It means there is an incredible network of drugs, steroids and substances that a significant amount of trainers across the UK are trying to use on a daily basis to get an unfair advantage and cheat the punter out of their money, that’s what it means.
In the Racing Post today they reports that in this Butler case the Racing authorities believe as many as 100 horses and 9 different Newmarket trainers were guilty of using these substances but that they didn’t get caught!
Poor old Gerard Butler – the only one who gets caught cheating and then suffers a 5 year ban for it. Almost makes you feel sorry for him doesn’t it? NO – I don’t. It doesn’t say in the Racing Post, next to the bit wear they say about tongue ties and cheek pieces – uses drugs, so how the hell are we meant to know which ones are good cheats and which ones aren’t? Ohhh – I see, we are not meant to know, well that explains it then.
I was told a story just 12 months ago by a retired Northern trainer who has taken on a very big job looking after a lot of horses for an owner, that after visiting the stables around the UK he declared he didn’t know why he ever bothered training such was the unfair advantage that the Newmarket trainers had with the chemicals and substances that they were injecting in to their horses when they wanted them to win. I thought he was exaggerating, I hoped he was. I work closely with another Northern based trainer who would no more think about using a performance enhancing drug or steroid on a horse than they would leaving it without food for 3 days and this trainer wonders why their horses struggle to be competitive against horses they thought capable of beating. Perhaps now they understand it isn’t a level playing field.
I realise in the case of Mr Butler he wasn’t using a vet to inject his horses, he was doing it himself but who are these vets who happily administer the jungle juice, why are no charges brought against them and why aren’t the BHA capable of eliminating this scandal. They have done it in Hong Kong and Australia. I cant say America as I have no idea what horses can take there, seemingly a cocktail of drugs that would make a Rolling Stones party look like an AA gathering.
UK Horse welfare and Horse racing’s image is vital in the world in which we now live with the scrutiny of every Animal group looking at us and our sport. How much ammunition do we need to give them with the ongoing stories of countless horses being injected and remaining unchecked.
We are sick of the scandals, sick of the abuse of trust and sick of the inefficiency of the BHA to stamp this out. As usual it is the punter who pays as trainers simply continue unchecked and those who play by the rules go broke in the process.
Who says cheats don’t prosper?
