When the 'wiretap' case got underway I think most of us believed that it would reveal that evidence of the cheating problem would spread well beyond the two most recognized criminals (that's what they are). I was still naïve, however, in not thinking that it would draw the Arabs in with it. When you have unlimited money and are breeding the best to the best, do you also need to be cheating? Maybe so.
Pletcher and Allday? For sure...there was an interview on Sirius, years ago, during which Allday was questioned directly about PEDs and he said, more or less, I never used an illegal drug. When they declared something illegal that I was using, I stopped using it.
That was his explanation and defense. Sort of like Fishman. Not quite, but close enough.
There's one thing that I'm not 'confused' about. I spotted Navarro and Servis well before anyone else was talking about it...profited by betting them, following my belief that they were cheating. And I had a saying: when I bet Chad Brown I win 25% of the time and when I bet against him I lose 100% of the time. The math doesn't work, but that was what confused me. What doesn't confuse me is what the 25% trainers are doing; what the people who win multiple graded races on some weekends are doing.
And now, possibly, what the Arabs themselves are doing.
It's bad enough when it's happening to us as handicappers, but as an owner I have a distinctly shitty memory of standing in the paddock with confidence that my runner that day had a great shot at winning an Optional Claimer. Only to see a shipper walk in, floating on air. Clearly juiced after losing its previous race by 35 lengths. My trainer turned to me and said "I think we're running for second today." The shipper beat us every step of the way and my clean horse ran his heart out, only to lose.
That hurt.
