Howard Hamilton

"Now the day is over, night is drawing nigh,

Shadows of the evening steal across the skyÉ."

The words of that beautiful hymn come to mind as the fabulous Saratoga meet comes to a close. This has been another experience that showcased what top class thoroughbred racing is all about.

At the time of writing there is still five days to go before the meet closes on the first Monday in September - Labour Day and everything is being done to encourage the crowds to stay. After the excitement of the Travers there is not much interest and the attendance usually drops below 20,000. This year, for the first time NYRA are initiating "twilight racing" on Friday with the first race starting at 3.00 instead of the usual 1.00 start. This Friday there will be reduced prices on food and drinks and a special happy hour to try and attract the fans.

Long decided

The trainers championship has been long decided with Todd Pletcher dominating the meet. With five days to go he is ten winners ahead of his nearest rivals - Nick Zito, Richard Dutrow Jnr. and Bill Mott. He will surpass his winning total of 22 winners last year. The Jockeys championship is much more exciting. Although Edgar Prado seems all set to retain the championship he is being solidly challenged by Garett Gomez who is riding with a determination that has excited the crowd. He sits just 5 winners behind Prado who leads with 38 winners so far.

The performance of the horses has led everyone to say that this is the best crop of three year olds seen for a very long time. When you consider the performance of Bernardini, Discreet Cat, Henny Hughes, Bluegrass Cat, then this crop really has been outstanding. Add to that list Barbero, Jazil, Lawyer Ron, Brother Derek and we can truly say that this has been an outstanding year for the number of top quality three year olds. Bernardini stands out as the best of them all. We anxiously await his performance against older horses in the upcoming Jockey Club Stakes at Belmont in October and, of course the crowning achievement, in the Breeders Cup Classic in November. I would travel miles to see him compete with Discreet Cat who was equally outstanding in his performance here at Saratoga. Of the older horses, Invasor , the Uraguayan import was most impressive. None of the two year olds have been really impressive but the progeny of first year stallion Johannesburg has been the talk of the town - Scat Daddy stands out as a champion in the making. Octave, Chace City, Panty Raid, Cotton Blossom are others that were impressive.

Problems

As expected, the Todd Pletcher barn dominated the two year old races. We were all anxiously awaiting the debut of the US$ 16 million purchase, The Green Monkey, but he developed some problem that led the sceptics to suggest that soon we may hear that this one is being syndicated for stud purposes without ever having run.

Following from the excitement of Traver's week I have been occupied with some deep hitting discussions about illegal use of drugs.The cycling imbroglio and the Gatlin case in Track and Field re opened a whole new can of worms and the arguments have been very far reaching.

Andy Beyer writing in the Daily Racing Form of August 11th was very outspoken in his condemnation of those who use performance enhancing drugs. He was impressed with the speedy manner with which the Union Cyclyste International (UCI) was confronting illegal drug use and the speedy, meaningful punishment meted out to cheaters. He contends that Horse Racing tends to sweep its problems under the rug.

While the controlling body of Cycling has acted properly to defend the integrity of their Sport, the Horse Racing regulators fail to confront their problem because of the fear of alienating Sponsors, Media and major investors. When the winner of an important race comes back with a positive drug test the offence is handled privately, administering fines that often amount to a slap on the wrist and never suspended an offender Racing regulators are more concerned with avoiding bad publicity than exposing cheaters.

The Cycling Regulators were willing to endure the ultimate in bad publicity, disqualifying the Tour de France winner and taking the consequences of their action with the bad publicity and public scandal in order to make a statement: "WE WILL NOT TOLERATE CHEATERS" The UCI metes out penalties that are meaningful. A doping violation brings a two-year suspension that seriously disrupts the career of the punished. At 30 Landis would effectively be finished in the Sport. Gatlin received eight years suspension and is now finished as an athlete.

His punishment is a marked contrast to the laughable penalties handed out to trainers whose Horses are caught with positive drug tests.

Next week we will look at some of the more blatant examples of our failure to deal in a meaningful way with the level of punishment currently being handed down.

Howard L. Hamilton CD JP is a former President of Racing Promotions Ltd. and Caymanas Track Ltd. He is currently President of the Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Assn. of Jamaica. He can be contacted at howham@cwjamaica.com