It takes a strong stomach to read all of the self-serving nonsense being spewed by some of the owners who had horses with these trainers. They are shocked, stunned, disgusted by the indictments. Anyone who has ever spent any -- and I mean any -- time on the backstretch should have had serious doubts (at the bare minimum) about the unprecedented feats of um, ahhh, horsemanship being performed by these trainers. In particular, Gary West has a lot to answer for as he is a very sophisticated man who built a fortune by asking hard questions in other industries but now wants us to believe it never occurred to him to ask the corresponding questions when it came to the care and performance of his own horses. At lot of people had no incentive to ask all the hard questions and now are feigning ignorance. Stop it already.

Somehow it strikes me that one positive step might be a racing version of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission employed by South Africa at the end of apartheid. How are we going to get anywhere unless there is full disclosure of what went on for far too long? Air it all, with no penalties except for failures to disclose, lies and misleading statements, and if you commit any of those offenses, a lifetime ban.