Welcome to thread that's all about racing in the US and all the baggage that comes with it. Yes, yes there is a lot of cheating. Now that that formality is out of the way let's begin shall we?

A whole mess of charges filed a few days ago against characters involved with Penn National Racecourse.
http://www.paulickreport.com/news/ray-s ... -national/

These indictments were predicted a while ago by a former leading owner in the US who claims he was drummed out of Penn National by the locals because he was taking their purse money. A very interesting letter he wrote to this website detailing what happened can be read here...
http://www.paulickreport.com/news/the-b ... the-truth/

Quite a story.

More heart warming stories from the land of honesty and integrity in horse racing.

http://www.paulickreport.com/news/ray-s-paddock/ny-times-peta-undercover-investigation-leads-to-cruelty-complaint-against-asmussen-blasi/

PETA goes undercover for months in the stable of mega trainer Steve Asmussen. They allege improprieties that sleuthing handicappers such as myself figured were occurring but had no proof. Asmussen obviously squeezes his horses early and often in a far flung operation across the US. I am not a fan of his. Even less after this story.

Some quotes from the story...







If that last quote is true that also just might explain how Mine That Bird won the Derby the year before. I've long suspected there was shenanigans involved with Mine That Bird.
.
.
.
.
Steve Asmussen was on the 2014 Hall Of Fame ballot. They have now removed his name.

I been wondering why Ricardo Santana Jr has been riding his horses because he's a journey man jock to me.

I've seen a ten minute video and that Blasi is a vile little rat. In the video someone claimed one of their horses Valediction and they were happy with it being claimed, he's not run in seven months.

I see Gary Stevens+ D Lucas got a lot to answer, they were talking about doing it at Ruidoso Downs, that was when they first started in the early 80's.

Here's a great read on one of the most respected trainers America has ever produced. Richard Small passed recently. I was quite familiar with him playing the races here in Maryland.

http://www.bloodhorse.com/horse-racing/features/memories-of-a-master-614

Who won that boring drug race last night

Had a Big Bet on CC last night he did it well hope he can win the triple crown now but
its going to be tough for him.

The first two are easy to win both very similar races it is by the Belmont where the extra distance and short recovery time begins to bite, hence so many horses getting two legs but not three. If the Belmont was the second leg I imagine less would win the first two legs but more would win the triple crown.

all rubbish anyway what really counts is golden slipper 2yo triple crown

Are PJ and I the only ones here with an appreciation for all the various racing events and accompanying story lines across this little planet we call home?

Case you haven't heard Wise Dan came down with a case of Colic and had to have emergency surgery. Appears he will recover.

http://www.paulickreport.com/?s=wise+dan&submit=Go

Bit late but one of if not my favorite horses of all time passed recently after a long life. Safely Kept. She was such a beast on the track and gave us Marylanders a lot of pride when she got that Breeders Cup win against Dayjur after finishing second the year before.

As I said in another post I was holding a nice win ticket on her when Dayjur started to edge away. The outcome seemed determined and I sulked with my losing ticket about to be tossed when...*jump*..........*jump* - Safely Kept was still trying and got up for the win. What an extrardinary race and turn of events. RIP dear girl.

Her record - 31 Starts: 24 - 2 - 3, $2,194,206
---------------------------------------------

The Breeders Cup win against the mighty Dayjur - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0xgZV9ADl9s

Her Maryland Racing Hall Of Fame page here - http://mdthoroughbredhalloffame.com/cms/index.php/the-horses/class-of-2013/safely-kept

California Chrome had his only workout for the Belmont Stakes at Belmont Park the other day. A very impressive workout to say the least.

http://youtu.be/JU9T7-PwGH0?t=1m33s

When they say he gallops two miles every day is this unusual in America? And do they mean gallop as in flat out?

Nah. Just a leisurely stroll. Trainer Art Sherman is a bit of a throwback to old time trainers. I believe I read earlier that California Chrome needs the "action" of the daily gallops to keep him happy.

Getting back to the very first post I made here. I hadn't been keeping up with the story much and was surprised to see that the main character in the story - Michael Gill - has been on a crusade to expose the corruption at Penn National and in the process he has uncovered a whole rats nest of shenanigans - according to him.

Michael has made a website with numerous videos detailing what he has uncovered. He is somewhat hard to follow and comes accross as a bit insane but I am finding his video chronicles most riveting. He is quite wealthy and has a lot to lose if all these accusations are false so that gives it some more credence.

Watch this video which describes most of what he has found out. It's quite interesting - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RQFHrYgA_xg

His website is here and he promises more videos - http://www.stateofcorruption.org/