Joel,
I noted your response on Asmussen and smiled. See, you know the guy, so you have a pretty good idea that he is a great horseman. Steve is all class and a brilliant guy with an eidetic memory. Hes just a damn good horseman and businessman. yet the same questions have been raised about Steve as have been raised about Dutrow and Todd.
Joel, I used to lead the "hes juicing the *********"!!!!!!! campaign. And I guess some of the guys I thought were jucing, were juicing. But I didn't know how much I didn't know. I used to help manage a stable for guy who is on your home turf. Picked out spots to run in, claims, who to hire as a trainer, etc. This guy has just awful knees. One day a couple of years ago a vet gave him something that is now patented to take orally for his knee. the pain went away and he hadnt felt that good in years. Its called lubrisyn now. Call Steve Allday what you will, but the guy is the best vet on the planet earth. hes arrogant but with that arrognace is a cunning and high drive to be the best at what he does. Soem of the guys people question have been using that product and several other legal products for years now. they aren't cheating, they just have acess to better legal stuff and the money to pay for it.
I met Rick through a friend and he trained a couple of horses for Lansdon on the advice of my friend Joe P. I called him one day and bought him a horse. later on one day at Aqueeduct he asked me to go out to dinner with he and an owner ofhis after the races. So I stop by the barn and he gives me a tour. Now hes got a full barn. No grease pencil on the stalls, yet he knows every one of the horses by sight, not all tariners could do that. As we stop be each stall he tells me their last race Ragozin, and their lifetime best rag. Now I'm stunned, he is much brighter than I thought he was, as a matter of fact hes downright crazy intelligent. he learned a lot from his dad, and a whole lot more from Frankel, whose horses he used to house back before frankel had made a semi move back to NY. he cares for horses like you wouldnt believe. he also uses Rag numbers to spot em all and manage them. You havent met him, so you have the perception that he is a juicer. But you have obviously met Asmussen so you know hes bright. Ricks the same way, and like Asmussen he hates losing. Thats what drives him. You oughta meet the guy before you condemn him to being a juicer. I had the same opinion until I met him and saw what he was about and how he does it.

if these trainers could really juice their way to wins, wouldn't they have all their horses running in all the stakes? i mean, if it's so easy.....

i saw where SA got a six month ban. is that the norm? seems to be pretty stiff to me....

also, some are really good at looking at a horse and seeing something that tells them they could be special. look at lava man. or anew. sometimes it's a change of surface (cigar, mineshaft) distance, equipment change (some minor, some major--aheam, ANEW)...or they get better with age, like john henry.

anyway, if it was so easy to claim a horse and make his a stakes winner, they'd do that every day. esp asmussen, he has a ton of horses. ought to be cleaning up all over i guess....

Oops, it wasn't meant to be a hyperbole but I goofed up....I meant half a thousand.....screwed that one up :D

...still, that is A LOT of horse flesh to manage....

Yeah, that's what I thought. I got a chuckle trying to figure where a guy would place half a million head. lol

But seriously, even at five hundred or so, I don't see how these big guys do it. They have to employ very good people and possess better than average management skills. If you look at a Pletcher or Assmussen, these are substantial enterprises that they are running. Quite successfully I might add.

I laughed when I saw that too. I knew what he meant though:D It is hard to manage a barn with 40 horses. I can't imagine having anymore than that. These guys like Asmussen and Pletcher are phenomenal.

I went over this whole thread and we all know that SOMEONE needs to GIVE IT A REST, ya tata ya tata ya tata, I'm right and you're wrong. Give them a soapbox and they want to shine shoes.

wow this thread has gone all over the place! first off yes SOOOOOOO MUCH happens on the backside that people that arent on the backside dont and never will know about. to say the backstretch is soap opera-esque is a understatement to say the least. i dont know asmussen personally and i do have tremendous respect for him as far as training the animals goes but 1 thing im not fond of with him if its true and thats that i heard that some jocks who ride for him he actually forces them to pay him a %, not totally sure its true but ive heard this from some inside the game and its not something i like especially considering all the money steve and his family already have.


next it isnt that easy to just juice a horse and make them run. some do try and cheat but they still dont win the races, lol funny that they cant even cheat right but its the truth

Yep... those Nascar guys are hardcore. I have seen too much back in the pits. :eek:

Head honcho of what? Eat what Coward? :eek: