I'll concede it was an overreaction and misleading. Sorry about that. But you have to admit that it is yet another indication that a major part of training even big-time horses is how to use drugs most effectively without triggering any penalties. If trainers push the red-line on "legal" drugs it is hard to believe they are not doing the same with illegal ones. It is pretty easy for most to rationalize that "if I don't get caught then it is OK and besides everyone else is doing it and they have an edge on me if I don't join in." I also agree that it helps illustrate the difficulty of being a rule-abiding druggie given the inconsistent rules from one racing jurisdiction to another.

I am even tempted to give Baffert and the connections Kudos for "taking their lumps" but I have a feeling if not for the fact that they would have to miss out on the SA Derby by appealing that they would have refused to take their lumps and eventually would have weasled out of any significant penalty.

The bottom line unfortunately is that in racing today "it makes good business sense" to maximize drug use because the rewards are high and the risks are low. Until that changes, it will only get worse.

Chris