Harness Trainer Movin On Up
 

Wow is all I have to say.

FULL STORY: http://www.harnesslink.com/www/Article.cgi?ID=80857


For the track and the sport, the timing couldn't have been worse. Meadowlands officials and New Jersey regulators ought to be mortified this week after allowing Saturday night's feature race-the much-heralded, eagerly-watched, North American debut of Down Under superstar Auckland Reactor-to degenerate into what one long-time horseman called "one of the most blatant and extreme examples" of suspicious racing seen on the Big Stage in quite some time.

With the whole Standardbred world watching the Open, a horse named Real Joke dominated the field, winning the contest in 1.47.3, a mark tied for the fourth fastest mile in the history of the track. Only two weeks earlier, the 4-year-old Real Desire gelding had been claimed out of trainer Julie Miller's barn for $50,000 (with allowances) by Lou Pena, a trainer with a long, USTA-documented history of racing-related suspensions. Pena came back out of obscurity (and Sacramento) last fall to dominate trainer statistics at the Big M. He is reportedly on pace to break the dash record for a single meet at the Meadowlands, dominates as well at Mohegan Sun at Pocono, and is near the top at Freehold Raceway and Harrah's Chester in Pennsylvania.

Whenever a trainer uses the
"changed shoes" angle you know they are blatantly cheating

I prefer worming.

I like the "brushed teeth on" angle...

andrews horse finished a well beaten fourth. 2nd place horse was also a claimer who won the invite 4 weeks in a row. is lou a cheater in the past ...yes. is lou cheating now ...yes. but what he is using is not in the horses blood or urine during testing. andrew imo should not be using his power of the media to attack lou.

The fact that the drug testing is woefully inadequate doesnt not mean that Sweet lou is any less guilty.

Oscar lives!!!!!!!! What was that Nike commercial? "Gotta be the Shoes"?

You have to admire when immigrants come to this country and get there pound of flesh. America was founded by people looking to live free and be productive. Congrats to Pena, Oscar would be so proud!!

from the update linked at the bottom of the column:


Thankfully, few readers even bothered to comment upon Pena's discrimination charges against industry leaders, although more than one person pointed out that Pena evidently was born in California and thus probably shouldn't have used the "English is my second language" line as an explanation for what some called his boasting of "an edge" for his horses. Pena's USTA records go back as far as 1984. You may reach your own conclusions about whether Pena has been a victim of poor translation from English to Spanish.



but i do question this:

Julie Miller refused to comment for this article. But I was told by two sources that the Millers were indeed gratified to have Real Joke claimed from them given the condition he was in at the time. Yet sure enough, two weeks ago, in Real Joke's first race for Pena, the pacer romped in a $50,000 claimer in a sparkling 1.48.4-nearly two full seconds off his lifetime mark and nearly four seconds faster than he had gone just the week before. And on Saturday, with an international audience, he reportedly limped around and out of the paddock before equaling the great Jennas Beach Boy's Big M mark.


if he was in bad shape, why wasn't he a vet scratch?

I just got this image of a horse wearing these:

A WITCH!A WITCH!BURN HIM AT THE STAKE!Andrew Cohen is lucky he doesn't get sued for slander.

This is harness racing we are talking about

Slander •words falsely spoken that damage the reputation of another

What exactly did he say that wasn't true?

Pena is guilty as charged, everyone knows it and Cohen's point that noone in an official capacity seems to care or willing to do anything is really the story.

For future reference, slander is spoken. Libel is written.

the only thing lou is guilty of is winning a lot of races by very large margins.

if it walks like a duck.....

the guy sounds like the steve ass. of the standardbred world. multiple violations-of course people will question his abilities when everything claimed turns to gold. if he had a lily-white past, i can see where you might claim sour grapes, but this guy has a track record.
if charles manson was paroled, and someone turned up dead, and he was around-if i suggested a connection, would i be libelling charles manson??

;)

Asmussen has far more credentials than this guy. It is more like Jaime Ness showing up at Monmouth and Belmont this summer and running things. Only Freddy wouldn't be suspicious...

All you need to know about harness racing is that when ieah stables and greg martin wanted to fix flat races in new york by milkshaking horses they used the services of rene poulin, ex driver who is now making milkshakes at a carvel in yonkers...