Miff,

I agree with everything you said. I just also believe that steroids are a problem. In fact, I think you did a very good job of creating a list of the potential problems even though you don't seem equally concerned.

I don't think it's a good thing when a mediocre horse is taken over by a high percentage trainer, sent to a farm for 2 months, and returns a wonder horse. I think that makes it more difficult for cencerned parties to tell if he's a great horseman, used legal high octane steroids to turn the horse around, or used illegal drugs.

As I mentioned before, I just bet the damn horses if I can find a subset of them that are profitable over the long haul. So it has no impact on me personally. I no longer own horses and never trained. I just can't see how it can be a good thing overall. I'd prefer 100% clean racing other than treatment for physical problems with a long enough timeframe between treatment and racing to ensure the horse is clean for race day.

F.Kach