I write to disagree with the opinion of Brett Sturman that any compromise is warranted by Jeff Gural in the Judith Taylor matter. Her son Howard was banned due to the documented record of him having purchased illegal horse drugs. If you buy horses with Taylor, you take the risk of being his partner and his long record of employing notable trainers with EPO positives. Ron Adams is the poster boy in this regard. Don’t get in bed with Taylor or any non-arm’s length party dealing with him. No compromise. Stand up for integrity Brett.

Clay Horner / Toronto, ON

More on Sturman, Taylor and Gural

Sturman forgets or ignores Gural offered to hold court for those excluded to seek redemption. That is, present one’s case to Gural as to why they should be removed from the excluded list. But like everything in life, money, ego and sense of righteousness complicate things. Mr. Taylor, for instance, is smart enough to transfer ownership by sale to an able, willing and apparently seasoned buyer — wire transfer and all. Nothing can explain rejecting that transfer other than Mr. Taylor seemingly refusing to allow Gural to play judge and jury. Fatal. Because Gural holds all the cards. It is his playground. He owns the keys. He determines who can and who won’t play in his lots. Conversely, Gural could have fixed this by saying those guilty by purchase (association) are sanctioned from racing at his venues for a defined period, except for stakes or Grand Circuit races. To punish Mr. Taylor and now it appears Ms. Taylor (and the fans) from the joys of seeing top flight horses compete in marquee events, long after the “purchase” event, is mind-boggling. Either way you cut it, like it or not, The Meadowlands exists today because Gural rolled the dice with his cash on the table. Play by Gural’s rules, regardless of how unfair, or take your stock to Northville, Freestate, or Aurora Downs.

Lastly, as far as defamation goes, guilt by association speaks volumes. Rather, retain a colleague from a white shoe Philadelphia law firm to negotiate an agreement. From this viewpoint there is no other way out.

Vince Lee / Ft. Lauderdale, FL

Applauding Gural

I applaud Mr. Gural for standing up for the industry when no one else would. We left the industry after 20 years because it was not a level playing field.

Ben Paniccia / Oakville, ON

Gural: Faraldo blocking NYRA Bets from taking night signals is a joke

As many of you are aware I have devoted substantial financial resources and personal energy in support of the sport about which I am passionate — harness racing. Beyond money, I have earnestly taken to task those who I believe have compromised the integrity and credibility of the sport we love — and I have been lambasted, sued and criticized by many who have turned a blind eye to the obvious problems facing our industry. To those folks I have a simple question, where would harness racing be if I didn’t step up? And I don’t ask this question to prompt anyone’s applause. It’s just fact.

For sure there would be no Meadowlands, there would be no Tioga, there would be no Vernon and there would be no national television exposure on NYRA Bets, without my investment and intervention in these premier venues.

To show you what a joke [harness racing] is, Joe Faraldo of USTA refuses to support change to the legislation that prevents NYRA Bets from taking any nighttime harness signals. Can anyone credibly argue that Joe advances the interests of harness racing when he refuses to support change in this New York law which currently prevents NYRA Bets from taking night signals? The joke is Joe actually thinks it would cost the SBOA money if allowed to take the signal. While I strongly disagree with him and his wrong opinion, even if he was right, isn’t it important to get our major races exposed to the public? Anyone who watched the show on the night of the Cutler had to be impressed by the quality of the program.

So why am I sharing my opinion with you now? Simple: I have come to know, after all my efforts to purge our industry of those who don’t share my commitment to honesty and integrity — and after all my financial and personal investment in keeping our industry alive — that it is pretty much a waste of time. So I want to give notice to the industry that I am done writing checks as the losses at The Meadowlands from racing continue to mount. Without help from the industry it is highly unlikely that we will be able to maintain the current stakes program next year. Fortunately, I only own trotters so it will be easy just to eliminate the stakes for the pacers, but I think that would hurt the owners and breeders of pacers, so I hope the industry is prepared to step up for a change and do their part.

On a final note, if it were my choice, I would not have cast my vote to elect Joe Faraldo as USTA Chairman. Does USTA really want its Chairman criticizing me as I am a lifelong friend to harness racing, a reality well established by my efforts to financially support, preserve and clean up our industry? If so, the USTA Directors apparently, and regrettably, have bought into Mr. Faraldo’s inaccurate characterizations of me as the bad guy.

Here’s my bottom line: I love harness racing. It has been a part of my life since I started going to Yonkers and Roosevelt as a kid. Never in a million years did I ever think I would own The Meadowlands. I am just tired of being criticized for trying my best to clean up the sport.

— Jeff Gural / owner The Meadowlands,Tioga Downs, Vernon Downs