A Thank You and Simple Wishlist For 2009

re: A Thank You and Simple Wishlist For 2009

Robin — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 00:33:51 GMT

I have several wishes for 2009: first and foremost,NO MORE BREAKDOWNS!! That every horse crosses the line safe and sound. A Triple Crown winner sounds good too! Zero tolerance for all drugs, and jockey Randy Romero makes it to the Hall of Fame, it's long over due.

re: A Thank You and Simple Wishlist For 2009

optimist — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 12:31:03 GMT

We need our powers that be to come down much harder on trainers using drugs. It still is very prevalent and so many potential race goers are turned off thinking its all about drugs. (jockey whips upset a lot of laymen as well) Perhaps its time for 0 tolerance nationwide although I dont know how we would handle bleeders then.

re: A Thank You and Simple Wishlist For 2009

PA VANDAL ism — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 03:37:51 GMT

FEB 26, 2009

HELLO>> ENJOY THE STEVE & PAL SHOW with their annalysis of the MAY '09 K DERBY & BEYOND!They note that DUNKIRK seems to echo BIG BROWN somewhat after only 2 ex 'bouts.>>PLUS your show is always sincere for this SIX-BIT $ BETTER etc>> AND WE URGENTLY NEED A SINGLE LEADER FOR ALL OF HORSERACING--NOW!! WE HAVE A MESS TO BE CLEANED-UP ASAP.<<>> VAN

re: A Thank You and Simple Wishlist For 2009

TenForTen — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 18:00:12 GMT

Yes, your comments are most appreciated atthebarn. Jason seems to be the one neglecting to adhere to the Law of the Blog. 1st amendment right for you atthebarn. Jason, remember, your media pass can be taken at any time. Atthebarn is truly "in the industry"!!!

re: A Thank You and Simple Wishlist For 2009

PA VANDAL ism — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 11:21:02 GMT

Jason- 'tis great to see your blog is up and the emotions/logic of the various positions about owners, drugs, tracks, horses, falling $ handle etc. Well Done to ALL.

How is the Fantacy rec. panning-out? Seems someone is trolling for $$ more $$ losers to gamble than the basic FUN of the choice, period. Whatttaaa you say?? I enjoyed your weekly effort to have a show AND to HANDICAPPP the best you guys could. Hope your format returns as an alternative to fantasies customer MARKETING though! How "bout a stab at the tri. cr. in,say, May and June!?! V

re: A Thank You and Simple Wishlist For 2009

Bradgm — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 05:14:44 GMT

Unbelievable.

Why these horse racing people would take the time to come on, try to explain so many things. Why they would try to stand up for themselves is beyond me.

Joel Marr did it when his mare was scratched, because you villified him without knowing the true story behind Peppers Pride. A couple others have too or at least done it through you Jason.

Why should these people HAVE to come on a blog to defend themselves and try to set the record straight? Now if it was just opinion and discussion it would be fine. But it's not, it's condemnation, accusations and criticism and you all make it personal and hurt a lot of feelings.

To be publically scolded when one guy who consistently called people out and name called, challenged people and fought with nearly everyone on the board never was publically chastised in this manner. You say he comes off as angry, think YOU might feel the same way if your lifeblood and life's work was being dissected and talked about on a public forum SO negatively?

I KNOW this man, my bet is some of you may too. He's a good guy who's taught you all a bunch I bet.

I'm at a loss right now. I just watched while people criticized and crucified another man who had given 25 years of his life to my alma mater, now to come on here and witness this, makes me lose my faith in mankind.

Unbelievable

re: A Thank You and Simple Wishlist For 2009

Mike — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 04:56:48 GMT

Jason, I've been reading these posts and blogs for quite some time. Never felt compelled to write. However, tonight I do.

I really can empathize with Atthebarn2. I sincerely do not believe his last post was the least bit disrespectful.

Sounded more to me like a man who has tried to give insight, I've read and he and his friend have explained some aspects of horse racing very well. Everything from the types of drugs used and why, to lead changes to what they deal with when a horse has quarter cracks.

Most everyone on here is speculating, looking at it from the outsiders view, thus just bantering back and forth with each other.

He is being taken to task publicly when I have seen some posts on here which have absolutely villified him and many in the industry who do not post.

His comment just prior to the first, was laced with sarcasm. His second seemed to try and explain his feelings and sounded pretty disheartened.

If that was the aim of many on here who said things that they should be more ashamed of than him, well congratulations.

You've probably cut off the real inside view you all had.

Why, because even though you all are just giving your opinions, they may be uninformed but they don't need to be intentionally hurtful, do they?

When he responded with a few home truths about what people were saying, you all got offended. You did the same to Katsan. Not Whatamidoing because he seems like he knows how to ignore it. Maybe like his friend said, he's got some real good horses and hasn't the time for this.

Most of these folks are busier than we can imagine and have little time, but take time to come on here and write, maybe not what we all want to hear, but I've learned an awful lot.

I don't know them but from reading their comments, I would be honored.

I have read the comments of the gambler friends and they seem to think the sun rises and sets in the man.

I've always kind of enjoyed his dry wit, excellent writing and stories. Shame I doubt we'll see them again.

Now everyone can just make it up as they go and it'll be whatever way you all want it to be.

re: A Thank You and Simple Wishlist For 2009

Wanda — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 03:36:18 GMT

Don't you ever pack it in mister Atthebarn! You don't suger coat nothing, so don't stop being you okay bud? If wishes were fishes.....

One day I'll meet you all.

re: A Thank You and Simple Wishlist For 2009

jshandler — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 03:25:55 GMT

AththeBarn: This a blog and the point of it is for people to express their opinions. Because you work in the industry, you have some insight that others don't. We appreciate some of those opinions. But that does not mean you are right about everything. And it certainly doesnt mean that people on here have to agree with everything you write. Again, the point of a blog is for people to give their point of view - whether it be from a fan, a gambler or an insiders perspective. You do come off as negative and angry at times, which I think is what Schabelli is saying. Your last post really illustrates that. While we all can get testy from time to time on here, this blog is supposed to be fun. Let's try to keep it that way and respect everyone even though we may disagree.

re: A Thank You and Simple Wishlist For 2009

Atthebarn2 — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 00:17:29 GMT

Am I anti fan, anti gambler? Absolutely not. Fact is I'm always courteous to fans, if someone wants to come on the backside, I help out with that. I'm good friends with some gamblers. Some on here. Do I get badgered and bashed by those fans and gamblers?

NO. Do we get badgered and bashed by many folks on here? YES.

My point and I believe I can speak

for Kat, Whatamidoing and maybe one or two others who say that the real fans we run into don't have us on their agenda. Do they ask questions yes. Do we answer the questions? Yes we do. Do we explain things, all the time. Fact is we've come on here and explained things from our perspective or how things work in actuality. Do some appreciate our input, yes. Do we get it thrown back in our face with great regularity? yes.

Am I having a bad day? No worse than any other, when I've read about how people think a bunch of us are cheaters and we are perceived as such even if we aren't. Just because of guilt by association or being in the same job, a standard not many of you are held to.

The economy is in the toilet and we keep hearing from all of you on here how the industry is going to be dead soon. But you may just lose your livlihood too, although we don't rub your noses in it, even though YOUR industry might need to change some things.

People say the arguments are based on heresay, someone tries to explain once again after two had already explained and then is told that the person who asked is familiar with it already.

I really don't know why we try to give input. Just turns into a futile attempt to try and defend ourselves. Guess we don't have a right to that and should just stay quiet and take whatever people want to dish out.

Most who are good people and try that, get slapped in the face, ala Larry Jones. So like him they just bag the whole thing.

At my age I know what to bag. Good luck with arguing it with each other, getting any insight from us that have been willing to talk.

You'll just have to get your input from Jason's Q&A's and most of those folks may seem very open, but they aren't really. See we've all learned over the years, who's a fan and who just wants to take us to task.

Guess a senior moment for me and temporary insanity for the others, or maybe just an attempt to help people see there's two sides to every story. And just what our feelings and side are.

re: A Thank You and Simple Wishlist For 2009

barb — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 22:32:40 GMT

After reading the comments here on the drug issue I have read Run Baby Run by Bill Heller and I recommend it to anyone interested in educating themselves more on the Salix(Lasix) issue. I have always thought that race day meds should be banned and now I REALLY think so. And I agree with Cheryl from MD about claiming races. I am a fan who likes to dream of someday owning a racehorse, but I can't expect to buy a superhorse and from my perspective I assume I would be in love with him and wouldn't want to have to risk losing him every time he ran.

re: A Thank You and Simple Wishlist For 2009

jshandler — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 21:16:16 GMT

Sundaysilenced: I agree. I will have the first Triple Crown Talk post on Wednesday.

re: A Thank You and Simple Wishlist For 2009

Karen2 — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 17:37:28 GMT

Katsan: when you say "before you comment, I think a little research is in order" who are you addressing?

Not sure that is a fair statement to anyone on this blog.

Katsan, fans are very important to this industry. You wouldn't need to train a horse if people didn't care to bet or watch a race. We might not all be horse trainers but some of us are experienced horse people. We have horses that are used in other disciplines. Not just racing. You miss the point completely when people say horses should not be raced on drugs. You say if a horse gets a fever, it should never run again???? Huh???? I don't believe that is what is being said here at all. We may not get up every morning and go to the barn at 5:00 to train a horse but our involvement and love for this industry is more than fleeting. So what if we go for the "perfect world" theory.... we may not live in a perfect world, but isn't it our jobs to strive for a much more close to perfect world for our equine friends? I agree with Atthebarn. I think no matter what is done, someone wont be satisfied. I think its fair to say that is true in all aspects of life. But does that mean we turn our backs on the obvious problems and quit working to make this a better sport for all involved?

With that said Katsan, its nice to read posts from people on the inside who can enlighten us on some inside practices. I think that is why most of us enjoy this so much. Because we want to soak up as much about this industry as we can. I do think its important to recognize each and every one of us is vital for the survival of this sport.

HelSbelles: not sure what your reference to me in your last post was all about. Please enlighten me.

re: A Thank You and Simple Wishlist For 2009

Cheryl from Maryland — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 17:14:56 GMT

Actually, I lied. This will be my last post about the medication issue. I meant to include this with last one, so I promise I mean it this time.

I stated in my first post on this issue that I feel that the claiming system needs to be looked at and maybe revised somewhat. One of the reasons I said that, which I have not brought up before, is that some people are hesitant to give the horses time off to really get sound because many times the person who spent the time and money to "fix" the horse has it claimed away as soon as the horse returns to the races (often in its first start back). They have very little chance to get their money back unless they're lucky enough for the horse to win first time back. Very few owners can afford to repeatedly spend thousands of dollars to repair a horse with no hope of any return on their investment. People may be more willing to give their horses the time they need to recover, rather than medicating them and trying to keep them going, if they could "protect" the horse for the first couple of starts back. I'm talking about horses that are not talented enough to run in allowance company, whose owners have no realistic chance to earn any purse money without risking them for a claiming tag. There are some claiming trainers who look for horses who are fresh and have been turned out to heal. As I said before, that's o.k. because that's how the game is played at this point in time. But maybe the claiming game could use some tweaking and a little less medication would be necessary.

re: A Thank You and Simple Wishlist For 2009

Cheryl from Maryland — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 16:31:19 GMT

First, I promise this is the last thing I'll post about the medication issue. It's time to turn my attention to the newly turned 3 year olds and start looking for my Derby horse!

I have seen several posts suggesting that no raceday medications are allowed in Europe and there are very few violations. That may be true. But claiming races are not the backbone of European or (as far as I know), anyone else's racing. I know that they have "selling races" in Europe, but it is my understanding that they work quite differently from our claiming races. Maybe someone from Europe can let me know if I am understanding the system correctly. As I understand it the winner of the selling race is auctioned off after the race. That's a far cry from our claiming races, where the claim slip is dropped before the race, and when the gate opens and the horse becomes a "starter" the horse is yours, win or lose, dead or alive. The owner/trainer who is claiming the horse and hoping to run it back as soon as possible has no way of knowing what the horse was given and when it was administered, especially since some of these horses can be claimed 2 or 3 times in the space of a month or from any number of consecutive races. I suppose you could test every horse you claim for every prohibited substance, but after a while it would become prohibitively expensive. It's hard enough for owners of "cheap" horses to stay afloat now. I can just imagine what my owners would have said if I told them they had to pay for extensive drug testing on every horse they claimed before they could run it back. If I remember correctly, one of the reasons there were no penalties for EPO positives early on was because they could test for the presence of it, but could not tell when and by whom it was administered and did not want to punish innocent people. I believe some jurisdictions are now considering using "out of competition testing" to try to correct that problem. So if I claim one or have one sent to me from another trainer (as I said before, sometimes the information you get from the previous barn is faulty and, believe me, when you claim a horse you generally get NO information from the previous barn)and the horse tests positive for something I didn't give it, fine. I'll serve the suspension if I lose my appeal. But don't rule me off for life for someone else's mistake or for something I had no way of knowing.