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Of course Zarooni deserved his punishment.
That Zarooni did not act without the knowledge of his all powerful boss may be difficult to believe. But – to be fair – being difficult to believe and proving something are two different things.
However, point is the punishments for those actually found guilty must be a deterrent for others. In Ireland I see little in the way of deterrents and wherever there is a lack of deterrent it encourages wrongdoing.
Value Is Everything8 years may not be as much as I’d have given Zarooni, Sam. But can you not see that it’s far more of a deterrent than you get in Ireland?
Especially with the fit and proper person (or whatever they call it) rule… meaning that in reality it’s probably far longer than 8 years if not forever.
Although it was not about doping, you may care to also look at Graham Bradley’s case. Warned off for 8 years in 2002 and is still being refused a trainers licence. If that was in Ireland what do you think the “sentence” would’ve been? Say three hail Mary’s and we’ll let you off?
Value Is Everythinghttps://www.irishracing.com/blog-item?headline=Bolger-back-on-the-drugs-bandwagon&prid=218919
Vincent Flanagan plays devil’s advocate with Jim Bolger…..
Still its an interesting standpoint looking from another angle…Reminiscent of how Lance Armstrong used the fawning media to attack any one who questioned him. Let’s see what approach the racing Post take.
That article sums up the complacency in Ireland
Bolger is certainly not everyone’s cup of tea and is I suspect very much a loner in the Irish racing scene bu5 he’s extremely smart and capable and I would be astonished if this was just being bandied around out of rivalry or envy. Surely the journalist gets that?
Also he’s specific about Irish racing. Immediately we get the nationalist wotaboutnewmarket paranoia on the thread but Bolger has never exactly been known to be an Anglophile and wouldn’t have hesitated at pointing the finger here if he could have done
Frankly I just don’t believe he pisses about (admittedly I’m a huge admirer)
I agree Clive. I am sure he would have been equally damning about British racing if he was certain of his facts but, being based in Ireland, he isn’t really “in the loop” to the extent he is in Ireland. That doesn’t mean the situation isn’t much the same here though, particularly the “club” mentality – if you’re in it, you get away with a slap on the wrist (if that), if not, the book is thrown.
Agreed Tonge but it stretches to forums and the follow8ng too. People like to believe what they want to believe and who they believe it of.
An article by Johnny Ward (two years ago) states about nitrotain: ‘According to The Guardian, it is easily administered as an oral paste and excreted in no more than a few days, making it virtually impossible to detect in post-race tests’. Hence all this talk that they would have been caught by now is nonsense. That’s Bolger’s whole point – hair testing, and it has to be done properly. I listened to another clown earlier asking why the fuss about drugs when everything about racing is suspect anyway. Bolger is a hero in my book, and thank goodness we have him.
Nick Luck did a good piece on his daily podcast around the issues raised in the article today with Lydia Hislop, includes an interview with Bolger
IHRB questioned today, and likely to be invited back next month for more… when you say it like that, it sounds promising – so why do I feel a sense of doom when I read the twitter message?
https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/politics/oireachtas-committee-to-quiz-horse-racing-body-over-doping-claims-40552662.htmlOireachtas Agriculture Committee agrees to invite senior officials from IHRB, HRI & Department of Agriculture for a hearing into allegations of doping in Irish horse racing
Trainer Jim Bolger also invited
Committee Chair @jackiecahillff says likely date for hearing is July 6th
— Barry Lenihan (@BarryLenihan) June 21, 2021
It would totally naive to believe doping doesn’t go on. People in all sports will cheat if they can see rewards for it. Surely the Zarooni case should ensure bolgers statements aren’t just filed and then we wait for the next Zarooni type incident which’s not to far away if Bolger is to believed.
To paraphrase Paul Kimmage, ” we’ve seen all this before” – in response to Dave Jenning’s comments in the Racing Post.
Indeed. Just to clarify what I said above – IHRB were ‘discussed’ yesterday, not ‘questioned’ – the latter will happen in July. My mistake. The concern has to be that once it becomes a political matter about the industry, rather than a sporting issue about cheats, it will be made to quietly disappear.
It’ll be interesting to see what Bolger decides to do TTC- if he puts up and doesn’t back it up, he’ll have law suits up to his ears. Though being Bolger he’ll know that.
It’s weird to say, but if there’s a trainer that would look to be benefiting from drugs it would be Bolger lol, he’s a self made operation and his horses are running about over 6fs then upped to 1m4 then down to 7f. Not saying he is by the way lol.
Ps, on a side note Ginge, you include Elliot’s 6month ban for sitting on a dead horse. I think that’s a pretty poor one to use against IRE, given Mick Quinn only got 3 years for actually treating horses badly. Same with Mahon 4 years, they deserve far more for what they did. Elliot’s was a minuscule thing compared.
Twitter: Jackh1092
Hindsight is 20/20 so make the most of it!Al Zarooni will be back in business pretty soon according to that RP “Members’ only” article. Have no idea where and whose horses he’ll train, but I guess he wouldn’t want to meet one of the “Lads” some day….
Charles Byrnes’ son granted a license now, and had runners already. His father is not prohibited from assisting him (or any other trainer), and can represent him at the track. They may apply for a joint license when the father’s ban ends, apparently.
I don’t think Elliott’s case was “minuscule” in comparison, Jack; but agree it doesn’t appear as bad as the two you mention. Does seem lenient on Quinn; but apparently he was on holiday when the neglect happened. So may be that was the reason for such a short suspension.
Also, apparently Quinn was told an application for his wife to train the horses would not be granted.Mahon is simply another case where the Irish authorities were very lenient. Second time Mahon was found guilty of neglect. How many times is an Irish trainer allowed to neglect horses before banned for life?
With the Elliott case it’s not only the duration of “suspension” that makes his penalty lenient. It’s what he’s allowed to do during suspension. Arguably there is no suspension.
Value Is Everything
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