The biggest story here is definitely the buzzer allegations re: Santana. I would not be surprised if the Asmussen/Santana combo is a little cold for the next week or two at Oaklawn.

You could pretty much create a video like this for all equestrian sport.

that is sad.

:tro:

PETA should go undercover for the same amount of time with a small time vet treating trail and private pleasure/pasture horses and see what ails some and how these animals suffer due to a lack of care/attention.

Ever see a horse with unclipped/neglected hooves? Starving because their mouths are too sore to eat because of unfiled teeth? It's nauseating and is deserving of a violent response.

no, but it's true. you could selectively edit anything. you could make mother theresa out to be a monster if you wanted to. or find someone who has no idea about something, and get them to think the worst.

if you knew nothing about racing, and i said riders carry crops and hit horses with them, would you understand why? or would you just take it to mean riders hit horses for no good reason?

New York State Gaming Commission Launches Investigation Into Allegations Of Abuse And Mistreatment Of Race Horses By Trainer Steve Asmussen, Assistant Trainer Scott Blasi And Other Licensed Individuals

NY Gaming Commission Press Release

now...why am i suddenly thinking of the big to do and investigation at old friends? the one that turned up nothing, but cost a great foundation a lot of money.

Are you thinking of TRF? There was the big investigation with NY Times BS where TRF was vindicated.

I really think that undercover investigation of PETA idea has merit. Not looking forward to the Belmont this year when we all know there'll be some sort of PETA drama that the governor will swallow hook, line, and sinker. Another detention barn they decide on at the last minute, perhaps?

yeah, that is it.

the main thing i took away from the video is zayat probably won't send any more horses to a trainer whose assistant calls him the dreaded 'c' word.

Not apples to apples

found it interesting Angel Cordero's face was not blurred out at dinner when Blasi was talking about horses not making it to the track and dying.

No, in fact she argued just the opposite on these boards.

Yeah, that was sarcasm. I argued the opposite. At least one prominent vet agrees with me.

:tro:

My apologies. I think all my anger at the carriage horse craziness (holy heck, who knew so much bias against the Irish still existed?) has broken my sarcasm detector.

I did notice that somewhere between the PETA video and at least one news article about it, that "In Europe Lasix is illegal.... on race days" became "In Europe Lasix is illegal." Ladies and gentlemen, the American media at its finest.

Steve Crist Column

PETA’s charges

The racing world awoke Thursday to a huge and ugly mess in the form of charges of animal cruelty and labor violations by the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, accompanied by hidden-camera video taken last year by a PETA investigator posing as an employee of the Steve Asmussen stable. It was typically dishonest, sensationalized propaganda from PETA, but was given a veneer of credibility by being leaked to and endorsed by The New York Times, which first reported the story after being given exclusive access to the material.

Nobody expects PETA to be fair or accurate, but the Times is supposed to be better than that and never would have run the story on its own without observing the basic tenets of journalism its readers expect and deserve – putting the taped remarks in context, investigating the assertions or going to the targeted parties for their reaction and explanation. Instead, it avoided any of those basic obligations with a one-sided “scoop” on a third party’s uninformed and unanswered allegations.

This one isn’t going away quickly. The video, however unfair, is sickening in its coarseness and callousness. Racing’s supposed leaders and spokesmen need to formulate a swift and strong response, exposing the more ludicrous insinuations and addressing those with any merit.

Have you ever been around these amazing animals, give them a bath or pick there feet, and clean there sh*t out of there stalls, and been around a shedrow, if not you sure do know it all

Yes, I have. What's your point?

On the lighter side, I laughed at Mike Joyce's tweet:"Asmussen?!?! PETA couldn't investigate Sherriffs? Better headline: 'TIAGO DRINKS FIJI WATER; EBLOUISSANTE NEVER FORCED TO DO ANYTHING, EVER.'"

NYT: influential? Yes. Credible? No, not for many years now.

True 'dat. See: Miller, Judith.

Not to mention any paper dumb enough to give Ross Douthat a column is immediately suspect.

This thing was part of the CBS world news roundup on my ride in to work this morning.:zz:

I am surprised that you do not see this for what it is, terrible publicity for a sport that struggles to get any notice at all. How we as fans see this report is very different from how the public at large will. Just look at dog racing that could be our future if this industry does not get its act together.

It has been said over and over, but it seems that any coordination or cooperation in this industry an unattainable goal.

We will see what type of attention this gets. But it should be a wake up call.

Where's Chuck's two cents?

Zayat scratches horses running this weekend.

Per Bloodhorse: http://www.bloodhorse.com/horse-raci...ses?source=rss

I don't know what's harder to believe, whether the woman in question actually worked for PETA or whether Ahmed Zayat just learned Nehro had bad feet.

No, no.. I see that, of course. A separate topic to the sensationalized and selective nuts and bolts.

I thought that was pretty funny myself.

Reminds me of another story of a guy who used to have horses with Baffert and after one of them died he learned for the first time there was an issue for a long period of time.

I wonder if it actually was a woman who was undercover? I mean I know the vid had a silhouette of a woman with her voice distorted, but what if she was reading a script of accounts from a guy that actually worked under them? So the guy wouldn't be exposed I mean?

"What if c-a-t really spelled dog?" - Ogre

Statement about 2014 Hall of Fame nominations

National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame statement about 2014 Hall of Fame nominations

Statement from the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame: Based on pending investigations by the New York State Gaming Commission and the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission into allegations made by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) and reported by various media outlets, the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame has decided it is in the best interests of the institution and the sport of thoroughbred racing in general to table the 2014 Hall of Fame nomination of trainer Steve Asmussen.


http://www.racingmuseum.org/news/news.asp?varID=365

No sure if it's true, but I read somewhere that it was Scott's ex girlfriend.

:D

Wow thats really taking your undercover to the extreme.

Did they state in the video that 24 horses die PER WEEK at racetracks?? That would mean 1248 horses die a year at the racetrack, which I find very hard to believe. And I don't think Blasi will have a good time at the track anymore with the attitude he presented. I don't think this is good news for anybody.

What I can't figure is what's with the clandestine video other that to make it look like an expose for the media. You can walk around the backstretch at any race track and see what was being "exposed" here. Vets injecting joints, cryoing splints, lasix shots all normal procedures that go on every day.
Racing is a business and unfortunately most horses need work to keep them on the track. Would PETA prefer the horse stay sore or lame? I am sure what they really would like is to have the tracks close all together.
Trainers swear around the barns? Thats big news. Bosses who treat their staff like crap and take advantage of them? Yup the backstretch is the only place that ever happens.
Unfortunately main street media eats up crap like this and gives it far too much exposure.

what if Declansharbor was really spelled d-o-u-c-h-e-b-a-g? Oh... wait... I think it might be...

Im just saying, if they (people associated with Asmussen) were trying to pinpoint who did all this stuff, it might be in the undercover person's best interest to chnge up everything including gender. Plenty of you guys keep posting about PETA putting a spin on this to get the reaction they want. Who's to say they didn't change up the undercover person's identity too?

or this... If that's true, "hell hath no fury..."

A salient, lucid, and level-headed reaction to the video from Maggi Moss in the Courier Journal:
http://blogs.courier-journal.com/rac...time-employer/

And as well from Winchell's David Fiske, inside Jennie Rees blog item:

David Fiske, racing manager for Winchell Thoroughbreds, told me Thursday that he and owner Ron Winchell had read the story and seen the video but otherwise had no comment. The Winchell family has had a connection to the Asmussen family for decades, including Steve training current Kentucky Derby contender Tapiture and major Oaks contender Untapable.

Daily Racing Form on Friday quoted Fiske as saying no decision had been made whether those horses would remain with Asmussen.

“We’ll assess the situation, do what’s best for us; not entirely sure what that is at the moment,” Fiske said. “The video and the story don’t reflect the experiences we’ve had with Steve and Scott over the last 20 years that we’ve had horses with them.”

On Thursday, I went frame by frame through the video — designed to shock, including with all of Blasi’s profanities and vulgarities — with prominent Kentucky veterinarian Rick Fischer to get an equine practitioner’s view of what we really are seeing. Fischer, who has never worked for Asmussen but is well-acquainted with his veterinarians, cited a long list of distortions and inaccuracies in the video, concluding, “It’s so biased, it’s beyond belief anybody can watch this and believe this is the way things really are.”