This was a bad week for horse racing. A NY Times article by Joe Drape showed that PETA had uncovered abuse at Steve Asmussen's barn. This cost Asmussen's longtime assistant Scott Blasi his job and basically cost the former trainer of Horse of the Year Curlin and the amazing HOY Rachel Alexandra a chance to be in the Racing Hall of Fame.
Shortly afterwards, a hashtag on Twitter was created. It was named full story Peta and photos of TB's who where posted. Myself and several other people though where not impressed. These photos aren't going to change opinion on what the general public thinks about horse racing. In fact I honestly think that this hashtag will make things worse then better in the long run.
So what needs to be done?
* National organization: yes there is the NTRA, but the local racing juristrictions rule the land. Every state that runs racing should have the same rules. In a same effect there should be a commissioner who runs this national organization.
* Better testing. In Europe, there is out of competition testing just like the Olympics. Encke, who had denied Camelot the British Triple Crown was caught in a positive test in 2013.
* We always say hay, oats and water
I know many people have said this before me, and they will certinally say it after myself. However, putting this as a blogpost may remind people that there is more to be done then #fullstorypeta.
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