Richie, Plech has not been as restrained at Monmouth. The record there does not surprise me.

Sighthound says NYRA has been testing for Bloodpacking since 2003. I believe he's referring to EPO, though I don't believe the test can detect EPO at all. I believe it detects a by product of its use. And I'm not convinced its been available since 2003. I think its only been in the last year or two that it has been available at all.

I'm referring to blood packing in the traditional Tour De France sense of the word. Red Blood Cells and Hemoglobin. Such involves Transfusions either from a donor or Blood removed from the subject earlier and then transfered back after the subject regenerates blood to replace that removed. It would take some time and would be expensive, but in the one form it would be essentially undetectable. If he's into transfusions now, what you'll see is a drop off in his overall strike rate due to the expense and difficulty of the procedure. But, his best horses. Horses with talent before, will be doubly and triply tough in the big races and will produce fast times and recover a bit better. If you doubt that, ask the admitted Tour De France packers.

The time of the race needs some review here. The 1.48.60 was a good time for Saratoga, but it was nearly 2 seconds slower than the Whitney. However, the margin of victory was even more impressive. The Second Place horse couldn't crack 1.50 and that may indicate that the others did not fire their best race. Plech's other runner finished last. Wandering Boy faced pace pressure from Lawyer Ron and spit the bit. Brass Hat and Diamond Stripes ran similar races to the Whitney, with Brass Hat perhaps still coming around. In other words, it looks like the previous race (The Whitney) took a toll on the participants that ran in both races. That is, except for the victor.

I'm not sure the figure will be as fast as the Whitney, but what you have to take note of was how Plech came into this race and how Ron alone overcame that last effort. As I said, until something breaks I'll bet against Plech, but not this horse. He's "found" another dimension.





from . I'm Not.richiebee Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Ah, Chuck, seems like you are wandering in the
> desert, or maybe the first turn
> of the Mellon Turf Course up at the Spa...
>
> In your single minded quest to discredit TAP, you
> are kicking up clouds of dust
> which are not to be mistaken for the smoke from a
> non- existent fire. I think
> your best chance at discrediting the man would be
> to continue to investigate
> the die off of 2002.
>
> "Our Todd is an awesome Todd"
>
> Saturday at Monmouth, in the graded Red Bank
> Handicap at 1 mile on the lawn, Icy
> Atlantic equaled the Monmouth course record for
> one mile on the turf. IA beat a
> nondescript field, but did so with some panache.
> After 3/4s, IA was seventh
> (last), about six lengths out of it, and did only
> what he needed to do to win
> under Joe Bravo (23.31, 46.27, 1:09.08, 1:32.42).
> Though I never trust turf
> course teletimers, those are impressive last 1/2,
> last 1/4 turf fractions, no?
> And looking at the other turf routes on the day at
> Mth (which were contested by
> much cheaper runners) this performance may come up
> very fast after various
> adjustments are made by the people who make such
> adjustments.
>
> Lawyer Ron, Wait a While and Icy Atlantic all with
> tremendous performances in
> the last 5 weeks. Those races by those runners,
> all of which will figure to be
> prominent at Monmouth at the end of October, is
> probably a bigger story than
> TAP's overall 10% strike rate at a meet which was
> unfortunately dominated by
> races for cheap turf horses and NYB maidens
> running at abbreviated distances.
>
> I think your quest to discredit TAP, outside of
> your presentation of the die
> off, is running on fuel which is leanly blended
> fact wise, yet I am certain that
> you will continue.
>
> "Still the searcher/
> must ride the dark horse/
> racing alone in his fright"
>
> N. Young (no question about
> "doping" there)