KHRC clears Asmussen: PETA 'claims' unsubstanciated

[my miss storm cat]

Good for them, good try. I love our game but I support their efforts because I think there is some truly outrageous and disgraceful stuff that needs to change. It seems like way too many people hide their heads in the sand and look the other way instead of aspiring to be leaders and to begin to make all that is wrong with the sport right.

Racing will never clean itself up. The nudge nudge wink wink mentality will go on and on, "suspensions" will be handed out and cheaters allowed to continue to stay in the game... nothing will ever change unless organizations like PETA bring attention to the general population and in a big way.

Kinda sad that we do not grab the reins and try to control our own destiny but I guess it's easier to pretend there's nothing wrong and hope they go away and leave us alone.

[skyfire]

PETA libeled and slandered Steve Asmussen and his operation - I hope he has legal recourse whereby his legal fees are repaid by PETA. He should be in the Hall of Fame.

[Sightseek]

Originally Posted by skyfire

PETA libeled and slandered Steve Asmussen and his operation - I hope he has legal recourse whereby his legal fees are repaid by PETA. He should be in the Hall of Fame.

It's no surprise that they ignored subpoena requests for the unedited videos and all of the other proof they claimed to have.

[DaTruth]

Shame on PETA. Shame on Joe Drape for pushing the story because it fit his agenda. Shame on those in the industry who suggested Asmussen essentially disappear on Derby Day so as not to put the sport under a cloud of suspicion.

[jnunan4759]

Curious timing of this. I think it's coordinated, they let things blow over this year, pull him off the ballot and maybe will put Steve on the ballot next year or the year after. Fishy.

I'm not real happy the way KY and NY handled this. Entirely too long. This has come at great cost to Steve Asmussen. He's lost big clients and been publicly disparaged in a year he was up for the HOF. He has handled this all with class.

The only thing we learned is that Scott Blasi has a potty-mouth and that Nehro had bad feet.

This was a "hit-piece" and PETA didn't come up with very much. I think the way they did it was very suspect.

However, they screwed Steve Asmussen and accomplished nothing, corrected nothing and accomplished nothing. But that's OK.

There was nothing to accomplish, nothing to correct and nothing to accomplish. But that's OK, too.

The horse business is 99.99% ethical. I've been in it for years. you do have some nasties, as you do in anything in life. However, most in this business work hard for the benefit of the horse. Mostly at their financial disfortune.

I've had many horses who just sucked my wallet. I've re-homed almost all of my horses, except the one's that got claimed. Cost me a bunch of money, but thought it was my duty. I actually bought back some that were claimed and re-homed them. They ended up as hunters, jumpers and other stuff. They liked it.

i kind of treated my horses like people. They were all different. I've liked all of them. And I've always tried to do the best by them.

[jnunan4759]

Funny. I go to Saratoga every year and a good friend of mine stays in a B&B on Union Ave. I used to hang with him and we'd stay at the bar and I got to hang out with Drape. He seemed OK, we we're talking horses. My buddy told me he won like a Pulitzer Prize or something, not sure about that. He seemed OK. Seemed like a horseplayer.

I'm from Philly and don't read the NYT. However, I started reading his stuff and really turned on him. I thought he might be a great horse racing journalist from what people were telling me. I'm thinking Joe Hirsch or something. But nothing is farther from the truth.

He is no friend of racing, I've only found him to be a friend of Joe Drape.

[Merlinsky]

Originally Posted by my miss storm cat

Good for them, good try. I love our game but I support their efforts because I think there is some truly outrageous and disgraceful stuff that needs to change. It seems like way too many people hide their heads in the sand and look the other way instead of aspiring to be leaders and to begin to make all that is wrong with the sport right.

PETA is contemptible and I don't support their efforts in the slightest. They don't want to clean up horse racing, this is merely their attempt to chip away until they end it. They won't be happy until it's over. The idea of doing anything with animals for entertainment includes horse racing, horse shows, etc. I once had to spend time with a girl into that stuff who refused to ride in a cart in a foreign country pulled by a horse. We explained to her that that was his job and it's in a rural community that mainly used animals so it's not like they could bust out an SUV. She didn't care, she refused and walked.

Instead of fighting to end slaughter and prevent transport to slaughter, they support it because in their opinion it's the lesser of two evils compared with putting horses in a transport out of the country to do it. What? What about ending it full stop? PETA euthanizes thousands of healthy animals a year because they feel they're better off dead than being adopted--members of PETA once adopted 3 perfectly healthy dogs including purebreds the shelter warned them were highly adoptable, then took them to be euthanized and dumped their bodies behind a Burger King. Their shelter in Maryland has a 90% kill rate.

Support Old Friends. Support TRF (whatever BS the NY Times might try to make up). Support retraining programs. Don't support bad people because they mean well. PETA is not someone you side with because 'the enemy of my enemy is my friend.' They are nothing but the enemy. They'd try to convince you that Jimmy Jerkins was inhumane if they could. I don't love Asmussen, but fair is fair.

[Danzig]

Originally Posted by Merlinsky

PETA is contemptible and I don't support their efforts in the slightest. They don't want to clean up horse racing, this is merely their attempt to chip away until they end it. They won't be happy until it's over. The idea of doing anything with animals for entertainment includes horse racing, horse shows, etc. I once had to spend time with a girl into that stuff who refused to ride in a cart in a foreign country pulled by a horse. We explained to her that that was his job and it's in a rural community that mainly used animals so it's not like they could bust out an SUV. She didn't care, she refused and walked.

Instead of fighting to end slaughter and prevent transport to slaughter, they support it because in their opinion it's the lesser of two evils compared with putting horses in a transport out of the country to do it. What? What about ending it full stop? PETA euthanizes thousands of healthy animals a year because they feel they're better off dead than being adopted--members of PETA once adopted 3 perfectly healthy dogs including purebreds the shelter warned them were highly adoptable, then took them to be euthanized and dumped their bodies behind a Burger King. Their shelter in Maryland has a 90% kill rate.

Support Old Friends. Support TRF (whatever BS the NY Times might try to make up). Support retraining programs. Don't support bad people because they mean well. PETA is not someone you side with because 'the enemy of my enemy is my friend.' They are nothing but the enemy. They'd try to convince you that Jimmy Jerkins was inhumane if they could. I don't love Asmussen, but fair is fair.

I am embarassed that i gave the peta report any credence when it first came out. But, people tend to project their traits onto others, which is why it didnt occur to me that they had taken footage and severely edited it so as to paint asmussen in the worst possible light. Had they a leg to stand on, had they had what they needed, there would have been no need to do so. They disgust me, they have no credibility whatsoever, and their refusal to work with the investigation is the icing on the cake.
not good for them, not a nice try. Bad behavior by some in this sport should be stopped, but that end wont be justified if these are the means to that end.

They should face charges and suits over this.

[Rupert Pupkin]

Originally Posted by my miss storm cat

Good for them, good try. I love our game but I support their efforts because I think there is some truly outrageous and disgraceful stuff that needs to change. It seems like way too many people hide their heads in the sand and look the other way instead of aspiring to be leaders and to begin to make all that is wrong with the sport right.

Racing will never clean itself up. The nudge nudge wink wink mentality will go on and on, "suspensions" will be handed out and cheaters allowed to continue to stay in the game... nothing will ever change unless organizations like PETA bring attention to the general population and in a big way.

Kinda sad that we do not grab the reins and try to control our own destiny but I guess it's easier to pretend there's nothing wrong and hope they go away and leave us alone.

I agree with you 100%. The only time anything ever changes is when outside groups publicize what is going on. When racing gets some bad publicity, that is when they make some changes. I am actually somewhat optimistic that racing is starting to take some positive steps. They may be doing it kicking, screaming, and dragging their feet, but at least they are starting to make some positive changes. They have a long way to go but at least the ball seems to be rolling. I don't think any of these positive changes would even be happening if it wasn't for negative publicity. I look at negative publicity as a good thing because it is usually a catalyst for change.

With regard to Asmussen specifically, he's probably not too much worse than many of the other trainers out there. There wasn't really anything earth-shattering on the video. The video just kind of showed some of the stuff and some of the culture of the backstretch. There was nothing all that shocking to people that have spent a lot of time on the backstretch. But it was probably very surprising to many in the general public that have no idea about the extreme use of legal drugs on the horses. It is a shame that the sport has come to this, a point where drugs (both legal and illegal) have such a huge impact on the results.

One thing that was somewhat surprising was the admission from Blasi that Santana has carried the machine at his request. I haven't heard anyone explain the defense of that one and I'm not sure why nothing was done with regard to that admission on Blasi's part. When a guy admits to doing something totally illegal such as that, you would think that the KHRC would take some action. Does anybody know what Blasi's defense was on that one? Does he claim that he simply made it up to impress the girl?

[Cannon Shell]

Originally Posted by my miss storm cat

Good for them, good try. I love our game but I support their efforts because I think there is some truly outrageous and disgraceful stuff that needs to change. It seems like way too many people hide their heads in the sand and look the other way instead of aspiring to be leaders and to begin to make all that is wrong with the sport right.

Racing will never clean itself up. The nudge nudge wink wink mentality will go on and on, "suspensions" will be handed out and cheaters allowed to continue to stay in the game... nothing will ever change unless organizations like PETA bring attention to the general population and in a big way.

Kinda sad that we do not grab the reins and try to control our own destiny but I guess it's easier to pretend there's nothing wrong and hope they go away and leave us alone.

Good for them? Nice try?