Not what you want to hear on Derby Day, I know

  There are essentially three types of people in horse racing. There are the crooks who dangerously drug or otherwise abuse their horses, or who countenance such conduct from their agents, and who then dare the industry to come to catch them. Then there are the dupes who labor under the fantasy that the sport is broadly fair and honest. And there are those masses in the middle—neither naive nor cheaters but rather honorable souls—who know the industry is more crooked than it ought to be but who still don’t do all they can to fix the problem. This is the sad truth about an industry that has been this way for many years. We are all culpable if we don’t take some action to protect and care for animals under our care. There are many honorable people in this industry but a very small minority of feral dishonest druggers are protected by the implicit silence and benefit of agents, jockeys, owners. When we bet on this race we are culpable as well if we don’t demand changes to this very profitable industry. In the interest of full disclosure, I share with you that I won a horse bet via OTB the one and only time I bet on a horse 4 years ago.