In a perfect world, zero tolerance might work. This is far from a perfect world.

While spending a spring morning watching horses gallop at Keeneland in 1990, I met a relative newcomer to training Thoroughbreds. He was searching for the clockers, and as it was his first trip to the Kentucky track, the West Coast-based conditioner was unaware they timed horses from the press box.

One night during the 2007 Keeneland November sale, Eoin Harty was enjoying a leisurely dinner when the topic turned to horses, in particular those in his Southern California stable.