Protecting the Breed

re: Protecting the Breed

fb0252 — Sun, 01 Apr 2012 16:45:09 GMT

Q. What does Fred Pope know about EIPH?

re: Protecting the Breed

Dawn in MN — Sat, 31 Mar 2012 21:44:15 GMT

All good points.

Thoroughbred racing reminds me of competitive swimming and other speed sports. At the highest level of speed sports records are set in fractions of seconds. Improving the breed should be a no-brainer. May the soundest horse win and the bleeders be banned.

re: Protecting the Breed

dutchman — Sat, 31 Mar 2012 15:07:19 GMT

why not do it like this; every horse is allowed to run on lasix, but after he does he(or she) is not allowed to be used for breeding anymore? the horse can still compete, even as a "bleeder" but the breed will improve because no more bleeders will go to the breeding-shed .

a kind of like gelding a horse.

re: Protecting the Breed

Crickett Hoffman — Fri, 30 Mar 2012 20:04:57 GMT

After this article the industry had better do something: www.nytimes.com/.../death-and-disarray-at-americas-racetracks.html

More and more people are being turned off to racing. Younger people are starting to see it as a blood sport up there with dog fighting. Others hear of the drug cocktails give to horses and think the game is fixed. The recent cancellation of the HBO series "Luck" because of three horses dying and PETA doing their usual false fact hatchet job has cast another dark shadow on the industry.

The Thoroughbred breed and all the people connected to the industry, including the author of this piece, will not have jobs soon if they don't wake up and smell the sweet feed. Has the Jockey Club and TOBA thought of that?

re: Protecting the Breed

chucky — Fri, 30 Mar 2012 18:25:27 GMT

ALL I CAN SAY IS

NOTHING WILL HAPPEN!

Plenty of knowledgable people inside and outside knows what ails this industry but nothing will happen.

Reminds me of all the commotion after the sad 8Belles breakdown but nothing really happened after that and I don't think anything will happened with all these commotion.

Let me rephrase that. I don't think anything will happen. I KNOW NOTHING WILL HAPPEN.

re: Protecting the Breed

Pedigree Ann — Fri, 30 Mar 2012 15:51:47 GMT

I say, pull all grading for stakes in states that don't agree to allow the most important races to be run without race-day drugs. Time to play hardball. See how fast the big stables pull out to run in complying states. Get the owners of Derby candidates complaining. Rock the boat BIG TIME or nothing will happen.

re: Protecting the Breed

Barry Irwin — Fri, 30 Mar 2012 11:03:20 GMT

Fred Pope is a beacon of light in a sea of fog. We are lucky to have somebody like him in our industry.

re: Protecting the Breed

Needler in Virginia — Fri, 30 Mar 2012 03:58:46 GMT

Well said, and well proposed, Mr Pope. While "lighting up a horse" has been well known and far too often used over the years, it's now become obvious that race day meds (even legal ones) aren't doing anyone any good......especially the horses. If a horse requires Bute, that horse should NOT be racing; if a horse requires ANY analgesic, that horse should NOT be racing; if a horse requires Salix (or Lasix or whatever it's called this week) that horse should NOT be racing. And it's about time the "defenders of the breed" step up to the plate and put their money where their mouths are. If a steward of the Jockey CLub or a member of TOBA or any member of any racing commission in the States says there should be no race day meds, that person should make a thunderous noise and defend the horses with whatever rules, regulations, requirements or standards each individual board, committee, assembly or club hands down from on high. That's it. It has been coming for years and the gorilla in the room is getting stronger and more vocal every day; the gorilla will make these very rules you are proposing and racing might not like some of the OTHER rules the gorilla makes. Don't we all think racing should actually defend it's horses before someone comes along and shuts horsemen out of the equation?

I realize racing is not the fastest moving or most forward thinking of sports, but the time is now, the finish line is far too near, and the clock is running far too fast. The ship is going to founder on the iceberg of drugs and someone had better find a way to plug these leaks. I hate the thought that my grandchildren might never get to see a Derby winner or a BC winner or even the winner of a hard fought maiden special weight. I hate the thought that my grandchildren will only know racehorses and their magic by owning shares of the retirees at Old Friends........which they both do, by the way!

Talk about a ray of sunshine.......never let it be said I couldn't be a bummer on a cool Thursday night! So, 'nuf said. I hope someone is listening.

Cheers and safe trips.

re: Protecting the Breed

Karen in Indiana — Thu, 29 Mar 2012 22:28:51 GMT

Maybe I missed something, but I don't understand what you mean by saying 'require racehorse owners make their 2-year-olds eligible for graded status'. Do you mean require each 2 year old to be tested before they can run in a graded stakes? Or do you mean the 2 year olds could run, but if they're not tested, even if they win they don't get the grade on their records?

re: Protecting the Breed

sceptre — Thu, 29 Mar 2012 21:49:03 GMT

Mr. Pope:

There's also no "Ollie" to protect the thoroughbred horse. Your method of protecting the breed might just be in conflict with what is best to protect the individual horse. Said another way, your premise-your "given" may not be the greater good you imply it to be. To offer an extreme example, we could race horses in a "survival of the fittest" manner and in so doing might, perhaps, cause an "improvement" of the breed. I think you catch my drift...The feds would do well to be cautious with their bans, and not throw out the baby with the bathwater. Salix is efficacious in the treatment of EIPH (I won't rehash the arguments, here), and Gastrogard (and its like) is efficacious in the treatment of GI ulcers (its negativity magnified while engaged in racing competition) to name two...Let's instead focus on the betterment of the horse, instead of the "breed" or the sport. Yes, let's rid ourselves of the "harmful" meds, but also and, perhaps, more importantly, focus on how we may better protect-through better oversight and better access to technology-the indiviudal horse. This Salix controversy is an absurd diversion from what are the real inadequacies that exist in this sport.