It’s easy to name the celebrities who find fame early and then have an identity crisis some years in. Britney Spears immediately comes to mind, as does her Mickey Mouse Club co-star Christina Aguilera (who waited until she was married with a kid to start acting like the teenager she never got to be). Only Taylor Swift appears to have escaped the spotlight with both her teenage years and sanity intact; though at 22, some would say the jury is still out.

Unless they’re a Kardashian, celebrities have been working on their craft most of their lives and the sudden adulation can be difficult to adjust to. And there can be no denying that we’re seeing this exact same behavior from Mike Repole, owner of Travers winner Stay Thirsty and Kings Bishop runner up (and reigning Juvenile Champion) Uncle Mo.

Mike is a rare breed of horse owner: he invested his billions in the claiming game for many years before ramping up and spending the money to step into graded company. Here is a man who singlehandedly keeps NYRA running over the winter months with his cheaper horses. And for whom that elusive G1 victory didn’t come until late last summer. Plus, he made some fantastic comments about the responsibility of an owner at last year’s Eclipse Awards.

But therein lies the problem. The horse he essentially dubbed the People’s Pony got sick. It was an illness that took time to diagnose and I believe they will look back to realize they handled that situation poorly. But they did the right thing by scratching the horse, sending him to one of the best private rehab facilities around, giving him time and then easing him back into working out.

They could (and, in my mind should) have found a softer spot for him to return to the races, but the horse performed admirably and was beat a whisker by an improving foe. Then, to cap a huge day for the Repole silks, the “little buddy” (who had – in my well documented opinion – no business being on the Derby Trail), comes back and crushes a solid field in the following G1 race.

That’s where it all fell apart. Repole began making statements that reminded me of Courtney Love throwing her makeup mirror to get Madonna’s attention on the MTV red carpet several years ago: a desperate attempt to keep one’s name in the news.

The idea that Uncle Mo finishing second in the Kings Bishop is “the lowest of the lows” in Repole’s racing career is, honestly, his Britney Spears head shaving moment. It’s as if he thought “what’s the single most outlandish thing I can get away with?” And then actually said it. Attention is good, but this kind of attention is not what you want. Barry Irwin made a statement on live television following the Derby that was out of line, but it was the only inappropriate thing he said in that timeframe and it was in response to a question that broke the “never ask what you don’t already know the answer to” rule.

We all say things out of turn and things can be misconstrued or taken out of context. But the point was made and I agree: finishing second in a major stake isn’t low – unless you’re from the Eight Belles camp and have to make a heart-wrenching decision moments after the biggest race of your lives.

Uncle Mo got beat. It sucks. But why not celebrate the fact that, off a four month layoff, your superstar ran his heart out despite being exhausted in the final strides? To call his health into question after the race by saying he may be retired because of “the illness” then further explaining that he doesn’t want the horse to go through that again… that leads any logical person to believe that the horse isn’t 100% healthy. Which should be disclosed before the race, not after (see the post-race disclosure of throat surgery to the $102 winner of the first race on the card for proof).

Mike Repole is the source of much amusement for the Twitterverse. But he’s truly a good guy and he’s great for this game on all levels. He’s just having a very public adjustment to the fame. I would suggest keeping him away from umbrellas, anything that can be used to shave one’s head, and Lindsay Lohan.

Racing doesn’t have a conservatorship program: the worst thing that can happen is for him to burn himself out by trying so hard to be the perfect owner. And, like celebrity or Congress, there is no such thing.

Mike: pull back, grab a Vitamin Water Revive (or two), take a few days with your family, get some perspective and let the horses speak for themselves. The game needs you to hold it together.

We, as an industry, wanted the bigger, faster, better Thoroughbred – at any cost. Forget the argument about breeding for speed not soundness; our biggest problem is that we didn’t see bleeding as a sign of weakness: we saw it as a surmountable obstacle on the way to the next Kentucky Derby winner.

A horse’s will to win is only impeded by his physical limitations

Consider Midnight Lute: as talented a horse as Baffert ever trained and the only horse to win the Breeders’ Cup Sprint twice. He could not breathe right: 3 tie-back surgeries helped but, best-case, he had an airway getting 60% capacity.

Will he be anything like Two Punch as a sire? Don’t get me wrong, I love Two Punch progeny and many of his babies run very, very well. Many of his babies also fail a veterinarian’s scope because he passed on small airways. And a horse who can’t get enough air in tends not to run very far.

These aren’t quarter cracks, folks. Those are situational. Sure, a horse can be prone to them, but a quarter crack heals completely as long as you give the proper time off – see Big Brown.

Every stallion passes on positive and negative traits to their progeny and most flaws we as buyers can live with: it’s our job to find those specimens that have the best of mom and dad. But we, as an industry, should have known better when it comes to bleeders. We’ve allowed traits to be passed on for so many generations; yet, being prone to bleed is often overlooked for the distance or surface a horse should be able to run.

So man invented a salve: something that slows down the evolutionary process of thinning out the herd. In the wild, if an animal can’t keep up, it is – sadly – often left behind. That’s also true in every other professional sport. Don’t have the speed to make the 72 man roster in the NFL? You make the practice team. Can’t keep up there? You’re cut. It’s not nice, but it gets wins.

In racing, it’s become Win At Any Cost

There is a story out there right now about the harness trainer who’s been banned for being too good. He admits to using a drug from France that is widely used in the sulky community. Well, TP-500 has made its way to the Thoroughbred ranks. At $7,000 a pack, it’s quite an investment. Anything to get the win, though! And – like the steroid ban – I don’t believe for one minute that veterinarians won’t still be giving Lasix on backstretches across the country: as long as it’s not on race day, anything is possible.

One of the arguments against Lasix is the case of a horse who was beaten some 30+ lengths, was given the anti-bleeder medication, and came back to win by a comfortable margin. That’s a performance enhancing drug!

No: that’s a horse who probably couldn’t breathe because of blood filling his lungs and, when given something to stop the bleeding, he was able to run at maximum capacity. And, at maximum capacity, he wasn’t all together awful.

But why was he even on the track? If memory serves, the horse in question was a claimer – the backbone of the industry. If we don’t have cheap horses to fill races, we don’t have much of a game. But isn’t it up to us as owners and trainers (at all levels) to say, “this horse bleeds – he’s not meant to be a racehorse.” No, we shoot ‘em up and send ‘em out.

So, now, we’re left with the ultimate problem: we let this go for far too long and now we want to correct the mistake. At least we gave ourselves a year’s head start. Doing this was always going to be painful and I applaud the various committees’ efforts to put the ban into place because it takes guts. But why a sudden ban, not a gradual one? This cliff’s edge approach will undoubtedly lose us a generation of runners. A let-down approach over the next 7 – 10 years would have allowed it to be weaned out of the gene pool.

I can’t name one G1 winner in the last 5 years that didn’t run on Lasix, at least in North America. When Silver Charm shipped to Dubai and won the World Cup, he did it with nothing in his system. And he paid the price: he was never the same, probably because his lungs were already scarred and the problem was greatly exacerbated from being “allowed” to bleed again. Silver Charm’s been a useful stallion, but will never top the yearly rankings. What about every horse who does? Lord knows what they would have really been had they not had a little help.

We let this happen. And now the solution we’re about to put into place is going to make it ten times worse before it gets better. I never really understand the long-term planning by the federal government when they dole out $20 billion over the next 10 years – give us the funds, we could use them now.

In the case of racing’s ban on Lasix, though, I believe the only way to do it is long-term: we bred it into the Thoroughbred, we should be allowed to breed it out.

All this at 45 miles per hour in a tightly packed herd hurling themselves around hairpin turns – it puts the Quickstep to shame.

Like other well paid performers, racehorses each have their own style: there are those like Zenyatta who prefer to toil at the back and be all-but forgotten until the final eighth of a mile; or those like Secretariat who would pull jockey Ron Turcotte out of the irons to lead the field through its paces.

Competitive ballroom dancers are accomplished in many styles, yet typically shine in one specialty. The best racehorses are much the same.

Going into the last leg of the 2011 Triple Crown races, you’ll see these stars at the Belmont.

Shakleford is very much a Foxtrot star: his style is “quick – slow – slow – quick.” The chestnut son of Forestry has won 3-of-7 races lifetime, including the Preakness, and owns a second in the Florida Derby. His best finishes have been when he’s set or been just off a quick early pace, then slowed down for the middle fractions, and come home in a relatively quick 13-and-change.

Animal Kingdom, however, runs more in the style of the Paso Doble: a dance of passion and drama that is an interpretation of a bullfight. It is danced with sharp movements designed to create a sense of tension. The Kentucky Derby winner has never been worse than second in six starts, though anyone who’s ever had a wager on him can attest to the fact that he eeks out every last inch of the racetrack before finding the wire like a bull drawn to the red cape.

Watching “always a bridesmaid, only once a bride” Nehro is like watching someone dance the Mambo: consistent steps at the same intervals. Santiva owns a similar record of 7-1-3-1 and is consistently sluggish in his fractions, despite being rather elegant to watch – like two dancers in the continuously turning Waltz. Stay Thirsty has the Rumba rhythm down pat: “quick – quick – slow – slow.”

What does this mean for the Belmont Stakes on Saturday? If you’re like me and a fan of the true ballroom dance competitions, big races with full fields are much like the freestyle round where couples dance choreographed routines with many elements of their best dances.

In America, there is no race like the Belmont: combine the sweeping turns with the distance, and angles like post position bias and trainer statistics go out the window; as handicappers are forced to rely on pedigree and jockey ability. Plus remember the age-old adage that the best horse doesn’t always win and you might as well be dancing the frenzied Merengue come post time.

After two minutes and twenty seven seconds, one thing clearly separates dancing from racing. It’s no longer about fancy footwork. Winners often prevail by a nose. Other than Jennifer Grey – noses typically don’t take the prize on DWTS.

photo courtesy of the amazing Rick Samuels

Graham Motion didn’t lose, so he doesn’t count.

Only Nick Zito had a prepared an excuse: “he was dead last and they never came back”. Of the 19 losing horses’ 18 trainers (Maker had 2), Peter Miller and Kathleen O’Connell are the only ones not quoted. This means that they were not found immediately after the race, either by crowd or by choice.

Off the official “Kentucky Derby Losing Trainer Quotes” list, there are:

• 5 No excuses/Ran good/Never stopped
• 4 Not Our Day
• 3 Proud/Pleased with my horse
• 2 Fabulous/Delighted

If your first inclination – to a reporter, into a microphone – is that the race didn’t suck for your horse, you don’t get to retract that tomorrow. So, other than Jinx Fires, no one gets to rev up the Excuse Generator.

However, those works are essentially meaningless to most because both colts are bred for the wrong surface. Saying “turf pedigree” in the Kentucky Derby is like Julia Roberts not knowing which fork to use in Pretty Woman – so uncouth.

I personally believe in pedigree handicapping and to me turf is more about stamina than the color of the surface. There are benefits to turf breeding that are unparalleled in dirt or the new synthetic era: least of which is that horses tend to stay sounder, longer. A little stamina goes a long way when breeders have been speed-obsessed for years and we’re left with too many brittle boned animals that can’t get much further than six furlongs.

Because so many have accused Animal Kingdom, in particular, of being a two trick pony when it comes to surface,

Wrong.

Using information provided by GradeOneRacing’s pedigree analyst, the incomparable Lauren Stich, it is clear that eight of the nineteen contenders could be – and perhaps should be – competing in turf events.

Looking primarily at the stallion lines: Animal Kingdom is by Leroidesanimaux, a champion turf horse whose offspring are best on grass and synthetic surfaces; out of a Group 3 winning dam who raced exclusively in Europe on the lawn. Archarcharch is by War Chant whose first 14 of 16 foals to race won on all three surfaces on two continents; out of a dam by one of the most prolific turf stallions in history. Brilliant Speed is by a sire known for stamina, whose offspring have been incredibly versatile, yet are superior on turf. Santiva is by one of the world’s premier stallions, but his offspring are generally superior on turf and synthetic surfaces. Soldat is sired by the speed influence of the Danzig line and is out of multiple stakes winner who was especially proficient on turf. Shackleford is by a sire who was a sizzling stakes sprinter whose best offspring are best on dirt and turf.

Looking at both sides of the family tree: Master of Hounds is by one of Mr. Prospector’s best-bred sons who was a top-class miler in Europe, the majority of whose progeny were most successful on turf; out of a dam by the late Sadler’s Wells, who was Northern Dancer’s most successful son at stud in Europe and a major stamina influence on turf. Midnight Interlude is by War Chant, who has been a superior sire of turf horses and from a female family that produced an Epsom Oaks winner.

This many turf pedigrees can’t be surprising for a stamina contest such as the 1-1/4 mi. Kentucky Derby. Every year, the majority of the field winds up staggering the final sixteenth to the wire because they are simply being tested beyond their limits.

In 2009, a jockey was weighing-out in the jock’s room after the race and was heard saying “that colt had no business going beyond a mile.” And he was referring to a G1 winner who had won half of his ten lifetime starts, with distances from 1 mi. to 1-1/8 mi. This is the time of year when we learn who is a router and who just got lucky before.

Bob Baffert is a Hall of Famer because of how he managed careers, as well as for what his horses did on the track.

Last week he did something now considered extraordinary when he scratched The Factor from contention. It didn’t matter how many runners he was going to have: what was paramount in his mind was the individual horse. From the heart, Bob said “I love this horse. I don’t want to ruin him.”

The Factor is at his best at between seven furlongs and a mile. Bob knew it. The media knew it. The colt’s owners knew it. Yet, despite the lure of the Kentucky Derby – the adoration, the saddletowel, the discounted tickets – they did what was best for the colt.

If there is another trainer in this year’s field that cares more about their horses than Baffert, it is Graham Motion. A lesser trainer would probably have run Toby’s Corner when they can’t “rule out whether [they] were dealing with a minor foot abscess or a significant injury.” As Motion said in his perfect English accent, “I feel fortunate that at least I do have another contender.”

That horse? Animal Kingdom.

How many horses have made the transition safely from turf to dirt? In the last five runnings of the Kentucky Derby, two names stand out: Barbaro and Big Brown. Both won.

Whether a horse prefers the Dirt, Turf, or Synthetic, you have to look at the individual. It’s like Julia Robert’s picking the right fork in Pretty Woman: shrimp, salad, or dinner – go with what you know.

Not if you look at the social media sites, where everyone with the ability to post, share, or tweet is suddenly an expert. There are people who do this year round and then there are people who pop up every 360 days and feel their opinion counts double. It’s only around for 5 days, after all – it should count twice as much, right?

As Ed DeRosa, news editor at Thoroughbred Times said yesterday on Twitter, “My mantra is stick to what you know. That’s why I never dispense workout opinions.”

There have been several notable horses who’ve taken awkward steps in the slop – most more of a “I don’t like this stuff, get me off it” than a “I just took a bad step,” even if the result looks the same.

Yet still, the Twitterverse is rife with “*** looked awesome on the track today.” Did folks not see *** nearly fall down because he was so pissed at having to walk on the slop? What’s going to happen when he has to (gasp!) run over it on Saturday?

These are Derby horses, people. The so-called best of their generation. One of these horses will add his name to a list that includes the biggest, baddest racehorses in the history of the game. They’d all better look grand. They’d all better have dapples (as one of racing’s best always looks for). They’d all better look like superstars.

I’m guilty of it to. There are several horses I’ve looked at this week and said, “wow, what a good looking animal.” But I draw a distinct line between “good looking” and “looking good enough to win the Derby.”

Because I rode for so many years and have studied certain aspects of the game more than others my strengths lie in movement, pedigree, and workout analysis. I stick to what I know. We all should.

The few weeks surrounding the Kentucky Oaks and Derby are like a season of Dancing With the Stars and American Idol combined. The various survival rounds start in January and end in May, replete with careers to revive, questionable tactics, and outstanding performances that are capable of moving you to tears.

There are unlikely heroes, faltering favorites, and injuries. Sometimes a performance will leave you scratching your head and another will validate your early beliefs. And often the ones with previous experience – in this case over the track instead of dance studio or a record deal – usually have the leg up on their competition.

Here’s the Kentucky Derby field by Graded Earnings and what we believe to be their human pop culture counterparts:

Uncle Mo | American Idol’s Adam Lambert / he’s the favorite from the first performance but everyone can see his weakness – Lambert was one-noted, ‘Mo got sick

Dialed In | American Idol’s Scotty McCreery / wowed the judges with unique ability in debut and hasn’t really done anything wrong and is still somewhat misunderstood by the public even though they know they like him

Archarcharch | Dancing With the Stars’ Jennifer Gray / has some experience and made a great impression early then had a few off days before rebounding in a big, show-stopping way

Comma to the Top | Dancing With the Stars’ Audrina Patridge / has a set comfort zone and took some time to break into being at best away from the norm

Toby’s Corner | American Idol’s Kelly Clarkson / impressed initially then faded into the background and came back with a vengeance late to leave us wondering how we’d all forgotten

Pants On Fire | Dancing with the Stars’ Apolo Anton Ohno / makes up for what he lacks in grace with heart

Midnight Interlude | American Idol’s David Archuleta / started green, quickly formed own style, and proved wise beyond years

Soldat | Dancing With the Stars’ Shawn Johnson / used to moving in a certain way and had to re-train body to conform to new set of rules

Brilliant Speed | American Idol’s Jordin Sparks / has talent, no question, but benefited when early favorites were surprisingly voted off after faltering slightly

Master of Hounds | Dancing With the Stars’ Donny Osmond / great at one version of performing and had to answer the “can it translate” conundrum

Twice the Appeal | Dancing With the Stars’ Helio Castroneves / was an unknown to most of the audience before wowing with a few key performances

Nehro | American Idol’s Jennifer Hudson / always a bridesmaid who’s just sure greatness is just around the corner

Mucho Macho Man | American Idol’s Chris Daughtry / quick to rise to the top then found himself misunderstood

Decisive Moment | Dancing With the Stars’ Drew Lachey / good early then somewhat forgotten and showed back up just in time to surprise the judges

Animal Kingdom | American Idol’s Kris Allen / kept to what he knew and then threw a performance out late that woke everyone up

Stay Thirsty | American Idol’s Pia Toscano / needed to break out of shell and own the stage, which may come from time in the spotlight

Santiva | American Idol’s Michael John / his sound wasn’t always perfect but when it worked, it was blue collar perfection – and he got better when he had the time to develop his own style

Watch Me Go | Dancing With the Stars’ Kendra Wilkinson / needs the situation just right to feel pretty

Shackleford | American Idol’s James Durbin / the backstory is filled with people you can’t root against and his showmanship is undeniable

Twinspired | American Idol’s Lee DeWyze / people like the sound but don’t remember him

Hence why Baffert’s decision to wait this race out with The Factor was such a breath of fresh air. “I don’t want to ruin him. I love that horse,” Bob told GradeOneRacing‘s Bruno De Julio. Most owners and trainers would look at the $1,200,000 winner’s share of the purse and “take their shot.” It was Ken Ramsey who told me at last year’s Derby Draw “I’m not kidding myself, Dean’s Kitten probably doesn’t belong against this bunch, but – hey – it’s 20 horses and anything can happen right?”

Luckily Ken ended that sentence with a big chuckle. They took their shot and finished 14th (he’s since run 7 times with his best finishes being back-to-back 2nd places in the Tejano Run at Turfway and the Ben Ali at Keeneland).

The Derby can ruin a good horse. Never in their career have they or will they ever again face 19 horses in the starting gate in front of a crowd of 110,000+, and often with questionable weather. Horses are sensitive animals and that’s enough to rattle the strongest of mentalities.

And, right now, no one knows how to get a horse to overcome the struggle to win the Derby better than Calvin Borel. He’s won 3 of the last 4 – and only one on a logical horse (that’s Street Sense, not Mine That Bird). Yes, it took agent Jerry Hissam ’til this morning to secure a mount. But I had to read a whole host of articles written in the last week (and many by good friends who should’ve known better) about how Calvin was going to be left sitting with the apprentices in the Churchill jock’s room at 6:05 pm on May 7th.

As I said before, people often muddle the situation because it’s everyone’s dream to win the Kentucky Derby. But not riding Calvin was never going to be one of those “wouldda, shouldda, couldda” mistakes. This isn’t “do we try blinkers,” folks: this is the track’s hottest rider on the day we know he can make a horse do things they’ve never done before (and will never replicate).

There are certain jockey truths in racing that are self evident: running a horse in New York and Ramon Dominguez is available? Lock him up. Running at Tampa Bay? Who has the number for Danny Centeno’s agent? Running in Southern California? Do we put Bejarano or Rosario up?

People will do crazy things for Derby glory, but 20 owners and their trainers were not going to make the mistake of not riding Calvin.

They are several names for it, with breakdown and catastrophic injury the most common.

Not everyone will fall like Go for Wand or Ruffian; Barbaro took a few awkward steps and Eight Belles simply fell to her knees. These horses are family to the stables they reside in – no one wants to leave the track with an empty halter or come home to an empty stall. And this is true at every racetrack, training center, and sales ground. There was a Tapit colt at the OBS March sale for consignor Barry Eisaman who took a bad step and wrenched an ankle on the gallop out; I’ve never seen a man run so hard, so fast to get to his horse – racking his brilliant brain for a sudden miracle cure that never came.

If you work in the industry or watch enough races, it is inevitable that you will be witness to something that stays with you forever. Contrary to what PETA will claim, catastrophic injuries are not what the sport is about. But what they do show us is the humanity and sportsmanship that exists among the fellowship of trainers.

Last Saturday at Hollywood Park, a chestnut for Mark Glatt was the first horse to come down the lane after the renovation break. His hind end scooted away from him at the sixteenth pole and he tipped to the left, with the rider landing on his feet like he was stepping off a boat. The cause: he broke down behind. Though it wasn’t his horse, trainer Peter Miller was on his pony and waiting for his horses to thunder down the lane, but when the chestnut went down, he, Glatt, and members of the gate crew stood for 20 minutes with the horse. Say what you will about trainers in California: when someone is hurt, they rally around.

Nine times out of ten, that doesn’t happen in other sports. When DeSean Jackson of the Philadelphia Eagles was knocked unconscious by Atlanta’s Dunta Robinson, none of the Falcons’ trainers came rushing to help their downed rival. However, when Austin Collie of the Indianapolis Colts was knocked unconscious during the game against the Eagles, trainers from both teams got him on the stretcher and both benches fell to their knees in prayer.

Much talk this week will be of Gilded Gem, the all-heart Grade 3 winner from the Baffert barn who broke down on Tuesday morning while working with Kentucky Oaks contender Plum Pretty. The cause: a broken right front leg.

Bob Baffert was watching the work on the six floor with the clockers and had a bird’s eye view of the track. When his filly broke down at the wire, his first instinct was to rush to the elevator but all he could do was watch in disbelief. Scott Blasi, assistant trainer to Steve Asmussen – a barn with as many good horses as Bob’s and against whom he often competes – Scott rode in on his bright white pony, putting himself in harm’s way between the downed mare and a team working down the lane who didn’t see the peril up ahead. Only once he saw the team pull up did he go to the downed rider and then hold the filly’s head to keep her calm until help could arrive.

Trainers may try to play many roles – coach, jockey, owner, track superintendent – but the best trainers are true horsemen who don’t often get credit for their true sportsmanship.

Baffert is a man who thanked me at Del Mar last year, when I asked after a talented filly of his who had been hurt on the track. He, like so many of these fine horsemen, take each horse in their barn as a member of the family. To most trainers and their staff, it doesn’t matter if the horse is Kentucky Derby caliber or a $25k claimer – they are a living, breathing animal who pours their heart and soul into every stride.

Going back to Scott Blasi stepping in to protect Gilded Gem and her fallen rider: this wasn’t his horse. Odds are a mare from the Asmussen barn would have faced Gilded Gem in the Humana Distaff starting gate.

But when a horse goes down on the track, it doesn’t matter what saddlepad they are wearing.

Gamblers are still merrily passing pennies through wagering windows, while fretting over racing’s unstable future.

While recently released figures show that wagering in North America is down 7.2% over last year, I am still amazed that in this economy (when emergency measures by Congress are needed to extend unemployment benefits for millions of Americans) $906.3 million was wagered on racing in November alone and the yearly total is $10.7 billion with a month to go.

Racing is one of those rare games of chance that doesn’t actually require intimate knowledge. While I can spend hours pouring over the Aqueduct entries, say for example debating whether a rail draw is a detriment to a closer on the Inner Dirt; a newcomer can simply say “look at the pretty white one” and the result for our wagers will be the same: a win or a loss. That’s the beauty of horseracing: anything can happen when the gates break open.

But wagering isn’t just about the newcomers versus the veterans – there is a very happy purgatory. And the proof is in the Yorkshire pudding: Peter Webb, a British technology executive who opened a Betfair account in 2000 with £1,000 and claims that without ever having deposited another dime, now has an coffers of £250,000 with which to play. This is a man who admittedly knows nothing about the Thoroughbred industry – couldn’t tell you the difference between Secretariat and Phar Lap, a claim versus an under tack sale, or define liver chestnut – yet he makes his entire living playing races from around the globe.

While Mr. Webb is by no means alone in his ability to interpret the data that makes up horseracing, it is the vast sums he is able to make at the windows (physical or electronic) that is laudable. Racing does have an advantage over other markets: once a race goes official, the winnings are yours to keep – immediately. There isn’t a waiting period, bank holdings, Securities and Exchange Commission or Financial Services Authority audits to worry about: you made the bet, the horses ran, the money is yours.

This puts racing in a category similar to poker, blackjack, and other Vegas/Macau/Monaco staples. And the basic “anything can happen” approach applies to them as well: I can watch the World Series of Poker on ESPN in my hotel room, then venture downstairs to play a hand of Texas Hold’em and when the River falls, it can make me rich or knock me out just the same as Jonathan Duhamel, Frank Kassela, or Phil Hellmuth.

When I get up from the tables, I can walk into my favorite Race/Sports Book and wager on anything from NCAA Men’s Basketball to NFL and MLB. The difference between playing at the tables and playing at a Book? We all know the former is as skewed to the House as a balloon pop at the county fair; while the latter, like racing, are as much games of chance as they are skill.

But when it comes to comparing the professional football and baseball leagues with Thoroughbred horseracing, there is a glaring mismatch that must be addressed. The easiest example has occurred in baseball: Roger Clemens was crucified – called before Congress, lambasted in the media, threatened with Hall of Fame banishment – all over illegal performing enhancing drugs (and the perjury that came with hiding it). Now, I fully agree that baseball is America’s pastime and I appreciate the need to keep the playingfields of all professional sports level, but racing was here first.

Horseracing is the only sport where wagers taken are directly applied to the monetary rewards of the athletes (in this case: owner, trainer, horse) and host facilities. There is enough uproar over a 3% takeout increase on wagering in California to think that Frank McCourt had not only lost the Dodgers in the divorce, but that Jamie had appointed Zenyatta (in all her newly minted jersey’d glory) as the new general manager.

Read the minutes of any state wagering board – I personally keep California, New York, and Kentucky bookmarked – and you see the efforts being made to curb the problem. But $500 for a methocarbamol positive is not going to stop anyone when they’re allowed to keep the thousands more in purse monies.

Where are the Congressional hearings on this?

Yes, Roger Clemens lied to investigators about the BALCO scandal. But the only money that hinged on his performance was his salary and sponsorship money to the teams he played for. There was no public money involved. That’s not the case with racing: $10.7 billion has been wagered through November and, yes, those figures are down, but that’s still $10.7 billion more than was available for revenue sharing in the MLB.

There are three classes of drug in horseracing and methocarbamol is legal to use and would probably be found in 99% of blood samples nowadays, just as Lasix, L-Arginine, and Bute/Banamine are. I wish there was a way to punish the humans without punishing the horses because the only answer we have had so far (though not in the instances of methocarbamol) is to fine the trainer and disqualify the horse. With such a comparatively small fine, trainers are virtually excused, while there is no redemption for the horse’s race record and the defrauded public.

Every race is an ultimate game of chance for the horse and the wagering dollar. We should be doing everything in our power to protect those interests. When did we forget that all treasure is uncertain?