Of course, but I wouldn't use Curlin and Rachel as two examples of oustanding training achievement by Assumussen.

Anyone could have done well with those two horses.

Again, this is not Assmussen specific.

Everyone knows Dixie aka Speed Boys aka Blue Eyes called all of the shots with Citation and Coaltown, but we all know who made the HOF.

This is a great post.

thanks.

i'd been relatively quiet til now on this. i think everyone knows my thoughts on this trainer. and i sure didn't want anyone to take any criticisms of him as somehow being support for peta, as i don't care for them either. i didn't want to be viewed as in any way defending or supporting either of these entities.

it's almost like when a convict rats on another criminal. doesn't mean it didn't happen, just because the source of the info is unsavory.

:tro: even better! :D

I agree. Its funny how he gets suspended and or fined and his operations still get to operate under a different name till he comes back on "vacation". The owners know well and clear of his reputation and I find it even funnier how surprised Zayat was at this. A great act he put on display on Twitter. Dont tell me you own million(s) dollars worth of horses and you have no clue whats going behind barn doors.

The reality is that if PETA is going to try and embarrass him or the sport, they will do it whether he is there or not. Especially if he has horses running in the big races. I'm sure there will be something mentioned in the broadcast about it. That's going to happen if he attends or doesn't.

I'm not defending Asmussen or his record. Just don't see why he should have to step away from his job because a tape surfaced with where one of his employees swore a lot.

you think that's a correct summation of the video?


you have a multiple violator of many and sundry rules of the sport. to the point where several racing jurisdictions had given him longer than normal suspensions. too bad they allowed him to serve those sentences concurrently, rather than consecutively.
then, you have the sport who says it wants to 'clean up' have this 'gentleman' on its hall of fame ballot. you have a video and a 275 page report, leading to the firing of an almost two decade long top assistant. the loss of a big owner with deep pockets, and two racing jurisdictions opening investigations.
yeah, it's just profanity....
he should not be there derby and oaks day. it's too bad owners hire him, give their stock to him. it's like hiring bobby petrino-whose fault is it when things go wrong because of ethics? the snake you hired, or you for hiring him?
an assistant should saddle, and he should stay out of the glare. will it get mention? of course. should he be there so they can add questions of why he's there along with all the rest of the mess? no.

Just wanted to say yes I agree, they will whether he is there of not.

That said it's a question of scale.

If he isn't there? Some of these...



... a small but very vocal group of protesters, a bit of coverage.

If he is there though?

Whoa it has the potential to get very ugly very quickly and his mere presence will show anyone who cares to pay attention that the sport, as a whole, does NOTHING when confronted with issues such as this.

Again, I respectfully agree with Danzig's post above.

It's a tape that has been doctored up. His assistant being fired was a PR move all the way.

What in that tape warrants him to step away from his job? That's what I'm trying to figure out. I get that he's a repeat offender and I'll mention again that I am not defending him or his actions.

But taking personal feelings about him out of the equation for a second, what has he done wrong based on the video? Running horses who aren't 100%? There'd be no races ever if that was the case.

thanks again.

but, the bigger problem than if he's there on derby day....
why are these trainers given pass after pass? why do owners hire them? when will the sport do something? or does it only say it will do something, but not really do anything, because they don't want to irritate the owners? they have (in some cases) pretty deep pockets. if they take their dough and go home, that hurts racing. but so do crooked trainers.
the trainers who cheat don't just affect derby day...they don't just have an affect when peta has a video. it's a constant problem, day in and day out at tracks everywhere.

asmussen isn't the problem. he's one of the symptoms of the problem.
why don't owners understand that there are good quality trainers without the clouds of suspicion? that you can win while doing it right?

does anyone think peta didn't know what they were doing by going after this particular trainer? people say 'oh, it's peta' because what else can they say? they did well in choosing who they chose. anyone who tries to defend the guy is going to get called out for defending someone who is a repeat offender of the rules of the sport.

And I respectfully disagree.

Part of racings problem has been overreacting (synthetic tracks are a great example of this) anytime we start to get some bad press.

Wanting someone to not show up for work on Derby Day because of that tape screams of overreaction to me.

no, it's a tape that's been edited. not doctored. no one is denying anything that was said.
i think you're still oversimplifying. there's more to it than them saying they ran horses at less than 100%.
it's not just that tape that has me saying he should stay away. two racing jurisdictions, two of the largest in the country (one being ky) are conducting investigations based on the video and the report compiled by peta.

yes, it's peta. so, we just ignore the entire message because we don't like the messenger? we just conduct business as usual?
doing the right thing isn't always easy. sometimes it's painful. but at this point, i think the sport would be better off if people like SA were not involved.
had the kid gloves come off several years back, we wouldn't be having this discussion now. people keep saying we don't want the feds invovled. well, talk is cheap. keep turning a blind eye, and then we can some day discuss why things went south.

it's not just the tape. geez.

'Asmussen's nomination to the Hall of Fame was put on hold on Friday while two state racing commissions conduct an investigation after a video surfaced appearing to show horses being drugged.

The National Museum of Racing announced it was in its "best interests" to table its nomination of Asmussen, known as one of the top trainers of race horses in the United States.

Asmussen is the target of probes by the New York State Racing Commission and Kentucky Horse Racing Commission Communications, both organizations confirmed.'


edit--and i was wrong, it's not a 275 page report. it's 285.

It's been edited to fit an agenda. Months and months of tape was condensed into a few minutes to spark outrage (mission accomplished).

What is the right thing here? Thinking he should have to step away from his job because of the video? Don't agree.

Maybe the sport would be better off without some trainers. I'm of the opinion that if you are going to take away someone's livelihood, you need a better reason than that video. You can't punish him now, again, for what he has done in the past.

So I'll ask again, what in the video did you see, that warrants him stepping away?

It is because of the tape. Were people calling for him not to show up before the tape?

What about the people who have lost their livelihoods because of guys like Asmussen and his ilk? Shouldn't the system be more concerned about protecting their right to earn an honest living?

You'll get no argument from me about the system being broke. Let's fix the system.

How has Asmussen (and others like him) caused other people to lose their livelihoods?

I am no fan of him, but other than potentially hiring undocumented workers (and allegedly faking papers for them), there's nothing in there that is illegal, and if a trainer should step away from the Derby for hiring undocumented workers, I suspect there would be many more than just Asmussen.

Until the allegations are proved, he's innocent in the eyes of the law. It's not his job to give racing a good image; it's his job to win races for his clients. If the owners are concerned about how things look, they are free to move their horses (and personally, I think Zayat's moving his had more to do with Blasi calling him a name, that meanie! The wealthy are very sensitive and their feelings get hurt easily. We must protect them at all costs from the cold, cruel world). If racing fans should be angry at anyone, it should be at the owners who stayed with him, who clearly care more about winning races than how racing looks to Joe Q Public who doesn't follow the sport. I would wager money (and probably more successfully than I have in the Derby the last few years) that Asmussen doesn't feel he's done anything wrong. If you were accused of something you felt was untrue at your job, would you voluntarily give up your livelihood to make your field of work "look better"? Or would you say, "eff you, prove it first"?

Again, I'm not a fan of his work, as they say, but at this point, demanding he step back from training his Derby/Oaks horses smacks of Polytrack- knee-jerk responding. Horse racing has a lotta image problems (the biggest, and most insurmountable probably being modern US society infantilizing animals that we don't like to eat), but Asmussen stepping down isn't going to do step one towards actually addressing any of them.

it is because of the tape, the report...and the investigations being conducted right now by nyra and kentucky. i'm sorry you think it's only about the tape, and not what the tape revealed.


and you want to fix the system. well, then let's start right now, with asmussen being ruled off the track while two racing entities conduct thorough investigations into very serious allegations.

nyra and ky are both currently investigating asmussen for cruelty to animals, among other things. i'm not sure that hiring undocumented workers is the only thing he needs to worry about.
seems to me whenever cruelty to animals is asserted, animals are removed from the care of the person charged during the investigation. it doesn't mean the person is guilty, it's done to make sure the animals are taken care of while the case proceeds.
i agree, owners are wrong for hiring such a person.

What ever happened to the KY vet that was double dosing horses with Lasix? :rolleyes:

What did the tape reveal other than Scott Blasi swears a lot?

You can't deny someone a livelihood because you don't like them. Doesn't work that way on the real world.

It showed Blassi talking about Santana using a buzzer. Yet Asmussen is being investigated. It does show him falsifying SS#'s and that is why I posted the US Dept. of Labor should be involved instead of NY or KY racing offices. However that's a hot potato no one wants any part of.

Not sure Paula Deen would agree

Based on what we saw in the tape it is impossible to know the context of the buzzer talk.

Paula Deen is an apples to oranges comparison.

Is it enough to start an investigation?

Because she's not part of the real world?

I don't recall anyone denying Paula Deen her right to work. She still has a thriving restaurant.

Apples to oranges.

Good luck with that buzzer investigation.

Baffert was also mentioned in the NYT article about the PETA video.

I suppose that Baffert should turn his Derby prospects over to other trainers now in anticipation that PETA may have a press conference about the thyroxine issue during Derby week. Maybe PETA can supply a list of approved trainers.

That Baffert was generally given a pass by the CHRB and the racing media is not a positive reflection on the sport or those who cover it.

is the chrb investigating baffert for animal cruelty?

Well, he did stop after seven deaths. That is better than 8, no?

Didn't a claiming horse from Baffert barn breakdown this past weekend in a race.
Red Tesla

So much for being consistent.

I happen to agree with parsix's comment. Actually, I am consistent with my comments and suggestions regarding these trainers who not only survive these occurrences, but thrive off them.

So you're saying that Asmussen should not enter Tapiture in the Derby under his name merely because he is under investigation by the New York and Kentucky Racing Commissions? These are investigations in response to the PETA video, It isn't like PETA is some objective news-gathering organization.

It seems to me that the ball is in the Kentucky Racing Commission's court in regards to the Derby. If they feel that a suspension pending resolution of the investigation is warranted, they should impose one and then let the courts sort it out.

It's the one thing for which you have to give Pletcher credit. Back in 2002, he stopped after three.

'merely'? he's under investigation for serious things, not for swearing..serious enough he fired blasi, with whom he had a long history.


edit--im just repeating myself. ive covered all this. if anyone doesnt agree with me, fine. but i loathe repeating myself...so i don't think i have anything else to add.

Good than STFU.

Finally, any takers she doesn't listen lol

Lol. Blasi is not fired, he is simply not on the staff currently. He will be back. You're crusade is misguided. For anyone to think Asmussen should bow down to the PETA crowd because of an edited video that showed nothing horse related other than his asst cusses often is truly comical.

Here is what PETA should spend there efforts on '

WARNING GRAPHIC PHOTOS ' :(

https://travel.yahoo.com/photos/9-co...how-205338469/