I write in response to the letter of Vince Lee defending the Howard Taylor to Judith Taylor transfers. Mr.
Lee seems impressed that a sale from son to mother was paid by wire transfer. How naive. The
transaction can simply be reversed by sale from mother to son by wire transfer or any other way. Scary to even contemplate but is Howard really going to stiff his mother? I doubt Mrs. Taylor has ever bought
many (if any) horses in decades other than as arranged, in partnership with or as directed by her son. For harness racing purposes, she is the alter ego of Howard. That said, she likely has less personal
connection than Howard with the leagues of punished doper trainers employed by Howard. Would they
have bills for purchasing horse dope sent directly to her for payment?
To be blunt, anyone who partners with Howard Taylor on horses has a stain on their credibility as an
asset to the sport. It is similar to being a sponsor of a Chinese athlete disqualified in the Olympics for
being doped with dope purchased by Taylor.
Sadly, many harness racing owners and trainers are prepared to sully the business by doing just that.
Howard Taylor’s unwillingness to identify which of his trainers purchased drugs from Fishman tells you allyou need to know. He isn’t even willing to clear the names of those who possibly didn’t. Think about that; if you train for Taylor, he won’t even stand up for you not being a doping trainer.
If you partner with Howard Taylor, you are complicit in sullying the reputation and future of harness
racing.
On an unrelated matter….
I write with reference to Jeff Gural’s letter identifying another example of Joe Faraldo acting against the
interests of the standardbred industry. Joe is acting as an old school local union leader solely devoted to
the status quo of Yonkers as a C league track other than as a disbursing agent for slots revenue. When
was the last time the 3-year-old champions have even raced at Yonkers? When was the last time the 2-
year-old champions even raced at Yonkers? When was the last time a great stallion even raced at
Yonkers?
While NYRA leads Belmont through a huge transformation into a showcase for thoroughbred racing with
a fantastic facility, Joe leads to nowhere. There is no reason for Joe to stand in the way of broadcasting any harness race in New York. None.
Further, his positions at the USTA on important issues are generally completely contrary to the best
interests of harness racing. How can there be a President [chairperson] of the USTA whose main trainer
in the last decade, Richie Banca, is a convicted felon horse doper? Is that the image we want for the
business? In simple terms, Joe seems totally devoted to taking the industry backward. Can you name one accomplishment of the USTA under the current leadership that has had a material win for harness racing? I can’t.
Clay Horner / Toronto, ON