Jockey Strike at Mountaineer???

[Jessi P]

The state vet doesnt practice on the backside. You might be able to charm him into doing a gelding off the grounds or castrating a cat if you catch him when he isnt busy, but Dr Day hasnt practiced on the backside for 5+ years. He is available on the frontside in the mornings and is on the track for the races, his office is in the paddock. They have a young gal vet in the test barn who pulls blood after the races, they seem to go thru those quite rapidly tho!! Seems like a diff one every 6 months. I think they get vet interns/residents for that, cheaper salary and all they have to do is pull blood, saves Dr Day running back and forth between races just to pull blood.

As for testing, we use the same testing procedures as any other track... there is a list of 180ish or so things that CAN be tested for, however (as at other tracks) the track picks 7 things to be tested for on any specific sample. Of course, Bute and banamine are always on the list of the 7 things to be tested for in a specific sample, usually anything that anyone else has gotten a bad test for recently, or anything considered "hot" at the moment (such as epogen/procrit), or something that trainer has had a bad test for previously.

As for a horse's form changing drastically when it changes trainers... we have lots of very good and very bad trainers here.... if a horse's form changes drastically when it goes from a bad trainer to a good trainer it doesnt really ring any alarm bells in my mind. You cant drug a horse into running faster than it is capable.

As for the jockey strike.. that was weird. I heard more people OFF the track asking me about it than I heard about it on the track. When darren asked Deshawn Parker about it the next day he said he had not heard a word about a potential jockeys strike, and we have heard nothing since. Perhaps someone took a comment out of context or spoke on their own and it got all blown out of proportion? It was apparently on the local radio and on the bloodhorse website but was actually more talked about off the track than on. The local newspaper had a huge write up on it 2 days later with commentary by the track that they do indeed have exactly the SAME coverage as other tracks for jockeys, not the $1M vs $100k as was mentioned on radio and I relayed here (incorrectly ). Also mentioned in the newspaper article was the fact that jockeys are independent contractors, do not work for the track and are required to have their own insurance coverage, the amount the track carries is considered "bonus coverage." And again, also mentioned was the fact that no one had questioned why the owner/trainer hadnt been singled out and questioned about their insurance coverage as the track was.

I have every sympathy for Gary Birzer, he is a sweetheart of a guy who worked very very hard in the mornings. The track has been fixing up his house to make it wheelchair accessible for him as he is supposed to come home in a few weeks. According to his agent Jimmy Isbell he is healthier and ready to spend a couple weeks in rehab before coming home.

And thats all I know about that! LOL

[Gerry]

Jessi thanks for the update on Gary..great to hear that he is doing well enough to even consider coming home in a few weeks. Of course I agree 100% that there are bad trainers of course I have never had the pleasure the meet one!

As for horses form getting better off a claim and new trainer..who would you rather claim off of Scott Lake or a trainer who hasnt won a race in 2 yrs but has sound horses? My trainer at Pimlico has always said you claim a good horse off a bad trainer and it makes you look like you have the magic touch.

Interesting about the jockeys strike though isnt it? Ihave heard it mentioned quite a bit but they are not talking about it at MTR? HMMM well it would be good for the horsemen if it didnt happen especially since CT was closed for a while, has it reopened yet?

[coolzone]

Although Mountaineer Park uses the same lab as Maryland for drug testing it is a known fact that Mountaineer Park only tests regularly for a handful of meds. Occaissionally they will spot check for others things.The State vet has said they won't test for EPO because they can't win those cases in court because they cannot prove when it was givien as it stays in the system for a lengthy time.How about making it that any horse who tests positive for EPO is barred until it tests clean w/ the trainer paying for future tests?All horses that are claimed would be tested and if positive the new trainer would have the option of returning the horse since it would now be barred.And if a trainer has 3 EPO tests then he/she be management excluded as an undesireable.That would slow some these" super trainers" down a bit.What are they going to do w/ 30 or 50 head that are barred?
As for the state vet practicing on the backside, maybe they were talking about when Dr. Day is on vacation and on of the backside vets fills in for him.
TBLADY mentioned about horses being claimed and reversal of form.Anyone who watches what goes on here can see that there are a handful of trainers who claim horses and sit on them for 4 to 6 weeks then these horses have major form reversal.Almost every horse they claim moves up dramatically.Anyone who claims horses of off these trainers usually find it difficult to get any run out of the same horse.Interesting!

[Jessi P]

Anyone who watches what goes on here can see that there are a handful of trainers who claim horses and sit on them for 4 to 6 weeks then these horses have major form reversal.Almost every horse they claim moves up dramatically.Anyone who claims horses of off these trainers usually find it difficult to get any run out of the same horse.Interesting!

Coolzone, care to state specifically which trainers you are referring to? Just curious....... want to see if Darren and his boss make the list.

[coolzone]

Jessie P., Since I just joined I am afraid that I don't know who you or Darren are so it would be impossible for me to know who his boss is.I really don't intend to name names here.Anyone who watches MNR can figure it out for themselves. But I must say it sounds as though I hit a sore spot w/ you.Sounds to me like someone has a quilty conscience.

[chiggins6]

Coolzone, can you mention who the handful of trainers are?

Thanks,

Chiggins

[chiggins6]

Sorry, didn't read date and didn't read all of coolzone's post. Ignore above post. Sorry

[Jessi P]

Jessie P., Since I just joined I am afraid that I don't know who you or Darren are so it would be impossible for me to know who his boss is.I really don't intend to name names here.Anyone who watches MNR can figure it out for themselves. But I must say it sounds as though I hit a sore spot w/ you.Sounds to me like someone has a quilty conscience.

Actually I was asking for facts to back up your claims. Since you are unwilling to share facts with us I must assume you don't have any.

In my experience its usually a low percentage trainer or decent trainers with bad horses who are jealous of the trainers who do well with their stock that claim they must be drugging their horses to win. Of course there are the not-so-good trainers that claim a horse from a good trainer and subsequently can't get the horse to outrun a fat man, therefore it must be that the good trainer was drugging the horse with something illegal. Heaven forbid someone consistently has nice horses that are properly conditioned and put in the correct races instead of poorly trained and run over their heads.