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Ten years ago in an Op/Ed written for The Blood-Horse, I suggested that only an independent agency like USADA (United States Anti-Doping Association) was capable of bringing order to our sport by cleaning it up, as it had done with Track & Field and subsequently with Cycling.
Last Sunday, The Jockey Club at its annual Round Table in Saratoga Springs officially announced that it would involve USADA in a push to seek a Federal legislative solution in order to bring a long sought-after uniformity to the rampant problem Thoroughbred racing has experienced with illegal use of drugs.
Honest owners and trainers that are sick and tired of seeing their beloved sport dragged through all sorts of slime toward oblivion by owners and trainers with a win-at-all-costs mentality rejoiced when O. M. (Dinny) Phipps made his remarks at the Round Table. Only racehorses, it seems, move fast in this sport!
As a fellow hay, oats and water peer stated a week earlier when 25 trainers signed a pledge to end race-day medication, “Finally we have some traction. Now we’re not merely running in place.” Now, that the entire sport has the influence of TJC behind it, some progress can actually be made. Now, thanks to TJC, we got game.
As USADA CEO Travis Tygart said a day after the Round Table at an informational forum arranged by WHOA (Water Hay Oats Alliance) co-founder Gretchen Jackson at the National Museum of Racing, “USADA has been given authority,” which is an all important first step in getting USADA in place to be written into the legislation by Congress.
Obviously, those in favor of competing on a level playing field are delighted with this turn of events. But as Mrs. Jackson warns WHOA members, “It’s time to roll up our sleeves, because now the real work begins.”
And if you ask me, just in time, too, because Thoroughbred racing—in spite of what readers may think—has been surviving on borrowed time.
When the PETA video featuring the ribald escapades at the Steve Asmussen barn went into the ether, the Chicken Littles that people our industry were certain the sky was getting ready to fall.
I humbly submit to my readers that the picaresque goings under the Asmussen shedrow were nothing—absolutely nothing—compared to any number of actual crises that easily could have been brought to light from the daily goings-on at many tracks throughout the country.
Admittedly, it was difficult for seasoned racing folk to watch that PETA-generated video; but make no mistake, it wasn’t even close to being a crisis that would stop horseplayers and fans from attending the races.
What happened to Cycling when Lance Armstrong was outed or what happened to Track & Field when Ben Johnson was outed—those were real crises.
The closest thing to a genuine earth-quaking, window-shaking and roof-rattling crisis in Thoroughbred racing occurred recently when Bob Baffert had seven horses die while under his care.
California State Medical Director Rick Arthur, a straight shooter from a long way back, resolved the matter as best as he could, given his limited financial and political support in a venue where historically there has been and continues to be little, if any, climate for serious regulatory action.
It is interesting to contemplate what might have been in a new era under Federal legislation and investigation by the United States Anti-Doping Association.
Ladies and gentlemen, as a group of irresponsible trainers and owners continue to play with fire and put the livelihoods of thousands of honest and hard-working owners, trainers, jockeys, exercise riders, blacksmiths, veterinarians, grooms, hot walkers, hot dog vendors, mutuel clerks, turf writers, silks makers, bloodstock agents, racehorse syndicators, farm owners, administrators, administrative assistants, secretaries, and the like at complete and total risk, it is incumbent on those of us with skin in the game to convince our peers at every level to get behind any legislative effort that can prevent us from destroying our own game.
We’ve been lucky. Are we going to get the message, band together and save Thoroughbred racing, or is it inevitable that we will languish in non-action until racing has its own Lance Armstrong or Ben Johnson?
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