Will Macular Degeneration stop harness racing in its ‘Tracks’!?

Macular degeneration is a nasty disease of the eye causing loss of vision as the center of the retina deteriorates.

There are two types—wet and dry—both of which are disastrous and cause blindness, changing lives forever.

So, what does Macular Degeneration have to do with our great sport?

A few days ago, I received an anonymous communique’ detailing, in depth—and I will tread lightly here with verbiage—the illegal medication usage in our sport.

Granted, this is way, WAY above my intelligence level, so I will, in no way, attempt an opinion on this on-going situation, but, it is very worrisome to me concerning the survival of this entire industry.

Trying to digest the hundreds and thousands of pages and testimony on this problem is, to me, next to impossible—that’s why law school is as tedious and takes years…especially for the defendant’s attorney tackling to prove innocence between and beyond the waves of guilt.

As many of you know, I’ve have been a champion of harness racing since August 22, 1959 and, over the years, have been blessed to know and chat with many of (who I consider) the greatest horsemen and women over those years.

I have brought our sport to malls, nursing homes and rehabilitation centers showing what great things and good will harness racing can accomplish through out sport…been highlighted on a CBS news segment in Chicago…hosted career days at schools and neighborhood clubs…

In the hundreds and hundreds of feature stories that I have written and had published, I have put our grand sport on a pedestal of greatness, breathtaking beauty and, most importantly, honesty.

Yes, admittedly, the days of some my great friends, Curly Smart, Delvin Miller, Stanley Dancer, Bill Haughton, Joe O’Brien, Bob Williams, Edgar Leonard, Vernon Dancer, Frank Ervin, Jim Doherty, Loosh, Peter Blood, Tom Merriman, Bruce Nickells, “Showbiz,” Snake Willis and Dwayne Pletcher—to name a few—are, mostly, gone with only a few left to reminisce those great days—Peter, Tom and Bruce, among them. And I sure do miss my great friend, Lou Rapone, from the Pole Adios days back in 1962, who recently passed at age 98.

I miss the days with the guys carrying stopwatches…Stanley taking a two-year-old on the Pompano training side saying he was going to go a mile in 2:25…and, yes, with that stopwatch in his hand and brain, he’d go a tick or two on either side of 2:25.

And, you know, I gotta give credit to David Miller and Wally Hennessey and Rick Plano (off the top of this aging brain) who have been able to adjust to the “times” and continue to excel in this competitive environment.

Veterinarians were “gods” and trusted beyond words back then.

The vast majority are trusted in the same way to this very day—putting them at a distinct disadvantage over the ones trying to—and succeeding—to beat the system.

One report from a couple of years back, was shown that “hundreds of thousands of illegal performance-enhancing drugs” were pumped into the marketplace.

So, again, what’s this got to do with Macular Degeneration?

It was also stated that no entity dissuaded this practice—from State Racing Commissions to the FDA (Food and Drug Administration), Customs and Border Protection, State Drug Regulators and the FBI, among others, from complying with the law.

Yes, THEY TURNED A “BLIND EYE” to the problem…Macular Degeneration in its worst form.

Millions of dollars were involved and the evidence proved that the guilt spread far and wide to participants in the industry.

The evidence showed that greed was the motivating factor in investing “and drenching” racehorses with unsafe, medically unnecessary, performance enhancing drugs (PEDs)..

The case further stated that naivety or ignorance of the law did not play a factor of the defendants.

This was a “sophisticated, years-long, cross-border scheme” to profit from the creation, marketing, sale and distribution of of illegal PEDs.

This wasn’t just here in the USA. There were shipments around the world to trainers in the (racehorse) industry that sought to gain a competitive edge.

Blood builders (designed to mimic Epogen) and injectable drugs designed for race day use, among others, were created to “compel a racehorse to perform beyond its natural capabilities.”

The veterinarian involved in this particular instance “perpetuated the myth that he was operating as a legitimate veterinarian for treatment and prevention of bona field medical issues.”

From testimony to text messages to verified conversations, this information, literally, made me ill—for myself and the sport.

There’s a lot more to this story but, this whole scenario poses and exposes the “Macular Degeneration” point of the story.

When the folk trusted to oversee the industry and accentuate fairness to all and turn a “Macular Degenerate” eye of blindness when this occurs, it puts the entire harness racing industry—in fact, any pari-mutuel sport—in jeopardy.

Casinos are highly regulated these days.

From surveillance to layers and layers and more layers of safeguards in their casinos…and State regulators watching every move, ANY impropriety can cause big trouble—from sanctions to hefty fines.

If that same layer of surveillance for harness racing begins to affect casinos, they will be the first ones to have the excuse that the racing standards in harness racing do not shore up to their highest standards.

It happened in Florida…It is happening in Freehold, New Jersey in a matter of weeks and many tracks supported by the crutches of casino money and legislative infusion could be in grave danger when the casinos use this excuse of impropriety to begin the de-coupling in their jurisdiction.

One-by-one, over the past 40 years, we’ve lost our once thought invincible and iconic racetracks.

In 1946, harness racing leveled the “playing field” with the mobile starting gate.

It’s time to do the same to level the playing field for every participant in this sport in every aspect of this sport.

Beginning NOW, we’d better start cleaning things up…before the iconic tracks that remain are replaced by condominiums, shopping centers and fast food joints!

It begins with the aforementioned Racing Commissions and State regulators…with the FDA, Customs and Border Protection, State Drug Regulators and the FBI, again, among others, taking the bull the horns to prosecute the guilty so that the other 98% of the honest participants in our sport are on a level racetrack…and not just from behind the starting gate!

MAY THE HORSE BE WITH YOU!

by John Berry, for Harnesslink