Re: Asmussen gets 6 months (542 Views)
Posted by:
manning (IP Logged)
Date: June 27, 2006 08:35PM
marcus Wrote:
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> the ruling should be contested , the penalties
> seem out of balance with recent rulings handed
> down for comprable drug violations . i don't
> understand how the drug would be useful for
> players and horsemen - wouldn't that type of
> medication have it's best value when a horse is
> shipping and not when racing ? .
>
> basically the ruling artificially boosts public
> relations and profile for an already troubled and
> beleaugered racing industry , and thats about all
> - as was the case w/ the ny trainer who just got
> nailed for pain killers that he had borrowed for a
> back problem ...
>
> i don't want come off as one of these " jerimiah "
> or " jesse jackson " types but , the level
> arrogence and complacentcy involved in the
> asmussen ruling is not only failing to serve
> racing's ( or anyones ) best interest - it's
> counter productive ...
>
It's not up to any of us to worry about whether or not this kind of suspension and the resulting media coverage is "just another black-eye for racing". Racing has plenty of troubles, most of them of the industry's own making. The bottom line is this trainer has had plenty of run-ins with the testing labs and now is being made to pay up-I think rightly so. Maybe the 2 cases pending now are the result of honest mix-ups and/or bad luck, but there could be far more troubling things associated with both cases. The head of the La. state testing lab had this to say re: the Mepivacaine positive:
--Dr. Steven Barker, head of the state testing laboratory at LSU, said the level of the drug in No End in Sight was "quite high."
"It was consistent with a race-day administration of a therapeutic dose," Barker said. He also said that mepivacaine "is used diagnostically and also used therapeutically. The reason it's Category II is it can be used as a nerve block."--
That's not good for racing. And if they currently don't have the testing capability to find the "magic bullet" (thanks Miff) the least they can do is stop these guys from abusing the stuff they can test for.
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