Not again ....

[ELA]

Same issue, same problem and unfortunately, never the same solution. Absent of zero tolerance, there is no universal solution -- not on the regulatory side, nor on the self-governing or self-policing side vis a vis the owners in this industry.

Regardless, you are not going have trainers given lifetime suspensions for a second or third offense of a legal drug that has therapeutic, everyday use on the backstretch. Period. Not only does it not happen, personally, I don't think it should. You want to talk about snake venom, designer or exotic drugs that have zero therapeutic use, steroids, etc. -- OK, great, I am all for it -- however, that is a different discussion as far as I am concerned, a very different one.

In addition, there is an entirely different dimension to this problem. Many people here critisize others -- others who don't live up to, or abide by the standards they themselves claim they would adhere to. That's fine. It's easy to be a critic. Let's see how much that changes the industry. That will never be the standard in the industry.

If you are in this game, and you run your business that way -- great, I don't think anyone should have a problem with that, nor should they care. And, Terry Finley runs his business the way he runs it, as does Jess Jackson, Satish Sanan, Cot Campbell, Coolmore, Barry Irwin, and the guy who owns the nickel claimer at Penn National. Everyone is entitled to run their business anyway they want. You don't like it -- OK, your entitled.

However, that is not going to be governing standard for the industry. Can self-policing work? In some ideal world, perhaps. In practical application, reality, I don't think so. There certainly needs to be change, drastic change, and I've supported that for years. I've contributed time, efforts, money, resources, and more to change in this business and in this sport. I've been in this game my entire adult life. I love this game. But change can go in different directions.

BTW, in this case -- postive test -- gulity! Gary will do his time, pay his fine and he'll come back. He is, should be and must be held accountable.

Eric