fairness

The Lou Pena Saga continues to heat up
6/10/10 by Terry Cullipher 2 COMMENTS

After watching and reading the stories concerning Meadowlands trainer Lou Pena, I

thought

was time to weigh in on the matter.

The most recent article

I've read, (by Chris E. Wittstruck) was well written and appeared

unbiased. As for some of the other articles I've read, the only thing I

get is that

omeone

blown a head gasket.

First, let me say that

his industry is regulated and has its rules.

However, the regulations

and

rules are so flexible that the regulators themselves

re having trouble getting a grip

on them

here are so many different rules that are applied differently to so many people

that the

egulators

themselves can

keep up with them.

their defense, the rules aren't so black

and

white

and that does

n't

help things

ther. There's an area of gray that

seems to be getting

bigger and bigger with every year that passes. And

by no means

did

it begin with

Lou Pena.

You can toss Lou Pena to the curb, but

make no mistake,

it will not make harness

racing

better.

So i

f there is a

problem,

it is the system.

For years now, the industry has made

message

that's

loud and clear:

Join the darkside, or

perish. And with all the comments and writings I have read in the past few weeks,

there's

one

thing

that is for sure....the industry is

NOT

ready for a commissioner or czar.

When you have a

top rated trainer found with

hypodermic

syringes in his bucket while in the

paddock and then to have high ranking individuals say, "Oh but he's such a good boy." Or

"He

meant nothing by that, his "REPUTATION" says he would never cheat. Or, maybe it was

because he spends

hundreds of thousands at the yearling sales each year

I don't know

ut I can tell you if they found one syringe in Lou Pena's barn, Andrew Cohen would do back

flips. Keep in mind

trainer

who

was caught with the syringe in the bucket used the old

defense of

"my

groom

mistakenly put it in there. And it was to be given after the race

anyway".

If you believe that a trainer should be excluded or denied a license from the USTA on

suspicion

, then you must whole heartedly believe that the other one

thousand

and ninety

seven

trainers

that have

received

suspensions in the past, must be denied and excluded

also.

f highly

reputable

trainer h

s a test

come back positive

for EPO

, all

that

ou will hear

from

racing's

hierarchy

(the trainer) wouldn't do that, and

hey would be quick

, a little too

quick

might I add, to side with trainer because of

is or her

"reputation".

Let's not forget the millions that have been spent on the blood gas testing to prevent

baking

soda from be administered before a race. In a horsemens' association board meeting

a few

years ago, the racing commission

told

the association to

come up with

levels and the

penalties

for violators from the blood gas testing. This association did just that - created

the penalty.

During the course of the racing season

three or four trainers tested high, which

resulted in a

scratch. The crazy part is, after th

association made the rules they then

turned

around and

hired an attorney to

represent the offenders. One board member

suggested, in another

meeting, to just do away with blood gas testing all together, if this is

the way its going to be

handled. Another board member in the same meeting was offended

and responded by

suggesting if they was going to stop blood gas testing, then they should

legalize morphine.

could go on and on, but you get

the picture.

For those that

elieve

the industry needs a single commissioner or czar, think again.

The

only

thing that could possibly work

for harness racing

Judge Judy.

nd there isn't

any

sign of

her

retiring

from

the

TV show in the near future

As for Lou Pena, at the present time, he is absolutely above and beyond his competition. Is

cheating? I don't know

The most current test results say no. But what I do know is that

every other trainer out there (including the top

reputable

trainers) definitely want to know

what he is

doing. Not so much as so they can stop him, but so they can join him.

If anybody wants to talk about cheating, the first question should be; Who isn't?

COMMENTS

Fred Everhart

I just finished reading Mr. Cullipher's comments about Mr. Pena. While I have not followed this close I do

agree with what I think is being implied. Rules are to be followed and if broken the same penalties must

apply to all.

I do disagree with the statement about who isn't cheating. As an owner (Victor's Future 2yr

colt Trotter Ky Sire Stakes) I rely the trainer to be honest and upright. I think we have a good one with

Mr Jeff Smith.

He in my opinion is one of the good guys in our sport.

Ken Terpenning

Lexington, KY

I have a solid source that told me Pena's barn has been raided twice in the past couple months with no

evidence found of any "cheating". What does that mean? Well, Pena is just a smarter person than the

inspectors and has a good hiding place. As for your point about not having a czar or commissioner, well,

Major League Baseball has spoken volumes on the subject where their commissioner had no clue the

players were doing steroids, so I agree that it would not help the horse industry either. You look at

baseball's batting averages and you see the better, bigger hitters are batting in the .300s every year

with dozens of homers...in harness racing you look at the trainers' utrs and you see a similar comparison...

some trainers have a .400 utr while others have a .089. It does not take much of a leap to assume the .

400 trainers are using something better than the .089 trainers. Are they cheating if the system allows

them to use stuff to enhance their steeds performances? Nope. It simply means they have a better way

to work the system than the .089 trainers do or they have more money to buy better stuff or better

horses.