

Chuck, unless you and Steve are privy to some information that isn't spelled out in the Steward's Ruling, then I don't know why this minimum picogram amount keeps getting brought up, and hypotheticals about a meth-head stall mucker's comb falling into a pile of hay, which got disturbed at the precise moment that the pee cup was deployed, and by osmosis precisely 21 picograms of crystal meth flew into the pee cup - I don't buy it for a second.

It isn't like it's odd that a trainer - perhaps predisposed to taking a edge, or perhaps pressured by an owner to get his firster home, with the promise of more/better stock- would use meth.
It's essentially speed - it increases heart rate, adrenalin, etc. which enhances performance; Zilpaterol abuse has been a problem in New Mexico until they started suspending everyone caught using it for 3 years (Gorder should count his blessings).

He got caught using a Class A substance. Period. It really doesn't matter if he's been getting away with it for 1, 3 or 10 years, or if this was the first time. And it doesn't matter that it wasn't cobra venom or frog juice. And it really doesn't matter that he's an affable guy, rather than a douche-bag.

It was a class A substance, and let's knock the BS off - was given to the horse by someone in his barn. Someone needs to be held accountable, and it's his barn.

Your premise is so idiotic that I probably shouldnt bother responding.

He didnt get caught using anything. His horses urine tested positive for a minute amount of an illicit drug that isnt used on animals but by drug addicts. There is basically no chance that he gave this to his horse on purpose. That you seem unable to understand difference is baffling.

Not to mention that detection causes the positive test, not detection at levels that could affect performance. Simple detection. Of course most people screaming for blood won't bother noting that.

I feel badly for someone I barely even know because I am 99.9% sure that he had zero idea that meth was ever in that horse and his business is going to be destroyed, his reputation is being dragged through the mud and he will likely incur a huge amount of legal fees. From here on whenever he has a runner do well or has a streak of a few winners in a row the internet geniuses will be whispering "maybe he is using the meth again". It is a scarlet letter that he almost assuredly doesnt deserve.

What is scary is that I have trained about the same amount of years and have a pretty similar record in terms of lack of medication violations and this could happen to me just as easily.