| 1 | Feb 21, 2012 5:39 PM | This is why horse racing as we once knew it is almost dead! |
| 2 | Feb 21, 2012 5:33 PM | those that played the race should band together to file a class action suit seeking to force Aguirre to pay the total amount wagered on the race plus punitive damages, all to be split among the plaintiffs, who should donate it to racehorse retirement or disabled jockeys funds. I don't play Cal racing, and I certainly won't start now. |
| 3 | Feb 21, 2012 5:22 PM | A $80.00 win bet would cover the fine. I'm sure they made alot more than that. It's a joke. Jeff Mullins was right, "people who bet on horses are suckers". Trainers who are cheating get away with a slap on the wrist, when caught. I've been playing for over 25 years, 3 or 4 times a week and I feel like a sucker when I read stories like this.
They re-distibute the purse money to owners and the horseplayer eats his tickets. Those tickets don't taste to good and are getting harder to chew. |
| 4 | Feb 21, 2012 5:21 PM | Its the CHRB, don't expect much, Santa Anita just called a dead heat that wasnt one and CHRB won't do anything about it. |
| 5 | Feb 21, 2012 5:18 PM | Actually, I believe the Racing Office including Martin Panza should take some responsibility here. How does the racing office allow trainers to change the paperwork of horses who are ineligible to run?? I believe the racing office admin and racing secretary should be held accountable and fined and suspended as well. |
| 6 | Feb 21, 2012 5:16 PM | "it never gets weird enough for me."-H.S.Thompson |
| 7 | Feb 21, 2012 5:14 PM | Turf Paradise has an odd mdn condition, it's a MDN OPTIONAL $30k, so some horses are in for the $30k and some are not, this horse won and was NOT in for a tag, well the racing office some how saw the condition as MOC30, (Maiden Opt. Claiming $30k) and misread the condition as a mdn $30k, thus he ran, Paul went into the racing office the NEXT day and wrote $30,000 somewhere as if the horse had been in for the tag. I know Paul well and have NO idea why he did it, it would have been easier to say that he misread it as well thus he and the racing office are BOTH liable, but he didn't. In my opinion, what he did was FRAUD period, no extenuating circumstances because it was AFTER the race to cover up a mistake. Did he enter knowing and hoping it didn't get caught, maybe, I don't know, but the wrist slap is another example of how the CHRB has no balls |
| 8 | Feb 21, 2012 4:34 PM | Where do you start? The CHRB is as enept as they have ever been. No common sense used with drug rulings or anything else. Everybody deserves a second, third chance. People make bad judgement errors but when they do, they still need to be fined and dealt with so that it won't happen again. An example also needs to be set for others to follow. |
| 9 | Feb 21, 2012 4:32 PM | This game I love, MUST get it's act together and clean up the slime within. There must be integrity and fair play ALWAYS. |
| 10 | Feb 21, 2012 4:25 PM | I'm sure his lawyers got involved and he got the penalty cut back just to get it done with and stop with the judges. Don't know if he should be criminally prosecuted, but he should be banished. |
| 11 | Feb 21, 2012 4:13 PM | Just another problem in a mountain of problems in this sport & I'm not sure racing will ever get to where it needs to go.
It's sad and pathetic... |
| 12 | Feb 21, 2012 4:04 PM | Why the track didnt know the horse was not eligible is beyond me. The horse's entire racing record is available. In fact, I am shocked they dont check that as a matter of course. |
| 13 | Feb 21, 2012 3:49 PM | This is worse then anything Rick Dutrow did. |
| 14 | Feb 21, 2012 3:37 PM | The CHRB cannot take anyone to task for rules & regulations because of their own skeletons in their closet. i.e. pick six carryovers, and more |
| 15 | Feb 21, 2012 2:56 PM | No is protecting the players. Somebody made a lot of money at 27:1 and it's much, much more that 2k.The trainer cleaned up, the owner cleaned up and maybe the CHRB. It sounds an awlful lot like insider trading! |
| 16 | Feb 21, 2012 2:54 PM | At the bare minimum, the fine should be commensurate with the size of the parimutuel pools that were defrauded. |
| 17 | Feb 21, 2012 2:39 PM | The owner and trainer should forfeit the purse money and any money they won betting on the horse, if that can be determined., |
| 18 | Feb 21, 2012 1:32 PM | I have always held, and promoted, the notion that the need for integrity when "investing" through parimutuel wagering is equal in importance to the need for integrity when investing on Wall Street. The past performances are equivalent to a prospectus. The "action" of the CHRB is another in the ongoing series of insults to bettors. That said, when government fails to jail participants in the sub-prime mortgage disaster, what are we horse players to expect from agencies that regulate parimutuel wagering?
Tom Amello, Trackfacts, member of National Turf Writers and Broadcasters |
| 19 | Feb 21, 2012 1:22 PM | This act by Mr.Paul Aguirre should be treated as a Felony. |
| 20 | Feb 21, 2012 1:17 PM | Does anybody know how if the trainer wagered on the race? |
| 21 | Feb 21, 2012 12:43 PM | CHRB has proven time and time again they don't care about the horse wagerer. |
| 22 | Feb 21, 2012 12:16 PM | plain and simple this is fraud |
| 23 | Feb 21, 2012 12:03 PM | As a bettor, I want the CHRB actively performing the "protecting the interests of the wagering public" part of its mission statement. I don't want them continually slapping those caught breaking the rules on the wrist! |
| 24 | Feb 21, 2012 11:34 AM | If the guy had done this on wall street he'd be fired (and maybe prosecuted for fraud.)
2 thou and 5 days? Are you f'ing kidding me? |
| 25 | Feb 21, 2012 9:01 AM | I think you should also ask questions about a) the race office at Hollywood and b) what the state racing board was up to when they are expected to police these races.
Altered papers? This is the Internet era. How can NO ONE, not one person in either the race office or stewards' office not catch onto the fact that this horse wasn't eligible? It should appear in the past performances via database that the horse didn't fit the conditions.
The stewards and race office are responsible for checking over race records to make sure that horses fit the conditions. After the entries are processed, the past performances are printed out and each horse needs to be spot-checked for trainer/jockey, medication, equipment, etc. The connections of the horse should be punished severely, but it should go beyond that. |
| 26 | Feb 20, 2012 9:16 PM | Thoroughbred racing has lost all of it's integrity, they slap trainers on the wrist for medication infractions, let a trainer who the suspended a lengthy period of time continue to train and win stake races. John Veitch get fired from his post but John Velasquez who was more to blame that anyone for the Life At Ten incident gets sanctioned, the list goes on and on. |
| 27 | Feb 20, 2012 7:54 PM | This is only one that got caught. How many others are pulling shenanigans and where is the deterrent? A week off and 2k seems very light. If this was wall street he would be facing criminal charges. |
| 28 | Feb 20, 2012 6:35 PM | I'm surprised to learn apparently all it took to "pull one over" on the racing secretary's office is an eraser and a pencil.
No reason a computer data base is not used to control conditions and eligibilies. |
| 29 | Feb 20, 2012 6:13 PM | No excuse for such actions. |
| 30 | Feb 20, 2012 6:07 PM | Just another nail in the already nail-filled coffin of racing. How anyone can possibly take this "sport" seriously is beyond me. |
| 31 | Feb 20, 2012 4:57 PM | Actions of the CHRB indicate they did not want to offend the guilty party.
This is why many think there is an integrity issue in the racing industry. |
| 32 | Feb 20, 2012 4:38 PM | A trainer who changes any paperwork to make a horse eligible for a race and the horse wins should be responsible for the amount of monies lost by those who wagered on the race not knowing that the horse was ineligible. |
| 33 | Feb 20, 2012 3:48 PM | I answered these questions to the best of my ability with the available responses, though my actual response may have been quite different without the constraint of a few options to specific questions.
I don't know Aguirre well, but I just can't imagine an even somewhat intelligent human believing that altering the papers would be enough to avoid disqualification. There are entry cards, programs, racing forms, etc. from the date in question at Turf Paradise, all of which would clearly contradict the papers, and I do not believe for a moment that the altered papers would ever have trumped the evidence to the contrary.
With that in mind, the decision of the CHRB to release only the information that they have released, leaving many of the details to speculation, only harms them. If the man's intent was NOT to avoid disqualification, but only to attempt to absolve the Hollywood office of wrongdoing, for instance, I can understand a lesser punishment than if his intent was in fact to avoid disqualification.
Perhaps I am giving Mr. Aguirre's intelligence too much credit and either or any way, the punishment is prepostorously light for the act that is described, in my opinion. With a bit more insight into Aguirre's intent, I would feel a bit more comfortable forming my own conclusion as to the actual degree to which he truly deserved to be punished. |
| 34 | Feb 20, 2012 3:19 PM | Are you kidding me... 2 grand and 5 days for what amounts to criminal fraud? |
| 35 | Feb 20, 2012 3:13 PM | The lack of integrity in this industry is the main reason that the fan base is disappearing across the nation. It's not drugs, high takeout, high breakage, racing 2YO, or a lack of full, competitive fields, although each one of these has cost this sport many fans. You can't beat the cheaters, and I quit trying. |
| 36 | Feb 20, 2012 3:09 PM | This guy STOLE the purse money from the other owners who had horses in that race.
He should be tried for that and a stiff prison term is in order.
Obviously, he should never be allowed to set foot on any race track. |
| 37 | Feb 20, 2012 11:15 AM | How is this not criminal fraud? |