The drugs don't work

At the start of the summer, I didn't think that cobalt would be the drug we would be talking about in the middle of August.  At the start of the summer it was all drugs taken by humans, which was a great red herring to run off with.  Meetings at Goodwood and Ascot had been marred by thuggery in the crowd, and we kept being told that drug-taking was the cause.  This didn't make sense, did it?  (And, by the way, we should give credit where it's due: as far as I know, there were very few, if any, reports of similarly low acts at either Royal Ascot or Glorious Goodwood).

I didn't go to Goodwood, but I did go to Ascot on the Saturday, the first time that I had been to the meeting since the day that Black Caviar won.  This enabled me to see the 'beefed-up security measures' for myself.  We (ie the racegoers, or 'guests' as we would apparently be erroneously described by Goodwood) were slightly frisked as we passed through the gate.  To describe this frisking as 'perfunctory' would be to overstate its thoroughness, and all it really did was remind one how easy it would be to bring in a sizeable illicit object if one was so minded.

But, anyway, no brawls at Royal Ascot or Glorious Goodwood, which was good.  But surely the fights were alcohol- rather than drug-fuelled?  Alcohol famously often makes people pugnacious (albeit not this one - I'm a sleeper, not a fighter).  Fighting at closing time is as old as the hills.  But drugs?  This isn't my area of expertise, but I've never heard of people trying to kill each other at, say, Glastonbury.  I would imagine that pretty much everyone who goes to these 'Festivals' gets stoned.  That's fair enough.  Why go, otherwise?  And, more to the point, how could you sit through all that terrible music if you weren't stoned?

Alcohol is very good at helping me to 'put a positive spin' on things (while it lasts, anyway) but I think that I'd need something considerably stronger to get me through the night if the night consisted of a sonic barrage consisting of, say, Ed Sheeran followed by Mumford & Sons followed by Florence and the Machine followed by Coldplay.  Granted, I might be tempted to kill myself, but not anyone else.  So this thing of blaming drugs for the violence among the drunks at the races was just a red herring, wasn't it?  No need to look any farther than the obvious answer: it's the drink what does it. But, then again, it's easy to understand why the racecourses would deflect the blame away from the drink and towards the drugs instead, bearing in mind that they get a cut off the profits made from the selling of the drink but (presumably) get nothing from the lucrative drugs trade.

Anyway, we've moved on from drugs self-administered by humans and on to drugs received unwillingly by horses.  Cobalt.  Injections on race-day.  Where to start?  Well, best to start by finishing.  The case involving Rebecca and Robin Bastiman has been well covered so there is nothing really to add.  But I will add one thing: how disappointed I was to read Robin's statement that he believes that "there isn't a trainer in the country who hasn't given a horse a B12 injection".  This one hasn't, and I never saw any of the trainers for whom I worked (Andy Turnell, Ian Matthews, Luca Cumani) do so either. 

Until this happened, I've always banged the drum that things like trainers in Britain injecting their horses (at any time, and particularly on raceday) with things which they believe will make them run faster was just a myth.  I'm very disappointed that Robin's actions have made a liar of me, and doubly disappointed in his blackening my name by claiming that I do it as well.  (I know that he didn't name me specifically, but I am presumably included in the blanket criticism of the country's trainers).  On a happier note (I hope!), we have Parek (Sussex Girl) (whose ears are visible in the first photograph) running at Newmarket tomorrow night.  She'll be drug-free, as always.  And trying, as always.