Tom Noonan blog

[Cannon Shell]

Originally Posted by cmorioles

I'm talking globally, not in the US. You trying to say cracking down hasn't helped? Because it has, image wise. People and sponsors aren't going to flock back overnight.

I look at sports like the NFL and MLB which have had drug issues but do a great job in controlling the message. We are talking about image and racing has done a horrible job of protecting its image whether its problems are real, imagined, exaggerated or valid. Look at NBA players and ask yourself if they wouldn't benefit from PED's? You know why the NBA has virtually no PED problem? Because the league and players union keeps the entire process confidential.

People dont complain about or be outraged about things that it doesnt know about.

The other sports, when they have an issue, they come up with a answer that sounds good in the publics eyes and move along as fast as they can. Most of the time the public moves on as well. Racing seems stuck in this constant negative cycle and despite the nonsense that is supposedly going to save the sport nothing is going to stop horses from breaking down or requiring modern veterinarian care. There are always going to be people that push the limits.

This idea that we can break the sport down with some great purge and rebuild it again is pie in the sky bs. I'm sick of seeing training geniuses pop up out of nowhere and see the smug look on the owners who create them as they stroll down to the winners circle again. Most of us have no problem ridding the game as best as possible of these types via whatever legal means allowable. However what is being proposed is a blanket condemnation on all trainers, all vets and all modern medicine. It doesnt matter what you do, who regulates the sport or what the rules are if a horse breakdown at the top of the stretch in the Derby and causes a pileup no one is going to believe that anything has changed. Does that mean that changes shouldnt be made and that the "status quo" is fine? Of course not but Tom Noonan and others with no idea what they are proposing except "change" are hardly the right answer.