More Positive Racing News From Mountaineer

[Kasept]

What's your solution Hossy? Close all the C tracks? Propose something.

By the way, understand that these frantic calls to create a general panic aew all designed to do one thing: Feed into the Jockey Club glee for their ill-conceived 'Integrity Act', USADA and an undermining of the state regulators. Good luck to everybody with that plan that horseplayers will be 'asked' (made) to pay for.

[Dahoss]

Your response is EXACTLY what I’m taking about Steve.

Why do I need to propose something? Am I being paid by the industry? How about holding the people that get paid for this stuff accountable and not a bettor like myself? Where are their solutions?

Your inclination to bite back anytime something negative is said just pushes people like me away who have spent a long time and a lot of my money in this game. Haven’t I earned the right to be disgusted by some of the stuff that I see?

I appreciate and understand that you like to look at and highlight the positives. But it’s okay to acknowledge that everything isn’t always rosey.

[Kasept]

Originally Posted by Dahoss

Your response is EXACTLY what I’m taking about Steve.

Why do I need to propose something? Am I being paid by the industry? How about holding the people that get paid for this stuff accountable and not a bettor like myself? Where are their solutions?

Your inclination to bite back anytime something negative is said just pushes people like me away who have spent a long time and a lot of my money in this game. Haven’t I earned the right to be disgusted by some of the stuff that I see?

I appreciate and understand that you like to look at and highlight the positives. But it’s okay to acknowledge that everything isn’t always rosey.

Bite back? I'm just asking you for input.

[Dahoss]

Originally Posted by Kasept

Bite back? I'm just asking you for input.

In the post you responded to I acknowledged I don’t have many answers.

Mountaineer has more horses running off 4 year layoffs than I’ve ever seen. They allow Burton Sipp to train there. There is a lot wrong there. I’m not sure if closing it is the right thing but some regulation would help, no?

You had a horse act up at the gate at Charlestown last weekend that was allowed to run, who had to be taken away by van after the race bleeding pretty badly from his stifle.

Do you agree more needs to be done?

[ScottJ]

Originally Posted by Kasept

What's your solution Hossy? Close all the C tracks? Propose something.

Let's consider Barrier Trials. Rather than gate drills or workouts, use Barrier Trials to establish a minimal level of competition that must be met for horses that have been off the track for 12+ months. This would prevent the uncompetitive situations cited in the article by mandating that reasonable racing standards (perhaps ~50-51 seconds for 4f) can be met.

[parsixfarms]

Originally Posted by Kasept

By the way, understand that these frantic calls to create a general panic aew all designed to do one thing: Feed into the Jockey Club glee for their ill-conceived 'Integrity Act', USADA and an undermining of the state regulators. Good luck to everybody with that plan that horseplayers will be 'asked' (made) to pay for.

I agree that there are several concerns with the proposed federal legislation, but the current system of state regulation is not working and needs to be overhauled or, at a minimum, improved dramatically. Of the four most significant racing jurisdictions (New York, Kentucky, California, Florida), how many of their racing boards are doing an adequate job of oversight? Not a majority. And things don't get better with many of the smaller jurisdictions.

[Kasept]

Originally Posted by parsixfarms

I agree that there are several concerns with the proposed federal legislation, but the current system of state regulation is not working and needs to be overhauled or, at a minimum, improved dramatically. Of the four most significant racing jurisdictions (New York, Kentucky, California, Florida), how many of their racing boards are doing an adequate job of oversight? Not a majority. And things don't get better with many of the smaller jurisdictions.

It's definitely a mixed bag of adequate, passive, zealous, overzealous, indifferent.

One element of the state regulatory body discussion that is difficult to navigate is the political appointee v. industry participant. People attack agencies like California/CHRB over the abundance of interest-conflicted, but there's equal disdain for bureaucrat functionaires who land on commissions and are without a clue about what they're commissioning. So, what's the answer?

Florida, bizarrely, has virtually no commission and is regularly the most difficult place to get things like the model rules initiative implemented.

ARCI does the best job it can to promote responsible, active regulation. Understand first and foremost that the states are not going to relinquish their control because it means a loss of significant revenues. And you have to work within those parameters to shore up deficiencies in the jurisdictions.

[richard burch]

This isn't the first horror story abut Mountaineer so I'm not shocked. If you search you can find a lot of these stories from many tracks over the years. I learned my lesson. The answer to this dilemma is about as easy to solve as an Israel / Arab peace negotiation.

Very unlikely to change.

Sad and it pisses me off to no end.

[Alabama Stakes]

Pete ? Pete Zagarine !

[richard burch]

Since nobody has any suggestions I'll throw one out there to get the ball rolling. Feel free to tell me what a dumb idea it is and how it will never work because I expect it.

How about...

In each state where horse racing exists, there is one business, entity, company (whatever) that handles all bodies of any horse that has to be put down in their state. The business will have one headquarters who handles all the individual states. I think having a governing body is better than having everyone playing by different rules. This will be funded by the state tracks and would include thoroughbreds, harness, quarters. If a horse needs to go, they call one place.

Any deaths would include racing, works, sickness and any other reason that a horse has to be put down at a track. That facility can euthanize and take the body for proper burial or cremation. They handle it from beginning to end and record everything including the connections, the reason, the condition of the animal, where it was buried, etc... Careful record keeping can be used so there is not an abuse of this service by shady owners. It may also be informative and this may help in keeping injured horses out of slaughter houses. This isn't going to be a glamorous job but someone will do it.

I'm one who believes in saving horses, not killing them. However if it has to happen then lets do it. People need to step up and stop bullshitting and treat these animals with the respect they deserve.