Asmussen Should Be On the Hall of Fame Ballot

by Bill Finley, special to ESPN.com

When the PETA scandal involving Steve Asmussen blew up last year I was among those leading the charge to keep the trainer out of the Hall of Fame. The story was an explosive one and an ugly one and it involved undertones of animal cruelty. The ballots had been sent out before the story broke and I thought that under the circumstances his Hall of Fame eligibility needed to be put on hold so that everyone could take a deep breath and let the story play out. We needed to know what we were dealing with and whether or not Asmussen was a cheat who also mistreated the animal, someone unworthy of being out into the Hall of Fame.

The Hall of Fame agreed and banned Asmussen from election last year. It was the right call.

The Hall of Fame is soliciting nominations for 2015 inductees and committee members have been told that Asmussen will not be allowed on the ballot. A notice sent to Hall of Fame voters read: “Since the process leading to the 2015 election is beginning before either of the state racing commissions' investigations in Kentucky and New York into Asmussen have been concluded, the tabling of Asmussen's candidacy remains in effect for the 2015 election.”

There is something to be said for wanting the matter closed before deciding whether Asmussen should be allowed into the Hall of Fame, but everyone already knows what the investigations in New York and Kentucky are going to come up with: a big fat nothing.

Certainly, Asmussen didn't come across well in the PETA video, nor did his potty-mouthed assistant Scott Blasi. A lot of people who watched the PETA video came away disliking Asmussen and really disliking Blasi. But PETA didn't have a smoking gun. It showed that trainers can be crass, that they'll push the envelope to win races and even that they have no problem taking advantage of illegal aliens who are willing to work long hours for pitifully poor wages. The closest it came to uncovering any rule violations was talk that jockey Ricardo Santana Jr. would use a battery. But that's on Santana, and not Asmussen or Blasi, and it's something that could never be proven.

Had PETA set up the same sort of undercover operation in any one of a dozen or so barns in the U.S. they would have come away with the same sort of stuff. A lot of trainers treat the animal like a commodity and will do anything to win, and that America's medication rules are laughably lax is the reason they can do so. Taking advantage of illegal aliens is as old as the racetrack itself.

The PETA video was much more an indictment of horse racing than Steve Asmussen. You can hate the way they acted around his barn and some of the things they said and did, but there wasn't an ounce of evidence that anything Asmussen or Blasi did was illegal.

That racing commissions drag their feet in cases like this is frustrating, and both Kentucky and New York should have wrapped things up a long time ago. Eventually they will and no charges will be levied against Asmussen or Blasi, at least ones related to the care of the horses. Some issues involving immigration and the IRS could lead to charges from non-racing authorities.

In 2014 I wanted time to figure out what the right thing was to do with Asmussen when it came to the Hall of Fame. Personally, I've now had more than enough time. I know the story and there's nothing more to be learned.

This needs to be treated much like the Baseball Hall of Fame has treated players linked to PEDs. No matter how serious the charges against them might be, they are put on the ballot and the voters get to decide whether or not they deserve to be enshrined in the Hall of Fame. There are several players (e.g. Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens) whose credentials would normally merit induction into the Hall of Fame but enough voters have concluded that they cheated by using steroids and therefore don't deserve what is the highest honor in baseball.

With Asmussen it's time to do the same thing. A voter can decide that what they saw on the PETA video wasn't that big a deal, or at least not so egregious that it should overshadow Asmussen's on-track accomplishments, which make him a slam dunk Hall of Famer. A voter could also conclude that the PETA video, not to mention Asmussen's numerous medication violations, make him someone who does not belong in the Hall of Fame.

I probably wouldn't vote for him. The one thing the PETA video did was paint a picture of a stable that had no love for the horse and little regard for its welfare, even if it didn't break any rules. These are beautiful animals that work hard for our pleasure, and Asmussen and Blasi seemed to have no appreciation of that. That might be enough Asmussen to lose my vote.

But the time has come where whether or not Asmussen gets into the Hall of Fame should be my decision and the decision of all of those who vote. The choice should no longer be made for us.

Reprinted with the permission of ESPN. For more articles by Bill Finley and others on horse racing, visit http://search.espn.go.com/horse-racing/