Big headline in America this morning. Yonkers have banned Lou Pena trained horses from competing there. This is an astonishing situation but given US Tracks are privately run entitites, then I guess owners can allow whom they want to race there.
Does seem to go against every civil liberty in the book but is a very interesting case.
Can the same happen here?
Menangle - is owned by the NSWHRC. I guess it means it is 'owned' by the members in trust or something like that.
There is someone whom will put up Lou Pena like figures in the next 12-18 months in Sydney: Luke McCarthy. He will win the metro premiership by the long straight next season and still could win this years one and has only been racing for a short time this season.
Harness racing being harness racing what if inherent jealousies abound and there is a move to get Luke removed? (Might sound ridiculous, but some of the lowlifes that abound in NSW harness racing would have your mind spinning). I simply don't think they could legally do it, but without legal expertise I simply don't know. Maybe they could?
Given that it seems some serial complainers in the NSW industry seem to have a disproportional ear of some very powerful people linked to the NSWHRC maybe it is not beyond reality.
Harness Racing loves to shoot down tall poppies, both here and abroad. Lou Pena galvanises many people. Read the article, very interesting.
http://www.harnesslink.com/www/Article.cgi?ID=91267
Originally Posted by The Big Mile
Im sorry but you cant compare Luke to Lou Pena.
Firstly, Lou has had multiple racing related infringements over his career.
Secondly, Lou had trained for a long time without being successful, then overnight he becomes this wonder trainer
Very interesting reaction by Yonkers. Guilty until proven innocent it would seem...
Last edited by mightymo; 08-01-2011 at 01:20 PM.
Good for Tim Rooney. He can do whatever he likes because it his racetrack. If he doesn't think Pena is good for racing, if he doesn't want the bloke doing business on his premises then he can just call up Steve Starr and tell him to stop taking old mate Lou's entries and show him the door, no discussions entered into. It can't be done here, the Laws governing such things are totally different.
If you are comparing the results of Luke McCarthy to Lou Pena, with all due respect you have no idea.My comments are not in regards to anything sinister as hinted in the article you posted. The difference between Luke and Lou is that Luke has good owners and great horses and he has had a lot of success for a very long time. The sort of success that Luke is experiencing in Sydney is very similar to his father's in Brisbane. There are top trainers in every state, in every code.
The reason why there is an uproar with Lou is that he is taking claiming horses and racing them 2-3 sometimes more levels higher than he claimed them and they are winning convincingly. In the past two weeks, for example, Lou claimed a mare for $12,500. Her first start for Lou she won a Winners Over $18,000. Her second start was last Saturday and she ran third in a open. Turning a 12.5k claimer into an open performer in 2 weeks is what has put people's nose out of joint there. Real Joke was claimed for 40k and 2 weeks later he won a Meadowlands Invite. That is an improvement of several classes in 2 short weeks. People can draw whatever conclusions they want from these improvements, but regular improvements like this have caused a lot of angst over there.
I will not enter into substance abuse discussions, but I will say this. Luke has good horses, good owners and is from a family that has enjoyed success for many years. New South Wales is just going to have to deal with the fact that racing is going to get harder now with the prizemoney available. Better trainers and better horses are going to arrive.
People are angry with Lou Pena in America because for the past couple of years he has been able to claim horses and jump several classes in a space of a week, horses that have been in the claimers and running around a certain price for a season or two with many other trainers. While he did have a lot of success in California, it is nothing in comparison with the success he is achieving now.
Lou and Luke are chalk and cheese.
Mightymo, VVV and Flashing took the words right out of my mouth!
I think Mightymo might have to have a swig of his own medicine that he prescribed to others yesterday and find a nice chair in the classroom as its back to school
OK - please read what I wrote as you all seem to have misinterpreted it. So will go through and explain exactly what I wrote, and the reasons behind it.
I am steadfastly sticking up for Luke here and any suggestion or implication that I am not is way, way off the mark.
If this season is anything to go by, Luke is going to dominate Sydney metro racing next season and beyond. I am sure more than one forum member can verify that I believe Luke will dominate for 10 years and will go down as the greatest of all time. Such is my opinion of him as a trainer, driver and person.
Lou Pena like figures: Lou Pena is dominating at Yonkers. My parallel is that I think Luke will put up Lou Pena like figures of dominance here in Sydney next season. Hence why I went on to write 'He will win the metro premiership by the long straight.'
How that soared over your head Mightymo has left me flabbergasted
I thought this was pretty straight forward. So will elaborate further in the context of Lou Pena. Luke McCarthy and one or two other trainers around Menangle have been targeted for their success this season. In some cases it is essentially a kind of harness racing witch hunt, initiated by some of the lowlifes I mention above that a racked by rampant jealousy of how this young bloke comes down here, and dominates. It doesn't sit at all well with several people whom given their insignificant standing in the industry, they are certianly given more court than they should be.
Whether we like it or not, whether we know about it or not, whether we care about it or not, in terms of Lou Pena, look at that first line in the article that I linked on the bottom of the original message:
The first line of that article sais:
Have officialdom at New York's Yonkers Raceway let an accumulated weight of rumor and innuendo sway its decision-making at the expense of an individual's civil and constitutional rights?
The witch hunt in NSW has been perpetrated by these lowlifes on nothing more than what is underlined above: rumour and innuendo. This rumour and innuendo is aimed at attempting to explain SUCCESS. Luke has been frightfully successful as has David Thorn this season but it seems some within the industry want to equate that to something more than good horsmanship and so forth.
Yet another parallel. People may not know but the Stewards have thrown everything here at Luke and David and so goes onto the next paragraph:
Given that it seems some serial complainers in the NSW industry seem to have a disproportional ear of some very powerful people linked to the NSWHRC maybe it is not beyond reality.
Now that maybe I have established a few parallels here between Lukes situation and Lou Penas on some grounds (not all of course) whom is to say given the above paragraph that something similar in NSW might not happen?
Given that I believe Luke will dominate next year, the cries from the detractors will only get louder.
Harness Racing loves to shoot down tall poppies, both here and abroad. Lou Pena galvanises many people. Read the article, very interesting.
It is yet another example of how harness racing is racked with jealousy of success and people have to point fingers and so forth to attempt to try and get some justification for their anger. Harness Racing hasn't helped itself with plenty of positives and so forth but it seems inherent that when people seem to go good, they get tarnished.
Never in my original post did I try to draw parallels of Lou Penas history in the west with Lukes, but just drawing parallels between what has happened to him (Pena) recently in the east against what has been existent in NSW harness racing for the best part of 6 months now.
http://www.harnesslink.com/www/Article.cgi?ID=91267[/QUOTE]
And that is it! hope I cleared it up.
Thank you for clearing that up, I understand where you are coming from and apologise
Well why didnt you just say that in the first place??
Hello Hello,
Whilst I strongly believe in stamping out the drug cheats, I would at least like them to be proven guilty first. I think this decision with Lou Pena is wrong ! and will be contested and won.
If he is using some "wonderdrug" find out what the heck it is first. If connections of beaten runners believe that they have lost a huge amount of prizemoney to his "Assisted horses" put up some of their own money and do some private testing. At least if they find something in his horses,it can be tested for and the horses disqualified and the money given to the promoted horses.
If he has a wonderdrug that cannot be detected imagine the money he could make selling it to certain connections of horses in feature races.
All they would need to do is buy a well performed 2 year old colt at the end of the season. Spell him and " FIX " him up with the "Wonderdrug". Back him to win the feature 3 year old races, back him on the totes, collect the prizemoney and syndicate him for a pretty penny. Stuff the training! he could make more money doing this every year !
Last edited by Love Of Courage; 08-01-2011 at 10:35 PM.
Hmm is this the real Lance Justice or some goose?
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