What I find interesting is that the harness business has made a lot more progress than the thoroughbred business. Look at what NJ did with the recent people they caught. Monster fines, 10 year suspensions, potential lifetime suspensions -- and this is not the first time they've done it. They did it years ago as well. Have they totally cleaned up the game? No of course not.
However, on the other side of the coin, I do think there is a bit of the "martyr" element here. It's not all the time but it's there some of the time. People who often cannot compete look to blame others instead of themselves. Now I am not saying that is a major part of it, but I will say this -- I am not going to name names (so don't bother asking), however, I have a trainer in NY who has trained several horses for us over the course of the past 5 years or so. The vet bills with this trainer are minimal compared to other trainers we've used. They are minimal compared to friends of mine who have horses with other trainers. . Now this is a high-percentage trainer who shoots really well. Very strong. But -- he races his horses where they can win. He is very aggressive when placing his horses. He gives his horses the time needed and doesn't push the envelope in racing or over-racing them. And when a horse can't cut it or isn't competitive, he tells us so and tells us it's time to move on.
There are trainers in this business who produce results and don't rely on the vet to be the major contributory factor in producing those results.
Eric
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