Quote:
Originally Posted by tector
No, horse racing will have committed assisted suicide because it has allowed itself to be run as outlaw enterprise that, not incidentally, also is wagered on by the public. If casinos or lotteries tolerated the level of cheating that is routinely accepted in horse racing, there would be an avalanche of indictments and people sitting in the graybar motel. But horse racing cannot even muster the most basic of standards to protect the bettor (and, I might add, the horses).
I hate the Feds more than most, but this is entirely self-inflicted and was wholly predictable (I know since I predicted it 10 years ago).
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The issue with this logic is that "cheating" is ill-defined in this sport. Much of what is defined as "cheating" more closely resembles a traffic violation than an actual crime. This misrepresentation surely is self-inflicted as a large portion of the industry has very little clue about the issue and even less interest in trying to educate themselves or the wagering public. The public's opinion has been formed by turf writers who lazily base the lions share of their columns on half truths and rumors and because the industry as a whole does nothing to refute this and in many ways supports these misguided opinions as truth then we arrive at this point.
The idea that horses should be immune to physical issues which modern medicine can address is idiotic yet pretty much exactly what is being proposed and supported. The fact that illegal medications which should be the focus are indeed already banned or illegal seems to be lost.