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Originally Posted by SentToStud
I believe you have to beat up the owners some as well. I would:
1. Extend the Absolute Responsibility rule to owners. Fine and suspend owners as well as trainers.
2. Deny entry to all horses owned or trained by the violators for a good period of time.
Just imagine what would happen if cheating Trainer A gives the gook to a cheap claimer owned by Owner X, gets caught and then Trainer A's stakes steed owned by Owner Y has to be transfered (along with all of Owner Y's horses) in order to run.
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I'd be willing to extend the absolute responsibility rule (with corresponding suspensions) to owners, but only to the extent that the horse on which a positive is called is owned by the particular individual. I do not believe that Owner X should be penalized for a positive called on a horse owned by Owner Y.
I agree completely with the last part of your post. The possibility of having the barn shut down for a meaningful period of time goes to the very heart of the matter and needs to be part of the trainer's thinking before he considers "giving the gook" to any horse.