Jim: As I noted above, the real problem is not with any inconsistency between the two statements, but with the misleading nature of the statements BI has made about the Nicks matter, both at the time and since. Leaving aside whether he has left the impression that Team Valor would not tolerate drug violations by its trainers, his statements were that Ralph Nicks was fired, either because TV had a zero tolerance policy or because BI determined he had an impure intent, that the decision to fire him was the most difficult business decision he had ever made, etc. No, he never said in those statements that he would never re-hire Nicks, which is why I characterized those statements as misleading, rather than false.

So why is all this important? If racing is to be cleaned up, one of the first steps must be to demand an open and honest dialogue among all of the affected parties, most importantly prominent owners. No spinning, no positioning, no wrapping yourself in the flag, no trumpeting your own virtue. It’s a step backward to state or even leave the impression that we don’t use vets whose activities concern us, that we don’t hire trainers whose activities and practices raise questions in our minds, or that we simply won’t tolerate drug violations or that we won’t tolerate those who have what we subjectively determine is an impure intent. As BI’s actions indicate, the world of racing is more complicated than that, perhaps even necessarily so in the current environment of drugs and supertrainers. But let’s get real and take the first step which is to be honest about the realities.




Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/18/2005 08:35PM by Caradoc.