The Cootie Factor

by Barry Irwin

    Over the past few seasons, as racing has contracted, much discussion has taken place among the game's stakeholders as to which of these entities is most necessary for survival of the sport. 
    Horseplayers think that without them the game cannot exist. 
    Racetracks say that without a playing field there can be no contest. 
    Owners are convinced that without horses, there can be no races. 
    Horses themselves, for reasons obvious even to those groups mentioned above, have not been asked for their opinion. But I suspect that if they had been and were able to answer, they would tell all of the groups cited to go to hell and let the animals conduct their own impromptu contests in a field away from the madding crowds, bright lights, unnatural noises and nasty smells. 
    But, for racing to exist, the owner is the key. 
    Hold your horses cowpokes! I am not saying that racing does not need gamblers and racetracks to provide a viable sport. It does. But, without horses provided by owners, there can be no sport. 
    Somebody once told me that Will Farish and Dinny Phipps didn't give a hoot about the game's health (which, by the way, is totally preposterous) and that they would just as soon conduct match races in a field on one of their vast estates. 
The point was that these two gentlemen cared only about was finding out which one of their steeds was faster than the other guy's horse. 
    Although the comment was made to belittle Farish and Phipps, it did in fact serve to point out something that should be obvious to everyone connected with racing, which is that the essence of our enterprise is simply to find out which man or woman's horse can beat the other person's horse. 
    And in this regard, horse racing on one level or another can only take place if owners have an interest in finding out which horse is fastest and are willing to pit their horses against each other in a contest of speed. 
Where this contest takes place and who, other than the owners, decides to gamble on the outcome is of no relevance to these chaps. 
    The point of this excessive wordage is that owners are the only essential element in providing a contest because they own the horse. 
    Irrespective of the level at which contests of sport are held, it should be fairly obvious to all of the stakeholders that unless owners are on board, the sport suffers greatly. 
    The game needs owners. 
    Much effort over the past decade or so has been devoted to identifying, prospecting, developing and nurturing new owners and providing them with reasons to participate in the sport. 
    The advent last week of PETA's report on the operation of Steve Asmussen has our game in peril because for the first time there is video evidence for all to see of how sordid, uncaring, unethical and illegal the caretakers of our horses can be. 
    It is one thing to hear gossip, read articles and op-ed pieces, hear chit-chat; but it is entirely another matter when one is confronted so rudely with the evidence in moving film. If a picture is worth a thousand words, a video must be worth billions of them. 
    When all is said and done, I fear the aftermath of the PETA video presentation will be the most severe removal of a layer of the once prestigious patina under which our sport thrived for so many years. 
Owners that are interested in playing the game on a high level do so for several reasons, but the underlying commonality is a desire for competition in an arena witnessed by fans and peers alike that offers the owners a considerable amount of prestige. 
    Once a game is found to be covered in scuzz instead of quality, the desire for further participation by owners is going to evaporate. 
    The PETA video shows owners that racing has got cooties. Nobody wants to be involved in a game that has the potential to embarrass them and their families. 
    Can United States racing recover from this localized infestation of cooties? 
    Yes, but only if there is institutional change. 
    Ethical vets and trainers need to call out their miscreant peers. 
    Racetracks and racing commissions need to immediately institute a racetrack pharmacy that allows control over every drug given to every horse. 
    The group pushing for medication reform needs to include Lasix among the drugs banned on race day and stop pandering to horsemen and racetracks just for the sake of passing a watered down plan that does not fully address the issue. Stop patting yourself on the back and be real. 
    Racetracks need to get serious about catering to horsemen they know damn well are taking an edge. 
Unless racing's institutions put these plans into action instead of jawboning about them, horseplayers will go elsewhere and owners interested in the sporting aspects of the game will leave it behind. 
    The HPBA and the AAEP are the ones that need to lead this charge. The HPBA can condemn what needs to be condemned and individual horsemen can then join them in support of cleaning up their act. The vets need to put the horse first and their pocket books second. 
    Look, everybody knows what needs to be done, but if racing's stakeholders do not take action right now, we will all be looking for something new to do in life, because we have cootified this game beyond recognition.