Its the old, where there's smoke there's usually fire. With Ford, it's two-fold: one, he gave horses to other trainers to train. On the surface you might give him a pass but if you dig deeper the guys he elected to use turned out to be some of the guys implicated in the Seth Fishman fiasco. At minimum that's a bad look, especially if you're the president of the Horsemen's Association. Others might take a more viscerable view and come to the conclusion that there was willfull intent to use those guys to win substantial purse money while technically avoiding any responsibility. Add to that the reputation of his training facility being the haven for dubious trainers that continually strike at a unfathomable win rate throughout New York, especially Yonkers and you can see why many are not fond of him. As for Howard, I think there exists a new sentiment that it's time to deal with this guy. And outside of cutting off CAW, this is the single biggest reason why so many owners have given up. For decades they race against guys like Taylor who only supports high percentage trainers and will move a horse in an instant.
That all makes sense to me. Where there's smoke there's fire, very true many times. Perhaps even most of the time. But here's the way I see this when you break it down. I am not saying I would give Ford a pass or not. However, here is what I am saying. One, as far as who he selected to give horses to train, specifically Jeff Gillis, I am not condeming Ford for that unless we start condeming all of Gillis' other owners. I don't see any governing body or authority taking action against Ford because he chose Gillis. As far as Gills, the guy won what, 5 or 6 O'Brien awards? For several years he was a top trainer. Many people sent him horses. Now he gets nailed for the Fishman aspect, and I am all for banning him. Good riddance.
Two, are people saying Ford was in on it? He knew and was involved in the purchase of illegal drugs? He had knowledge, involvment, whatever else? Great, prove it. I am not talking about what some arm-chair desparado says or claims on some internet forum. Prove it. Let's see who takes action. Let's wait for all the excuses when nothing ever happens to Ford on this. Now, should he be held to a higher standard as the President of the SBOANJ. Legally, no. However, personally, I would want to see a higher standard. The optics are bad, without question, but I am not going to ban a guy or ruin his life for optics. If every owner wants to leave him because of this, so be it. Ford will bear the consequences of his decisions and actions.
Three, as far the trainers who stable at his training center, I agree. I have a problem with that. Especially since he is the President. If you let criminals stable at your training center, even if you knew nothing, it still is reflective of your professional decisions and how you run your business. I don't know how many trainers he has there total, and how many got indicted, charged, etc. But more than one is a problem in my mind, and a pattern is even worse. I know people have shared this with him. If a governing body or authority wants to do something about it, I am all for it. But if it doesn't happen, I am not going to lower myself and buy into mud-slinging and BS claims made by people who IMO have an obvious conflict and vendetta against someone-----whether it's about this, or other issues. I have people here on ignore, so I don't even read their BS, yet alone participate in it. Thanks. I appreciate your comments and perspective.
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