NY Horsemen’s Election: ‘Truthiness’ and the Truth' - Lasix!
Nov 26, 2014 20:00:10 GMT -5
Post by Evelyn on Nov 26, 2014 20:00:10 GMT -5
I Like Violette but am disappointed re the Lasix issue. I think no race day medications should be the rule. Yes, I understand this needs to occur slowly because so many horses are using Lasix. Lasix IS the "hot button". It has to be a PED! I think trainers are afraid to actually train without it. And I also agree that it covers up other meds.
New York Horsemen’s Election: ‘Truthiness’ and the Truth
by Ray Paulick
When it comes to the ongoing election for president of the New York Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association, there is “truth” and there is “truthiness.”
The truthiness of the election, the agenda pushed by allies of current NYTHA president Rick Violette, is that the only issue that matters is Lasix, the race-day medication used to treat exercise-induced pulmonary hemorrhage.
It is a campaign of deception that would make Stephen Colbert and his Colbert Nation proud. “Truthiness,” as defined by Colbert on his popular Comedy Central television show, is using the heart or guts instead of the brain to determine what is true. In other words, never mind the facts.
When it comes to the ongoing election for president of the New York Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association, there is “truth” and there is “truthiness.”
Terry Finley, the founder of West Point Thoroughbreds, is opposing Violette in the election. He has said, in interviews with the Thoroughbred Daily News, in position statements published at Bloodhorse.com and on his own website, what he thinks the most important issues are facing New York Thoroughbred owners and trainers. Spoiler alert: it isn’t Lasix.
But, to my borrow a phrase from a pugilist publisher from Louisville, why let the truth get in the way of a good story?
Starting with the ethically questionable endorsements by local Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Associations, and continuing with Violette’s friends around the country, the New York board and president’s election has absurdly and misguidedly been positioned as a mandate on Lasix.
The hysteria among out-of-state horsemen’s organizations reached a crescendo this week on both coasts in the final days of voting. Ballots were mailed to NYTHA members in late October and must be received by the close of business Dec. 1.
First came an endorsement by the Florida Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association, whose board said Lasix was the No. 1 issue.
“As everyone in our industry is aware,” the Florida HBPA endorsement reads, “the hot button issue of the moment is race day medication. More specifically Lasix. It is the opinion of our Board that the overwhelming majority of horsemen and equine veterinarians around the country support the controlled administration of race day Lasix. … On this issue and many others, the Florida horsemen and Rick Violette and his incumbent NYTHA directors are in full agreement.”
Then came a misfire from the Thoroughbred Owners of California. TOC, which was founded by Thoroughbred owners who grew weary of trainers making economic decisions on their behalf but has been hijacked by trainers in recent years, did not directly endorse Violette over Finley.
It did, however, misrepresent Finley’s positions on race-day medication and federal government intervention to the extent it had to send out a red-faced retraction less than 24 hours later.
Joe Morris, president of the TOC, joined national Thoroughbred Horseman’s Association chairman Alan Foreman and state THA leaders at a Nov. 11-12 THA board meeting in Baltimore, Md. Foreman, who has recused himself from the NYTHA election process, said the election did not come up once over two days of discussions.
Yet Morris came away from the meeting apparently convinced that, if elected to lead the New York horsemen, Finley was going to eliminate the use of Lasix 3,000 miles away in California and was part of a bogeyman plot with The Jockey Club to put Congress in charge of medication issues.
“This election boils down to opinions about race day medications, particularly the use of Lasix on race days,” Morris wrote on behalf of the TOC board of directors in a letter that was retracted. “One of the candidates (it did not mention Finley by name) believes, as The Jockey Club does, that Lasix should be eliminated from race day and that the federal government should be asked to regulate all medications administered to our horses.”
Where would Morris have gotten those misguided ideas?
“We did not discuss the New York THA election,” Foreman insisted about the meeting Morris attended. “We’ve been talking with TOC over a year on issues of common interests. The horsemen are discussing ways we can work together. We are specifically collaborating with TOC on an issue that I can’t discuss. It is unrelated to the New York election.”
When pressed, Foreman said the subject discussed “involves medication and federal intervention” – the two issues cited in the Morris letter.
If the NYTHA election is about Lasix, it’s not because of Terry Finley. It’s due to the obsession others (especially those who don’t live or race in New York) have on the subject of Lasix and race-day medication. And that is the truth.
New York Horsemen’s Election: ‘Truthiness’ and the Truth
by Ray Paulick
When it comes to the ongoing election for president of the New York Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association, there is “truth” and there is “truthiness.”
The truthiness of the election, the agenda pushed by allies of current NYTHA president Rick Violette, is that the only issue that matters is Lasix, the race-day medication used to treat exercise-induced pulmonary hemorrhage.
It is a campaign of deception that would make Stephen Colbert and his Colbert Nation proud. “Truthiness,” as defined by Colbert on his popular Comedy Central television show, is using the heart or guts instead of the brain to determine what is true. In other words, never mind the facts.
When it comes to the ongoing election for president of the New York Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association, there is “truth” and there is “truthiness.”
Terry Finley, the founder of West Point Thoroughbreds, is opposing Violette in the election. He has said, in interviews with the Thoroughbred Daily News, in position statements published at Bloodhorse.com and on his own website, what he thinks the most important issues are facing New York Thoroughbred owners and trainers. Spoiler alert: it isn’t Lasix.
But, to my borrow a phrase from a pugilist publisher from Louisville, why let the truth get in the way of a good story?
Starting with the ethically questionable endorsements by local Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Associations, and continuing with Violette’s friends around the country, the New York board and president’s election has absurdly and misguidedly been positioned as a mandate on Lasix.
The hysteria among out-of-state horsemen’s organizations reached a crescendo this week on both coasts in the final days of voting. Ballots were mailed to NYTHA members in late October and must be received by the close of business Dec. 1.
First came an endorsement by the Florida Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association, whose board said Lasix was the No. 1 issue.
“As everyone in our industry is aware,” the Florida HBPA endorsement reads, “the hot button issue of the moment is race day medication. More specifically Lasix. It is the opinion of our Board that the overwhelming majority of horsemen and equine veterinarians around the country support the controlled administration of race day Lasix. … On this issue and many others, the Florida horsemen and Rick Violette and his incumbent NYTHA directors are in full agreement.”
Then came a misfire from the Thoroughbred Owners of California. TOC, which was founded by Thoroughbred owners who grew weary of trainers making economic decisions on their behalf but has been hijacked by trainers in recent years, did not directly endorse Violette over Finley.
It did, however, misrepresent Finley’s positions on race-day medication and federal government intervention to the extent it had to send out a red-faced retraction less than 24 hours later.
Joe Morris, president of the TOC, joined national Thoroughbred Horseman’s Association chairman Alan Foreman and state THA leaders at a Nov. 11-12 THA board meeting in Baltimore, Md. Foreman, who has recused himself from the NYTHA election process, said the election did not come up once over two days of discussions.
Yet Morris came away from the meeting apparently convinced that, if elected to lead the New York horsemen, Finley was going to eliminate the use of Lasix 3,000 miles away in California and was part of a bogeyman plot with The Jockey Club to put Congress in charge of medication issues.
“This election boils down to opinions about race day medications, particularly the use of Lasix on race days,” Morris wrote on behalf of the TOC board of directors in a letter that was retracted. “One of the candidates (it did not mention Finley by name) believes, as The Jockey Club does, that Lasix should be eliminated from race day and that the federal government should be asked to regulate all medications administered to our horses.”
Where would Morris have gotten those misguided ideas?
“We did not discuss the New York THA election,” Foreman insisted about the meeting Morris attended. “We’ve been talking with TOC over a year on issues of common interests. The horsemen are discussing ways we can work together. We are specifically collaborating with TOC on an issue that I can’t discuss. It is unrelated to the New York election.”
When pressed, Foreman said the subject discussed “involves medication and federal intervention” – the two issues cited in the Morris letter.
If the NYTHA election is about Lasix, it’s not because of Terry Finley. It’s due to the obsession others (especially those who don’t live or race in New York) have on the subject of Lasix and race-day medication. And that is the truth.