The more interesting question might be the number he runs in his next race. Too bad Ghostzapper was declared from the Hol race this Sat, as he has the potenial to become the next Storm Flag Flying/Awesome Humor, i.e., a massive rags "bounce" which does not seem to comport with reality. At least when it came to Touch The Blues & other examples, there was some explanation, however questionable. To the best of my knowledge, this issue has still never been addressed.

Whatever one thinks about Nick Zito, to the best of my knowledge no one has ever claimed that he doesn't play within the medication rules. If it is true, as has been reported, that the alleged recent lidocaine infraction which resulted in a 15 day suspension occurred while Mark's Miner was stabled in the NYRA receiving barn, and that the amt detected was the equivalent of "a million times less than one-third of a grain of salt," is this really the kind of case that the Wagering Bd should be focusing on, after the original hearing officer recommended no suspension? One of the many ironies of this case is that the above quote is from testimony Zito elicited from Dr. George Maylin, who is the vet who is a major player in the effort to come up with a test for EPO & who, if memory serves, announced in May that such a test would be in place within 2 mos. In addtion to penalizing the owners and trainers who play within the rules, my understanding is that the lack of an EPO test is causing some to reluctantly reach the conclusion that they have no choice but to start using if they want to survive, particularly as they watch non-using trainers lose their best horses to trainers they feel certain are using. Penalizing someone like Zito in these circumstances, when seemingly rampant EPO use is being rewarded, is sending a very wrong message & is extremely unfair. Something needs to be done about EPO, the sooner the better.

Interesting interview of Wagering Task Force player rep Jim Quinn in an article on the ESPN site at http://espn.go.com/horse/columns/finley_bill/1478592.html. Although I do not necessarily agree with much of what appears there as absolute gospel, the turfpedia.com site, which is a joint effort among Quinn, Cramer, Brohamer, & Roman, contains some interesting reading.