The start of 2021 hasn't been particularly positive for the sport of horse racing, acknowledges Joe Clancy, editor of the Mid-Atlantic Thoroughbred. A quartet of incidents stand out: the Gordon Elliott photo, the suspension of jockey Alexander Crispin over weight disparities, a trainer with 45 listed medication violations on the ballot for the Hall of Fame, and a horse with two failed drug tests earning an Eclipse Award.
Racing is “at some kind of crossroads, again or still depending on how you look at it,” Clancy wrote in a recent editorial.
“At its core, racing exists because of a public trust,” he continued. “Those outside the industry need to trust that the people inside the industry are doing the right things. The questions are pretty simple.”
Those questions the public should be able to ask of racing include: Are the horses well cared for? Is the wagering above board? Are rule-breakers penalized?
Looking at the 2021 actions of just the above four members of the racing industry, those questions become harder to answer. At the end of the day, Clancy wrote, the most important question is whether racing's public trust will survive the actions of the rule-breakers and bad actors.
“That's the most important question, and I can't answer it,” he concluded.
Read more at the Mid-Atlantic Thoroughbred.
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