... as in what percent of the posters on this board are so concerned with drugs in Racing (and cheating in Racing in general) that they would be willing to write a letter to NYRA or the CHRB, a letter which says in essence: "You are licensing trainers who cheat, and licensing owners who condone this cheating, and I will no longer wager on your product."?

Or alternatively, a letter to the folks in Kentucky which says "Your permissive medication rules have made a mockery of the integrity of racing, and I will no longer wager on your product".

What about the "Whales"? Does anybody think the whales would be interested in writing such a letter and joining the boycott?

And what percent of letter writers would actually be able to abstain from wagering until Racing was clean? We are probably talking months and years here, not days and weeks.

Lots of moaning about the takeout. What if the takeout was increased, with the additional "skim" being devoted to the detection of illegal medications? This would put Steve Crist, the most vocal advocate of lowered takeouts, in a rough spot.

Never underestimate Vox Populi. I am convinced that the anti- war movement in the late 60s and early 70s ended our involvement in Vietnam 3 or 4 years earlier than it would have ended.(The youth of today, not threatened by a draft, are blissfully hooked into their IPODS, and could probably never be effectively mob- ilized against our current administration). OK, my flashback just ended.

Part of the problem is that the important voices which have spoken up against drug fueled racing (Jerry Brown, Steve Crist, Andy Beyer et al) would really(obviously) not want to see any sort of boycott.

My own view, stated too many times before, is that Cheating, whether it be drug fueled or otherwise, is part of the fabric of Racing. One Derby Day 20 or 25 years ago, the first race of the card, a 2YO maiden race, was won by a first time starter who paid a huge price. Upon further review, it was determined that
this first time starter actually had raced twice and that the Horse Identifier had been duped. (I actually think this happened twice at Churchill-- Larry Robideaux and Jerry Romans were the trainers involved).

The erstwhile Classhandicapper may have said it best. To paraphrase CH, "I know who the cheaters are, and I take it into account when I handicap a race". Let me add a corollary, "If I am not certain if a trainer is a cheater, I will assume that he is."