Flower Alley

Joel,
I noted your response on Asmussen and smiled. See, you know the guy, so you have a pretty good idea that he is a great horseman. Steve is all class and a brilliant guy with an eidetic memory. Hes just a damn good horseman and businessman. yet the same questions have been raised about Steve as have been raised about Dutrow and Todd.
Joel, I used to lead the "hes juicing the *********"!!!!!!! campaign. And I guess some of the guys I thought were jucing, were juicing. But I didn't know how much I didn't know. I used to help manage a stable for guy who is on your home turf. Picked out spots to run in, claims, who to hire as a trainer, etc. This guy has just awful knees. One day a couple of years ago a vet gave him something that is now patented to take orally for his knee. the pain went away and he hadnt felt that good in years. Its called lubrisyn now. Call Steve Allday what you will, but the guy is the best vet on the planet earth. hes arrogant but with that arrognace is a cunning and high drive to be the best at what he does. Soem of the guys people question have been using that product and several other legal products for years now. they aren't cheating, they just have acess to better legal stuff and the money to pay for it.
I met Rick through a friend and he trained a couple of horses for Lansdon on the advice of my friend Joe P. I called him one day and bought him a horse. later on one day at Aqueeduct he asked me to go out to dinner with he and an owner ofhis after the races. So I stop by the barn and he gives me a tour. Now hes got a full barn. No grease pencil on the stalls, yet he knows every one of the horses by sight, not all tariners could do that. As we stop be each stall he tells me their last race Ragozin, and their lifetime best rag. Now I'm stunned, he is much brighter than I thought he was, as a matter of fact hes downright crazy intelligent. he learned a lot from his dad, and a whole lot more from Frankel, whose horses he used to house back before frankel had made a semi move back to NY. he cares for horses like you wouldnt believe. he also uses Rag numbers to spot em all and manage them. You havent met him, so you have the perception that he is a juicer. But you have obviously met Asmussen so you know hes bright. Ricks the same way, and like Asmussen he hates losing. Thats what drives him. You oughta meet the guy before you condemn him to being a juicer. I had the same opinion until I met him and saw what he was about and how he does it.