Looking back over the week’s newspapers, I came across a story about President Barack Obama’s recent trip to Moscow, where his criticism of Russian leadership was couched, as it had to be, in diplomatic generalities. In the story, he’s quoted to say, “The arc of history shows that governments which serve their own people survive and thrive; governments which serve only their own power do not.”

Reading that, I suddenly realized what this situation, this contretemps, is all about with Steve Asmussen’s “positive” test from a year ago. It’s all about the Texas Racing Commission’s serving its own power, to borrow Obama’s phrase.

At Tuesday’s hearing before the board of stewards, just before Steven Barker testified, Mark Fenner, the attorney for the Texas Racing Commission, said the testimony would be irrelevant. Fenner had a why-bother attitude about Barker's appearance. Barker is the chief chemist for the testing laboratory at LSU and a nationally recognized expert on equine drug testing. But his testimony was irrelevant, Fenner said, because this was a matter of law, not fact.

By law, he meant, I assume, rules, specifically the state’s no-tolerance rule regarding lidocaine. But by fact, he clearly meant the facts regarding the “positive” test. Barker testified that the urine sample taken from Timber Trick after she won on May 10, 2008, at Lone Star suggested possible contamination. If a horse is administered, lidocaine, he explained, the sample will typically contain evidence of the parent drug and two metabolites. Timber Trick’s sample tested “positive” for one metabolite: no parent drug, just one metabolite.

Those are some of the facts that the Texas Racing Commission apparently thinks irrelevant. The blood sample, Barker testified, would provide a clear indication of whether the filly was actually given lidocaine. And isn’t that the essential fact? But that, too, like the blood sample, is apparently irrelevant. The stewards denied Asmussen’s request to test the blood.

Asmussen, who repeatedly has asserted that neither he nor anybody in his employ ever administered anything illicit to Timber Trick, isn’t the only horseman in Texas with a “positive” for lidocaine or one of its metabolites. But as the leading trainer in the country, he’s the most visible.

In June, trainer Jerimiah West (no relation) was suspended six months and fined $1,500 because the urine sample collected from a horse he trained, Mad At Cha, who ran second as the 2-1 favorite on April 10, tested “positive” for lidocaine and hydroxylidocaine. West, who trained only six horses, didn’t appeal, he explained, mainly because he didn’t have the money to do so.

“You’d have to be insane to give a horse lidocaine,” West said, “because you know you’re going to be caught. . . . This horse didn’t have any issues. There was no reason to use it.”

West, who had no prior infractions, is now unemployed and banned from all racetracks. He said he was shocked by the “positive” and had “no idea” how it happened, especially since most racetrack veterinarians no longer use lidocaine.

“The Texas Racing Commission may not care about Jerimiah West,” said trainer Danny Pish, who once employed West as an assistant, “but people on the backside who know him sure care. He would never cheat. He’s a model citizen.”

And so what’s the explanation for these “positives”? Lidocaine is contained in many lotions and creams, several over-the-counter treatments, Barker said, explaining that the possibility of contamination is significant.

Back in 2002, Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott had a lidocaine “positive” in New York. Believing this to be an important issue, he came here Tuesday to testify on behalf of Asmussen. The low level of Mott’s “positive” suggested contamination; New York officials suspended him two weeks (later reduced to one) and fined him $1,000. But in Texas those are irrelevant facts.

In Texas, it’s a matter of rule, not fact. The no-tolerance rule. You have to wonder, don’t you, how many major stables in the future will be willing to race in a state that has no regard for the facts. And you have to wonder, don't you, how far confidence in the sport will tumble.

And so in a few days, Asmussen could be suspended and fined. He no doubt will appeal. But the inevitable headlines will give racing fans and horsemen all over the country a shudder. It’s probably the same kind of shudder the Russian people felt when Obama spoke about governments that serve only their own power.

 

Horse racing needs a Ray Holmes.

On Sept. 15, 1940, during the Battle of Britain, Holmes, a pilot in the RAF, spotted a German bomber threatening Buckingham Palace. When his machine guns failed and the situation became desperate, Holmes rammed the German bomber with his Hawker Hurricane. The bomber crashed before it could deliver its deadly message, and Holmes parachuted to safety, having saved Buckingham Palace.

Well, the situation is becoming desperate for horse racing. For June, handle on America’s races declined 16.89 percent from a year ago, to $993,578,873, according to Equibase. For the year, handle has dipped 10.48 percent from 2008. And, of course, 2008 was nightmarish, with handle declining 7.16 percent. At the end of this year, handle will probably check in somewhere around $13 billion, or the lowest total since 1998.

With the decline in handle, there has been a concomitant decline in purses, down 10.30 percent in June and down 6.04 percent on the year, from 2008.

And so everyone is looking for horse racing’s Ray Holmes. Where is the person or the idea to rush in and save the historic palace of racing?

Many, if not most, racetracks have looked upon slot machines as the Ray Holmes who would ram the economic bomber and save the day. And maybe they are. Certainly racetracks need the ability to diversify their product if they’re to remain competitive, especially those racetracks that face competition from nearby casinos and racinos.

But the last few years have taught the sport a cruel lesson. When gaming companies become racetrack operators, when casino satraps become general managers, horse racing usually becomes unimportant, or at least less important than the spinning fruit of the slot machines.

But this past Thursday, Churchill Downs identified another potential Ray Holmes when the track attracted a crowd of 33,481 for its final night of racing. No slots, no Kentucky Derby or Oaks, no Jonas Brothers concert, and yet a throng was on hand for the last night of Churchill’s experiment with night racing.

This newly identified Ray Holmes is an attitude, an approach that seems fundamental: Give the fans a good product, an enjoyable time, a special experience and a bargain, and they will indeed come out to the track.

For its first night of racing, Churchill attracted a crowd of 28,011, but, by all accounts, the track fumbled. Fans had to wait in long lines to bet and to buy concessions. It was a classic case of dropping the ball when there was a clear field to the end zone. But Churchill, much to its credit, rallied to make amends. For its next night, June 26, the track offered an extended Happy Hour, with dollar beer. And 27,623 attended. Apology accepted. And Thursday, a throng came out for the final night of racing. For the three nights, Churchill attracted 89,115, an increase of 318 percent from the corresponding dates a year ago. The increased attendance also led to significant increases in handle.

These difficult economic times present challenges, but also opportunities. Because racetracks, unlike many professional football and baseball and basketball teams, aren’t burdened by multi-million dollar contracts, and because most racetracks aren’t burdened by overwhelming debt, they can offer bargains.

Racetrack executives are fond of pointing out that their concessions are slightly cheaper than those offered at the nearby ballpark. But, of course, that’s an absurd comparison. Racetracks are faced with the unique challenge of entertaining people over a period of four hours while most of them are losing their money. Tracks can accomplish that only if they provide a comfortable setting and only by creating an unusual and exciting experience and, of course, by offering bargains. That’s the attitude that could be the newly identified Ray Holmes.