Wow, someone actually gets it...

[parsixfarms]

Originally Posted by Rupert Pupkin

I was talking to one of our trainers over the weekend about this issue. He pretty much said the same thing as you. He said that if all the legal drugs are banned, then the cheating trainers will have a much bigger advantage because they will still be using illegal, undetectable drugs. He said that if they ban steroids, then the guys that can get synthetic steroids will win all the races.

This is the reason why they need meaningful penalties when they finally catch the cheaters. The lax penalties where trainers serving suspensions can turn the barn over to an assistant, so it effectively remains "business as usual," are a farce. I think we all agree that, with money on the line, there will always be a segment of the population that will utilize improper techniques to try to grab that money. Only after racing commissioners/track operators hand down severe penalties that actually act as a meaningful deterrent to improper conduct might things start to change.