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Originally Posted by Cannon Shell
I hope you arent saying that using an electrical device is the equal to a medication positive? Maybe for etorphine. As we have discussed far too often about positive tests, the system sucks, most positives have no effect on the horse, and the vast majority are for allowed meds. A "machine" is blatantly illegal.
I can remember lots of trainers getting 30 to 45 day suspensions including Pletcher.
The difference between a jockey getting days and a trainer getting days is that the trainer has employees and expenses that dont go away. A jock packs his stuff and goes on vacation. Not to mention the trouble caused for the connections who have to scramble to find a new rider, often after the best jocks are already locked up.
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I'm not talking about the careless medication overage/positive. I'm talking about the intentional stuff. To me, knowingly giving a horse an illegal painkiller (also "blatantly illegal" to use your term) is no less brutal than using a battery; in some ways, its more brutal, because it puts the life of both horse and rider at risk, not to mention those of others in the same race.
The 30 to 45 day suspensions that these high profile trainers received were appealed endlessly, often negotiated down as part of some agreement, and then rendered effectively meaningless when the keys to the store were simply turned over to the assistant. The old adage that "justice delayed is justice denied" applies in these situations.