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Originally Posted by ELA
Are the ones who are caught any more guilty than the ones who aren't?
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No, but we need to start somewhere. I hear what you are saying about where are lines drawn (perhaps at Class I medication violations at a minimum), but to me, the Biancone situation is an easy one.
At the end of the day, it's about right and wrong, and maybe my moral compass is different from others. I agree that the "industry leaders" that you cite in your message do nothing but perpetuate the notion that racing will never be serious about cleaning up its own house. However, in order to get racing cleaned up, good people need to start becoming more judgmental. I'd rather do it that way than have some knucklehead in Congress with absolutely no understanding of the racing industry tell us involved in it what's "right and wrong." I think that their uninformed view on that subject would not please anyone in racing.
Having attended some industry events in Saratoga over the years, people talk and talk about these issues, but nothing ever seems to get accomplished. Maybe it's that the "powers that be" want to maintain the status quo, because they're happy making money in the game as it is today. I hope that's not the case. I hope that Dinny Phipps's recent comments at the Jockey Club Roundtable will prove to be a wake-up call to all industry leaders, and those of us involved in the game need to show our support for them. I hope that, if the Jockey Club stewards are really serious about cleaning things up, their leadership, coupled with an "unshackled" NYRA running NY racing, will start to effect the change that the racing game needs so badly on this subject. I know that's hoping for a lot. But if we lose that, we might as well get out of the game.