ARCADIA, Calif. - Anyone who thinks racing's problems have been solved by the aggressive milkshake detection programs now in place in California and other jurisdictions needs to take a fresh look at an essay published 13 years ago in the May/June edition of the North American Review, under the byline of one Gregory L. Ferraro, called "The Corruption of Nobility (The Rise & Fall of Thoroughbred Racing in America)."
There is plenty more to do.
ARCADIA, Calif. - "The last thing we want to do is punish someone who is innocent."
Those were the words of Dr. Rick Arthur, uttered just last week. He was referring specifically to California's prerace testing program for elevated levels of total carbon dioxide in Thoroughbreds - four trainers have been singled out so far this year - but his sentiments touched a universal nerve.
ARCADIA, Calif. - The consortium of California racetracks that has instituted prerace testing to detect the illegal, race-day administration of alkalizing agents is getting high praise from many quarters, and rightfully so.
In taking the initiative, the track managements have dared the California Horse Racing Board to follow their lead. So far, the board is responding in kind. But administrative rule changes grind slowly, which means it could be months before the state legislature codifies specific test levels and sanctions that will stand legal scrutiny.
ARCADIA, Calif. - Champion filly Sweet Catomine missed by just two days the chance to experience the hospitality of the Santa Anita Park detention barn, where the horses of trainers cited for a high post-race bicarbonate count have been housed for the last month or so, beginning 24 hours before a scheduled start.
NEW ORLEANS - Sizing up Saturday's Louisiana Derby is like sizing up a poker table loaded with world champions and $600,000 in the pot - until you notice that the legends around the table are playing Go Fish with a pinochle deck and nobody seems to know what cards he's holding.
ARCADIA, Calif. - It will come as a surprise, and perhaps a disappointment, to informed readers that today's space will not be dedicated to the contents of a recent Los Angeles Times sports column that purported to quote accurately a Thoroughbred trainer on controversial topics and the incendiary reaction to those purportedly accurate quotes by others in the horse racing business.
TUCSON, Ariz. - For more than two years now, a bitter battle has torn apart Vernon Downs, a charming harness track located in a beautiful lush valley between Utica and Syracuse in central New York. It operated for more than 50 years as a popular rural center of the sport, having been founded by patrician fathers of the game. Then, bought by outsiders with no connections with racing who wound up in federal prison on matters not related to racing or Vernon Downs, it fell on hard times.
ARCADIA, Calif. - Sorry, what was that question again? Something about Rock Hard Ten squandering his early promise? Neglecting to win every race he had ever entered? Failing to circumnavigate the globe without refueling?
Were this a presidential press briefing, the man at the podium would insist that such issues are old news, perhaps even a "non-story," and that the administration has moved on. Forgive the rest of us, though, if we wallow for a few sweet moments in the past, or at least as far back as last Saturday.
ARCADIA, Calif. - Someone who should know once said that for a good jockey there is never a good time to get hurt. There are always opportunities that will be missed.
So it was for David Flores, the stylish, 37-year-old veteran who was supposed to be aboard Breeders' Cup Mile winner Singletary in the Frank E. Kilroe Mile and Lundy's Liability in the Santa Anita Handicap on Saturday, and then depart for Tokyo next week for a potentially lucrative two months under contract to a top Japanese trainer.