Op/Ed

Most of you have never heard of Mike Mayo. When I tell you that Mike did as much for the sport of Thoroughbred racing over the last 15 years as any industry leader, I hope you will read his story.

Recently completed research regarding the use, or non-use, of Lasix in Thoroughbred racehorses adds some pertinent new facts to the discussion. One investigation looked at horses racing in Hong Kong over a 5-year period where the use of Lasix is not permitted in training or racing.

Ten years ago in an Op/Ed written for The Blood-Horse, I suggested that only an independent agency like USADA (United States Anti-Doping Association) was capable of bringing order to our sport by cleaning it up, as it had done with Track & Field and subsequently with Cycling.

Welcome Home. Those words from Keeneland=s President Bill Thomason underscored the feelings of many of my friends and neighbors--both inside and outside the Thoroughbred industry. They are all equally as excited about welcoming our guests to the Bluegrass as much as hosting the Breeders= Cup itself in 2015. While we are more than confident in Keeneland's ability to put on a world-class event, we also know that the Breeders= Cup experience in our city and region must deliver the same for our guests during their stay.

The North American racehorse competes on a plethora of medications for the most basic and obvious reason: their owners believe they will compete better with the use of drugs and therefore earn more money. As long as that mind-set exists, legal drugs like Lasix aren=t going anywhere. The pro-medication forces are committed and influential, stand firmly in the way of any meaningful change and have become even more energized by victories such as the Breeders= Cup=s about-face on banning Lasix.

Suppose that Daily Racing Form columnist Charles Hatton had not first described Gallant Fox's victories in the 1930 Kentucky Derby, Preakness S. and Belmont S. as a “Triple Crown," yet the races became highly successful on their own, and now, in 2014, plans are underway to finally link them as a series. How would the races be organized on the calendar?

It was inevitable. With a--shudder the thought--Cal-bred going for the Triple Crown, it figured "they" would come out of the woodwork.

While researching a book I wrote a dozen years ago about Swaps, I chanced upon a curious euphemism uttered by the late Southern California veterinarian Dr. Jock Jocoy.

To hear some tell it, I have been biting the hand that feeds me for more than 40 years. This has been pointed out to me over the years by a diverse group that includes Daily Racing Form publisher Mike Sandler, my DRF overseer Joe Hirsch, my current friend Ray Paulick back in an unenlightened incarnation when he edited The Blood-Horse, Hollywood Park's director of publicity Bob Benoit and many others involved in the media.

It was refreshing listening to Adam Silver Tuesday afternoon. The NBA had a problem, and it needed to deal with it swiftly and strongly. One of its owners, Donald Sterling, had been recorded making racist remarks.

Ogden Mills (Dinny) Phipps, in his position at The Jockey Club, has a degree of power, but what he really has is influence. Because of that, a lot of people take what he says seriously. But in the last few weeks I have ceased to take him seriously at all.

Two headlines in early April regarding Churchill Downs: * In Louisville Business First (based on a report by WFPL-FM), that the five highest-paid Churchill Downs Inc. (the parent company that owns the tracks, casinos and twinspires.com) executives collected a combined $27.9 million in compensation in 2013. * In the Louisville Courier-Journal, that Churchill Downs will raise its takeout this year to the highest levels allowed under state law. Other than the fact both stories involve Churchill Downs, the two are obviously totally unrelated. But, they give pause to some thoughts...