Conflict of interest - Bettors screwed
 

From the Blood-Horse today. Why does a CHRB member own horses? How do the bettors of the 2nd place finisher get their winnings? :)

http://www.bloodhorse.com/horse-raci...qd-from-stakes

California Horse Racing Board commissioner George Krikorian's Big Book has been disqualified from her victory in the July 25 Fleet Treat at Del Mar because of a test that showed elevated levels of acepromazine, which can be used as a tranquilizer in horses.

Trained by Tim Yakteen, the 3-year-old daughter of Mr. Big won the $200,000 race for California-breds by 2 1/4 lengths at odds of 7-2. According to a California Horse Racing Board stewards ruling, purse money from that victory ($106,527.60) is to be returned by Krikorian and jockey Rafael Bejarano, and redistributed to other connections based on the revised order of finish.

What difference does it make that Kirkorian is on the CHRB? Whether he was a board member or not, a medication DQ isn't going to 'get 2nd place finishers money'.

People directly involved in the game as owners/breeders/trainers/players/management are preferable on the state oversight/steering organizations than clueless political hacks. (Like we deal with in NY and KY).

Point taken, Steve. The 2nd place reference was in reference to the bettors, not the owners.

right. but if the owner of a medication DQ'ed horse was Krikorian, or any other person, the bettor isn't getting paid for 2nd place regardless.

And therein lies the problem. The 2nd place finisher was the rightful winner, but the bettors got nothing. Shame.

The race was on July 25, almost two months ago. Are you suggesting that we should wait two months for the drug test results to come back before races are made official? Disqualifying the connections from purse money, along with fines and suspensions, is all that can be reasonably done and serves as a deterrent from running overly medicated horses.