Not to take anything away from the wonderful Foiled Again, who is 3 for 3 this year in Levy series action, but one must keep in mind the Levy is not the same level of competition he will be facing come May when a lot of the big guns come back to the racing wars. While it is amazing that he keeps coming back for more and continues at the level he is able to perform, come May, we will see Foiled Again is mortal. That being said, Foiled Again is in fact mortal.
Perhaps putting it in the same column does a disservice to Foiled Again, so let me state it right here, I am not making any insinuations regarding any horses but besides the cheating of the horseplayer, owner, and horsemen who play by the rules, perhaps the biggest crime when a pharmacist trainer is exposed (we are talking serious medication violations) is it ruins the reputation of any horse in the trainer's stable even if they never came up with a positive themselves. If there was a super-horse in the trainer's stable, people will assume it had benefited from the trainer's 'magic' even if they never tested positive; thus having people questioning the horse's career and possibly denying them their place in racing's history which they may rightfully deserve. It is one thing if a baseball player decides to 'roid up', they make the decision to do it and assume all the risk of tarnishing their accomplishments. When it comes to a horse, they don't make the choice. Perhaps such a horse was a paper tiger, but then they may have been a horse for the ages, we will never know.
Hazel Park opens on Saturday for their final, albeit abbreviated race meet. While no doubt some horsemen have already abandoned the state, those sticking around will be racing for decent money as Hazel Park is emptying the purse account as they will be switching to the runners after this meet. Still no news on what, if anything is being done to replace the dates being lost at Hazel Park and Northville.
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