George Brennan banished from the Meadowlands

Quote:

... As related by Brennan, he received a phone call last week from The Meadowland's Director of Racing and Racing Secretary Peter Koch. In this call, Koch informed Brennan that, "Jeff Gural doesn't want you to race at The Meadowlands." When Brennan inquired as to why, Koch replied, "Because of your quotes last week in The New York Times." Stunned, Brennan further inquired, "What did I say?" to which Koch avoidingly replied "I'm just the messenger."

http://www.harnesslink.com/www/Article.cgi?ID=98087

And some people thought this forum was tough!

Haha very good point ;)

Good Lord...

Does it ever stop?

First let's take care of a some quick points.

#1 - Gural can ban Brennan. The same right to exclude Pena applies to Brennan. It is private property and racing is full of drivers who have been sent packing for whatever transgression they felt like.

#2 - First ammendment in the US Constitution only applies to the government doing something to restrict free speech. When you are a private entity, you can quash free speech if you want; something we don't like, but doable.

#3 - Something people don't like to think about is while you have the right to say what you want, it also comes with suffering the consequences for your comments. Free speech is not like a 'get out of jail free card'.

#4 - If this was Dave Miller saying this, he would not be banned. Brennan was already on the outs for basically abandoning the Meadowlands (he had only 22 drives there this year, most likely when the Meadowlands was open and Yonkers was closed). Other than possibly costing Brennan some stakes drivers, this is mostly symbolic.

That being said, Gural expects Brennan to race this weekend up at Tioga and Vernon Downs which he is allowing due to previous commitments to owners. My guess is they will get together and talk. Brennan will explain what he meant (not what came out) and the banishment will be lifted.

The problem with banning a driver for his views is multi-faceted.

First, while the first amendment may not apply to a private actor, the fact remains that Brennan was banished simply because he chose to exercise his free speech rights. Thus, with no racing integrity violations, Brennan was banned solely for expressing an opinion. Now, let's forget about the substance of his statement for just a moment. What Gural is trying to do is to tell horsemen that they better keep their mouths shut. Funny, but wasn't it Mr. Gural who sent a letter to the horsemen just about 2 weeks ago soliciting their opinions? Does Gural really want truthful opinions, or simply accolades? Gural says everybody loves The Meadowlands but nobody wants to race there. Maybe the solution to filling the entry box starts with him looking in a mirror.

What's next? What if a journalist dares disagree with Gural on a subject? Is that journalist to be denied entry to the press box? If Sam McKee says something not in line with "the Boss", his exclusion (termination) is fully understandable... he's an employee, But to toss independent journalists, owners, trainers and drivers based solely upon their opinions is wrong. They don't work for The Meadowlands, and don't have to adhere to the "company line".

As to the substance of Brennan's statements, some commentators are taking the words out of context. Read the statement in context. Yes, winning is everything, and the last NJ harness driver who said he really didn't like his horse in the next race was convicted of a serious crime, banished forever and begs for drives at Cal Expo. With Pena having no positives either when Gural banished him or when the New York Racing Board pulled an "Al Capone" on him, what was Brennan to say? "Hey, I told Lou to be careful and not win too much"? Yes, even folks who are ardent Pena haters recognize something is amiss with what New York did... so Brennan says Pena is being "thrown to the wolves." Sounds like fair comment. Of course, it's lock-step loyalty, not fair comments, that are the law at The Gural-Lands.

The New York Times is on a mission to destroy New York horseracing. Anything Brennan said that could have been interpreted as a negative would be pounced upon. So, he did what he knew to do... he told the truth, ' I try to win; Pena tries to win; somebody just doesn't like that.'

Maybe it's time for Gural to pick up the phone, apologize to Brennan, and stop this ego-driven nonsense.

Duane Ranger

First the no progeny of sires younger than 4yrs in big races and now this? From Big M saviour, old mate Gural is fast becoming a joke.

SOA President Joseph Faraldo speaks out

A quote from the article:

"Track operators can pretend to want to cure the industry of its ills, but creating them in the name of self righteousness doesn't cure any problems and creates, perhaps intentionally, unnecessary negative publicity for our industry. Couple that with penalizing our stars who try to minimize the negative press occasioned by such absolute wrongheaded calls just makes one wonder what is going on here". Click below to read the full story...

http://www.harnesslink.com/www/Article.cgi?ID=98113

To be fair, Faraldo can be a bit of a Goose too. This is fast becoming a Goose V Goose contest. HONK! HONK! Nobody wins because both of them are given to talking absolute crap at times and on this occasion Brennan is the one who finds himself squarely in the middle of a pissing contest.
Allan made a very good point above. If Purple Jesus had said the same...no way he gets jammed for it by Gural. As for Brennan abandoning The Big M...can anyone blame him? A top class catch driver goes to wherever the best $ money is. Yonkers or bust! Three Cheers for The Minister Of Speed. As for the Gural/Faraldo Show...the Pilot has rated very badly & the Network is expected to axe it shortly. Get a grip fellas, Jesus wept.
The Industry's not your &%$#ing plaything. Get your heads out of your backsides and get on with it.

Duane, you certainly raise some valid issues. However, people are missing the 1,000lb guerrilla in the corner. While I do think Gural could have called Brennan beforehand and ask him what he meant, I don't think this was ego-driven. Hair-triggered, absolutely but not ego-driven.

The 1,000 lb guerilla is Pena violated New York's withdrawal rules according to the vet records. You can argue whether such a rule makes sense (not when you are the only state with the rule), you can argue whether or not Pena was targeted (he was), whether Pena should be banned (the courts will decide this ultimately). What you can't argue is whether or not he can be sanctioned for it, unless the records have been forged (I doubt it), it would appear that Pena has been treating horses in violation of NYSRWB rules. You can't get around that. Even if Pena gets out of this on a legal technicallity, he is forever tarnished with the infraction.

So read Brennan's quote two ways. Without the guerrilla, it would suggest they are picking on Pena for being too successful - No harm, no foul. Now read Brennan's quote with the guerrilla exposed (i.e., Pena apparently has been violating NYSRWB rules regarding medication) - How can you come to the defense of a cheat; say he's winning so it is okay?

I think we can see which way Gural is seeing this. Now you are trying to build up the Meadowlands as a place of integrity, which let's not kid ourselves, has had some issues with other trainers so he bars these people he feels are undesirable for various reasons such as a checkered past or bearding, etc and now he is supposed to allow someone in who says what Pena did is perfectly okay? That wipes out a lot of the work he has done in the name of integrity. That being said, I wish he had a call with Brennan beforehand, asked him what he meant and if appropriate, issued a press release explaining what Brennan was trying to convey.

The point is I understand why Gural made the decision he made, I can't fault him for it, but just the same the whole problem could have been avoided.

Yes, it seems like Gural is doing things by fiat. However, we have a totally dysfunctional organization for racing that it is broken. If we wait for the industry to react, we will still be waiting 100 yrs from now for any reforms to take place. I would suggest if the industry wasn't so dysfunctional, Gural would not need to act by fiat.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Duane Ranger

The problem with banning a driver for his views is multi-faceted.

First, while the first amendment may not apply to a private actor, the fact remains that Brennan was banished simply because he chose to exercise his free speech rights. Thus, with no racing integrity violations, Brennan was banned solely for expressing an opinion. Now, let's forget about the substance of his statement for just a moment. What Gural is trying to do is to tell horsemen that they better keep their mouths shut. Funny, but wasn't it Mr. Gural who sent a letter to the horsemen just about 2 weeks ago soliciting their opinions? Does Gural really want truthful opinions, or simply accolades? Gural says everybody loves The Meadowlands but nobody wants to race there. Maybe the solution to filling the entry box starts with him looking in a mirror.

What's next? What if a journalist dares disagree with Gural on a subject? Is that journalist to be denied entry to the press box? If Sam McKee says something not in line with "the Boss", his exclusion (termination) is fully understandable... he's an employee, But to toss independent journalists, owners, trainers and drivers based solely upon their opinions is wrong. They don't work for The Meadowlands, and don't have to adhere to the "company line".

As to the substance of Brennan's statements, some commentators are taking the words out of context. Read the statement in context. Yes, winning is everything, and the last NJ harness driver who said he really didn't like his horse in the next race was convicted of a serious crime, banished forever and begs for drives at Cal Expo. With Pena having no positives either when Gural banished him or when the New York Racing Board pulled an "Al Capone" on him, what was Brennan to say? "Hey, I told Lou to be careful and not win too much"? Yes, even folks who are ardent Pena haters recognize something is amiss with what New York did... so Brennan says Pena is being "thrown to the wolves." Sounds like fair comment. Of course, it's lock-step loyalty, not fair comments, that are the law at The Gural-Lands.

The New York Times is on a mission to destroy New York horseracing. Anything Brennan said that could have been interpreted as a negative would be pounced upon. So, he did what he knew to do... he told the truth, ' I try to win; Pena tries to win; somebody just doesn't like that.'

Maybe it's time for Gural to pick up the phone, apologize to Brennan, and stop this ego-driven nonsense.

Duane Ranger

Ah, for once I thought we were going to have a good comment from Joe Faraldo. Then he got into his typical tweak attempt at Gural. It must be nice to sit in the ivory towers where everything is going beautiful. Let's see what his tune would be if he was the head of the horsemen in Illinois or Kentucky. Faraldo and Gural are like the GOP and the Democrats; one says it is cloudy and the other one says it sunny; yet they are looking at the same sky.

He had the makings of a great, insightful letter but then went off on his usual attack mode on Gural. If he left that part out and talked about what a blooming mess the whole medication situation is and how this is a case of selective prosecution it would have been great. If he proposed a solution to the different medication rule issue, it would have been inspiring. However, this is the man who is fighting the possibility of a compact which would allow everyone to have the same rules because things are going well in New York right now.

The fact is the trainer is supposed to know the rules of each state they are racing in; the trainer has the ultimate responsibility for his horses. Is it fair this is the way it is? Legally, it doesn't matter. It is what it is until it is changed. If we accept the fact the vet is only following the rules of the state the vet is in, does it mean it's excusable? So by that logic, it would be perfectly fine to have a horse trained in Massachussets where a horse can race with bute, yet race him in New York and when you get caught say, 'Hey, how was the MA vet supposed to know"? I realize it is a bit of an extreme example, but it proves my point. We have a mess, but training and medicating a horse in a state where the rules are more lax can never be an excuse.

I would hope Mr. Faraldo would take his own beliefs with regards to a need for uniform rules and support the idea of a racing compact to establish such a reality. Somehow, I doubt it will happen.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Duane Ranger

SOA President Joseph Faraldo speaks out

A quote from the article:

"Track operators can pretend to want to cure the industry of its ills, but creating them in the name of self righteousness doesn't cure any problems and creates, perhaps intentionally, unnecessary negative publicity for our industry. Couple that with penalizing our stars who try to minimize the negative press occasioned by such absolute wrongheaded calls just makes one wonder what is going on here". Click below to read the full story...

http://www.harnesslink.com/www/Article.cgi?ID=98113

Lou Pena fever ruining 'The Belmont Stakes'

http://www.harnesslink.com/www/Article.cgi?ID=98143

If all horse's race out of the detention barn, that would be fair from where I stand.

Is a good read, Thank's Duane

Top drivers talk about Jeff Gural and George Brennan

http://www.harnesslink.com/www/Article.cgi?ID=98173