The other wall of silence

by John Berry

Surely, you have heard of the “blue wall of silence.”

It’s an unofficial code among law enforcement officers to not report misconduct among their peers regarding crimes and cover-ups.

Of course, that creates an invisible fence against those who profess innocence but only have the word of law enforcement — mind you, under oath — against them when standing in front of the court.

These cover-ups hinder investigations and perpetuates the damage it can cause to innocent individuals, and, in our case, spread to an entire industry now given the moniker of having a “backstretch wall of silence.”

Yes, the entire equine industry quite possibly — and quite probably — suffers from a backstretch wall of silence, with the recent revelations that have exploded in the media in recent weeks.

First, of course, the hugely vast majority of those wearing the “blue” protecting the public are honest to the nth degree and serve their communities extremely well.

But even one in a thousand bad apples can have disastrous consequences regarding public trust.

There are close to 18,000 police agencies in the United States and they employ some 600,000 officers; even one per cent equals 6,000 individuals protected by the blue wall.

When caught, they make most of the headlines and can do much damage to the entire law enforcement population.

But there is a huge difference between walls of silence said one Hall of Fame veteran.

“In the case of the blue wall, those one per cent still receive their weekly or bi-weekly paychecks,” he said.

Compare that to the “Silent Majority” — (p, 2, 2:00:2; 3, 1:56.3 ($362,369) in the early 1970s when that was really something — to the “silent majority” that are on the backstretch these days afraid to utter a single word, fearing consequences.

The damage done on the backstretch to those (hopefully) 95 per cent who, honestly, play by the rules is that those who are trying to stay a stride ahead of the law are taking huge amounts of purse money away from the ones trying to compete with honesty and integrity, whether that number is, naively, 95 per cent but might be much lower, as our Hall of Fame HRU guest today suggests.

“I don’t know the number,” he admitted.

Maybe it’s only 80 per cent or 70 per cent or 40 per cent, who knows these days?

“Whatever the number, the cheaters are taking purse money from the honest men and women working 12-15-hour days, and I don’t believe we’ve even scratched the surface yet,” he said. “There are not nearly enough dollars — and certainly not enough cents [or sense] to put any real dent in the problem right now.

“Maybe the only solution is to make everything legal with no oversight.”

This Mane Attraction is hoping that the this was a tongue-in-cheek statement but, the way things are progressing — or retrogressing — it’s very worrisome.

Our Hall of Fame gent went on to say, “yes, cheating takes away paychecks from those honest trainers who abide by the rules and their conscience — in taking the best care of their horses — whether they be 1:52 performers [not worth much more than a ‘hill of beans’ in today’s marketplace] or just plain ordinary $4,000 or $5,000 claimers.

“We are losing two of our most important commodities — owners and bettors — as the former group is getting disenchanted with losing money every year when the ‘nut’ is $30,000 or more.

“The latter group is getting really tired of shallow pools, late nights, short fields, and shorter odds.”

As one BDHC (Broken Down Horseplayer Club) faithful once said, “There are only a handful of tracks these days that offer any value — The Meadowlands and the place where Gabe [Prewitt] is at [Hoosier Park] and, on some nights, Ohio tracks, but value tracks are in the single digits these days.”

How serious is the illicit medication issue?

Possibly many times — a hundred times or a 1,000 times — worse than we realize.

A recent New York Focus story reported that “hundreds of horse trainers and owners implicated in the scandal have won at least $40,000,000 in racing prizes.”

The situation is a “cancer” in our industry continuing to spread in North America and how deep it cuts is anybody’s guess.

“It’s like a ‘Mohs surgery,’” said one. “Mohs surgery is a procedure for skin cancer and, after an initial cut, the tissue is examined to make sure all of the cancer is gone, and if some cancer cells survive, another cut is done until all of the cancer is obliterated.”

The pari-mutuel industry may need a whole slew of Mohs surgery cuts to level the playing field for those that continue in illegal ways.

But, as we’ve seen, money is king in any sport involving betting.

Just as a few in our industry have been caught and sentenced with fines and incarceration, the situation cannot be cured if those watching over our sport, or any sport, do not have the same objectives of cleansing.

And those watching include our state-appointed racing officials and our backstretch residents.

It’s not just our sport.

From NBA to FIFA to Major League Baseball, boxing and several other sports, those officiating must get involved in leveling the playing field, not become complicit.

It has been suggested that regulators have, largely, ignored the problem and, if the buck doesn’t stop with them, it doesn’t stop at all.

There’s no fine line between what’s right and what’s wrong.

There are those with power that have done nothing to address and solve the issues at hand and those with power that have flexed their muscles in unjust ways.

Proving that point, there have been instances where illegal meds have resulted in suspensions and fines and others where appeals have lasted for years as their purse dollars keep rolling in unencumbered.

On the other hand, is the case in Kentucky where a 2-year-old making his first start — at a fair track with no betting — was said to have a medication issue (which would be an extreme rarity) with those running the show issuing very severe penalties with many delays in serving those affected, including our most precious commodity, the owner. With respect to retesting and DNA testing to the tune of scratching in events worth several hundred thousand dollars, it’s not a good way to keep owners that have huge investments in property and horse flesh over many decades.

With every state having its own set of rules and laws, with every state having political appointees running the show, with the chaos and uncovering of illegal medication issues that have been going on for far too long, harness racing is at a crossroads right now.

Yes, it takes an indeterminate amount of funding but the fact remains that from the Vegas strip casinos in the 1940s to over 1,500 casinos today, the voters are the ones that have authorized and blessed the construction of their empires today with the assurance that racing would continue to survive and thrive.

In a growing number of instances, this is not the case.

The dollar figure from gaming was expected to be approximately $238,490,000,000 in 2025 — that is 238 billion — certainly just a bit of that would be enough to fund and dent the illicit medication issue and give players assurance that the pari-mutuel industry is played on a level track for all.

Casinos have found cracks to “wiggle and jiggle it”self out of some of their commitments and will continue to use dollars earmarked for political purposes to do the same.

Now, right now, we need a universal set or rules that cover all of North America with no wiggle room for illicit activity.

Yes, give the charged due process — without appeal or participation — with a quick turn-around time for repeat testing and DNA challenges.

It’s necessary to hire, hire, hire, and have coverage at every track in, at least, America, and, even better, North America as Canada plays a huge role in our sport these days from Woodbine Mohawk Park to Charlottetown. (Maybe Western Canada could come alive again.)

Let’s get a commissioner to oversee the whole shebang.

One last note: A few columns ago, we suggested doorbell cameras installed every sixteenth-of-a-mile around the track to insure credibility for any questions that arise during a race; the reason, solidifying the integrity of the judges in all cases and insuring the correct decisions made on behalf of the owners, trainers, drivers, and remaining fans.

Of course, that hasn’t gotten out of the batter’s box, either.

Noticing that our casinos have layer upon layer upon layer upon layer of 24 hour surveillance measures in protecting their integrity, our sport should employ the same tactics regarding medication with cameras installed at every stall in every barn area and the paddock, monitored 24 hours a day, just like casinos.

Let’s show that our sport cares about everything that has made it great for over 200 years.

Harness racing is holding a “Dreamsicle” on a stick.

Let’s not let our future melt away drip by drip as the heat of these recent reports burns on the eyes in newspapers, websites, and podcasts on our sport.

Harness racing is worth it.

It really is.

May The Horse Be With You!