Oops..wrote an answer and then seemed to delete it. Let me start again.

When I got involved in racing in the sixties the greatest trainers of the time might win 20% if they had a good meeting, but rarely did anyone win 30%, year in and out...in fact I don't think anyone ever did for very long.

Since this EPO thing got started, however, 30% has become commonplace for a growing list of trainers at a lot of tracks and I believe that there is a connection. Unlike some people, however, I don't think that this is pervasive...I think that the vast majority of horsemen are not using the stuff and cost is not the reason.

Do we really think, for example, that Allen Jerkens or Bill Mott can't afford EPO? I think, simply, that they have scruples. Some other guys don't.

One of the horses you named is probably using it...but I don't think that Funny Cide is one of them. His finish in the Wood was not a rebreak, to my eye, but simply a game run. He only appeared to be coming on again,due to EM's goofing off and switching leads down the lane. The fact is that EM and Bailey were toying with FC and I would not take FC as a serious threat in the Derby.

If you want to figure out who the other EPO candidate is, take a look at the trainers' leader board. The drug has been around for about four years. Which formerly 'good' trainer has emerged as the Western World's 'best' trainer in that period?

Who was Barry Irwin referring to in his Blood Horse op ed piece on EPO a year ago, when he pointed the finger and said "we know who you are and what you are doing?" He didn't name anyone, and I won't, because I don't need the grief either...but I cashed a bet on the Belmont when this trainer's animal outran his form to take a big piece of the purse...calculating that he would take the chance he was afraid to take in the Derby and Preakness and use the stuff.

This year he seems ready to take the chance in the Derby.

Hey, I could be wrong and some honest deserving horse and trainer might win the Derby. Pat Day might pull a Lil E Tee and circle the field with a clean horse; Biancone might prove to be the great trainer that he is and hone Brancusi to do his thing on the right day at the right time.

But I doubt it. Those guys are running for second place this year. Or maybe third.