Well, imagine my surprise when I began my Friday night refuge from the world of aggravation to find myself the subject of much consternation on the Thorograph website.

And my pleasure at finding my honor defended by Mr. Jerry Brown.

Not since the day when the Thorograph founder hosted that old television program of his, when for all the world he looked like Don Kirschner of rock concert fame, have I so enjoyed seeing him in action!

Here are some of my reactions to what has both been written and what has transpired, as follows:

1. I don't think Pletcher cheats.

2. I draw the line on cheating based on intent.

3. When I canned Ralph Nicks, it was because he knowingly took a shot by breaking the rules. What Ralph did was pretty inconsequential, but I had to let him go. I waited what I considered to be an appropriate amount of time and then gradually began giving him horses again. We in essence gave him our own suspension. But we did not rule him off. Had he administered something serious, he would have been ruled off.

4. What happened with Pletcher is more in line with contamination. From what I gather from Todd (and we have spoken about this in length) and vets I have talked with about this particular case, this is a non event.

5. Of course we are not going to stop giving horses to Todd based on this incident.

6. I don't think I am being hypocritical.

7. Trainers I avoid are those who knowingly try to subvert the rules.

8. FYI, I think a lot of trainers have cheated during the past 6 years; but I also think a lot, but not all of them, have stopped. One reason they no longer cheat is that they are now afraid to get caught. Two of the most successful trainers in California over the past half dozen years in my opinion definitely were cheating. I think both have stopped.

9. As for Dr. Alex Harthill, I thought I made it abundantly clear in my obit about him in The Blood-Horse that I didn't get involved in any of his magic. When we had Captain Bodgit with Gary Capuano, we used one of Doc's stalls and he put up sort of an addition in the front on the outside of the stall to afford the colt some added space between the crowds of people on the backstretch. All of the wise guys who knew Harthill and his black bag of dirty tricks figured something funny was going on behind the screen. Gary Capuano and I made sure that Dr. Harthill never administered anything--legal or illegal--to Captain Bodgit while he prepared for the Derby. He ran without Bute or Lasix, yet that did not stop the tongues from wagging.

10. William Faulkner once said in an interview with the Paris Review in their series of famous writers that "in literature one rogue is worth a thousand saints." The same goes for racing. It is an unfortunate aspect of this game that often times the most talented individuals also are the most unscrupulous. Such was definitely the case with Dr. Harthill.

I knew the good and I knew the bad. I knew the bad because one of his former girlfriend/trainers spent two weeks staying with me and a lady friend. I heard first hand all about the magic and the larceny. But I also learned and later witnessed first hand the brilliance the man was capable of when analyzing and working with top horses.

This undeniable talent is what attracted horsemen such as Charlie Whittingham and The Jones Boys to him.

I would have to be pretty damn stupid not to form a relationship with a guy who had the talent to legitimately take my stable to where we wanted to go. The first three horses on which he performed throat surgeries came back to win stakes.

Finally, Colita today made his first start since having a myectomy at Ohio State University.

I think information of this type is vital and should be announced to horseplayers.

One of these days, perhaps even through the efforts of somebody like Jerry Brown, a support group on behalf of horseplayers will be formed and have enough clout to get racing jurisdictions to make mandatory the dissemination of information such as this.