Horse Racing Dichotomy

[brianwspencer]

Originally Posted by Split Rock

We're going to agree to disagree here. Do you think the drug issue in baseball would be investigated with the same ferver had the smug Barry Bonds not broken a hallowed record? Forever, there will be an asterisk next to that record, if it is even mentioned at all going forward.

I not only think a Kentucky Derby winner being DQ'd is what the sport needs, I would go a step further and say a Triple Crown winner being DQ'd is what the sport needs. National attention to this very serious issue is the only way it will be rectified.

If Dutrow is on the up and up with Big Brown (which, to me, seems virtually impossible, especially based on what I saw today) then I would be the first to say he deserves it and appreciate the accomplishments. However, the Mullins', Lake's, Ness's, Dutrow's, Pletcher's, Assmussen's have absolutely ruined the sport for me and reduced it to a simple gambling venture.

I get where you're going with it, I just think that there has got to be a more productive, less harmful way for us to make drug reform in racing -- without tarnishing one of the finest recent Derby performances and without forever marking the nation's biggest race with such a terrible stain.

I admire your zeal, and I'm not being sarcastic, I just don't really think you've thought this through. I don't think you're being realistic about the outcomes. Whatever incremental positive gains could possibly be made by having to make an example out of Dutrow if this happened would be overshadowed 10,000x by all the negative press and how terribly it would turn so many people off from the game.

Agree to disagree, fine, I just wish you'd think it through more.