RE post #394 Hands up the silent majority Kyle? But mindful that whips and cobalt are two different things. We do have whip rules too, as you know, and participants try to adhere. I'd say stats would be 99% adherence. Plus, and this is without the spin we're seeing from the O'Brien & Co corner, whips are still needed for safety reasons. An unruly horse needing a bit of direction.
RE post #393 Well said Mister JayKO. Your sentiments should be the knock out punch to those in the Blue Corner.
One major aspect of cobalt supplementation that is, perhaps intentionally, being avoided by the Blue Corner is what Wade Birch Racing Qld Chief of Integrity reiterated this morning on racing radio RSN. That being out of competition/non race day testing. And the Vic rules are 200mcg race and non race day. Considering Danny making public his treatment regime and that international studies/research/ qualified opinions indicate long term cobalt jugging gives the EPO effect, one might question Danny & Co's protests of innocence big time. And there lays another facet. 200mcg race day won't catch the more knowledgeable Blue Corner participants from gaining an illegal advantage.
Just have to bring up hobby trainers, and yes echo Mister JayKO's emotive sentiments, and it's not always a case of " how can...". 'Jugging' has been around for decades. Justified in many genuine therapeutic instances. It may well just be a hobby trainer chooses not to go down the "progressive" course of concoctions. No doubt there are participants whose incomes aren't primarily derived from horse racing that have excellent vets, knowledgeable in many aspects of equine performance. The costs involved in getting the vet out not always a factor. Besides, it's not inhumane or illegal for a person to have gained skills under a vet's supervision or maybe they are a vet nurse or know such a person. They just want the sport to be a sport, a competition involving man and beast. May the best horse win, not the "best" vet. I can hear the Blue Corner, "a dinosaur, Buckley's hope of winning mate". But as Stu has alluded to, who didn't stand back, shook their head in disbelief with the unravelling of the Essendon supplement program.
Andrew Rule, love him or hate him. My thoughts, we've lived in the era of litigation for a decade or so. I'd think his editor would have the nod on what's published and would imagine the legal dept speed dial button is hit before the stories come out.
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