'Dawn of a new day'; Industry reaction wide to doping charges
With the news Monday that 27 people were indicted -- including trainers Jorge Navarro and Jason Servis -- in a far-reaching horse doping scheme announced by the Department of Justice's Southern District of New York, so came plenty of reaction from the racing industry.
The overriding sentiment, both on social media as well as in interviews conducted by Horse Racing Nation with industry stakeholders, is that this was a day with a silver lining.
In the short-term, seeing two high-percentage, prominent trainers potentially serving jail time, is an overwhelming negative. But many expressed the necessity of cleaning up the game and how that may benefit racing moving forward.
"I think most of us, when we read that, we were very sad for the industry that we love and work so hard for," said Terry Finley, president and CEO of West Point Thoroughbreds. "But as the day has gone on, the more I think about and ponder it, this could be the best day in the history of the Thoroughbred business."
Finley further advocated for introduction of the Horseracing Integrity Act, which would create a private, independent doping authority.
"We need a viable deterrent," Finley said. "We need a consistent and cohesive deterrent, and that is the Horse Racing Integrity Act.
"We’ve had talking points saying we had 350,000 tests, and our clearance rate is the best in the world. I understand if that’s your outlook. But it’s clear now that those outlooks have been misguided.
"The current system is woefully inadequate. This is the dawn of a new day.
"I long for the day that I finish second or third, or fourth and don’t walk out of the track with a pit in my stomach thinking that the trainer that just beat me, something is not right. Everyone that owns and trains horses knows exactly what I'm talking about. It’s a sick and demoralizing feeling. It’s an embarrassing feeling because we walk out of there knowing something isn’t right."
Other reaction from around the industry to Monday's news:
Trainer Mark Hennig
"It’s a day we could probably foresee coming, but it’s not a happy day. Ultimately, it’s something that probably needs to happen in order to get things cleaned up.
"The gamblers, the honest owners and trainers out there have got to be somewhat relieved that someone has been looking into it and is taking care of business, even though it’s taken a while to happen.
Racing analyst Joe Kristufek
Bloodstock agent Bradley Weisbord
"I’m very disappointed in what I have read so far. We will make immediate and swift actions to not be involved with any person, that includes trainers, that are perceived to be taking advantage, or cheating in the sport. "I’ve heard rumors about 10 of our trainers. Just pick a guy that wins over 20%, and every one of them I’ve heard rumors that they are cheating. If I believed every one of those rumors, I’d be training with a 5, 6, 7 or 8% trainer and most likely my clients would be out of the game. If we don’t win and win better than average by buying better horses, by using better riders, or by placing them and managing them better, there’s no place for my business in this sport. "I believe this is a terrible, terrible sad day for the sport. It’s shocking to me. It’s shocking and upsetting, and I want to do whatever it takes to try to rid the game of any and all cheaters." Owner Maggi Moss
"It’s a good day for racing, because it’s about time some of this stuff happened and you can clean racing out. But I will admit it’s a black eye for racing. It comes at one of the worst times. If this happened five or six years ago like it should have happened, we wouldn’t be under the same scrutiny we’re under now. "I still think overall, it’s good for owners who don’t cheat. It’s good for trainers that don’t cheat. Let’s see what some of the racetracks do. "It’s sort of an endless cycle. What frustrates me is that there are many owners that you see on Twitter and Facebook saying that they never had any idea or would never have had horses with people like that. Those of us that handicap horse races or know about horse racing know you don’t improve a horse 40 Beyer Speed figure points or you don’t claim a horse from (reputable trainers) for $50,000 or an older horse for $62,000 and two starts later win graded stakes with them, which they haven’t done in three years. "If you can’t see someone winning at 40% year in and year out in New York and Florida and you don’t think there’s anything abnormal, that’s insane. That’s their easy way out. They say there’s no rulings against them. Obviously, now we know why. They were using masking agents the whole time so they aren’t detected on a test." Trainer Graham Motion
Bloodstock agent/owner Harris Auerbach
"Obviously it’s a bad day that we’re negative and being in the news again. Stuff like this happening is terrible for the industry, and bad for horses. But this is a good day that this is getting exposed and the people that are doing the wrong things are getting indicted.
"I’m not sure it’s prevalent among the higher level of the sport, and I’m not sure it’s prevalent throughout the sport. What I do know is there are a handful of bad apples and these few just managed to get caught and I hope it serves as a warning to other bad apples who may be doing this stuff to stop."
Jockey agent Jose Santos Jr.