CALIFORnIA THOROUGHBRED TRAInERS
ALAN F. BALCH “Human nature, Mr. Allnut . . . ”
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n The African Queen, John Huston’s superlative movie, Charlie Allnut was played by Humphrey Bogart. And who can forget Katharine Hepburn’s Rose Sayer? “A man takes a drop too much once in a while,” Charlie says, “it’s only human nature.” Rose had her dagger at the ready. “nature, Mr. Allnut, is what we are put in this world to rise above.” Rose may have been a “crazy, psalmsinging, skinny old maid,” according to Mr. Allnut, but she (and the film’s writers) made an artistic statement that will endure for the ages in large part because their work depicted the reality of human nature, for better and for worse. In elaborate detail. I have always believed that the reason for racing’s incredible durability, despite all we humans do to mismanage it and harm it – almost always unintentionally, of course – is that the public senses that every single race is a microcosm of life itself. We yearn to know the future and be able to predict it. And to profit by being correct in our prediction. We love the majesty of animals, and particularly horses . . . who, rightly or wrongly, we believe to share many human characteristics with us. The best horses want to try, and to win, just as hard as we humans want ourselves to try. And to win. That’s just a tiny but essential part of racing’s eternal appeal. So, what do the opinions of Charlie Allnut and Rose Sayer about human nature have to do with us, in the here and now? I am struck these days, and almost every day, by yet another “scandal” in sport
related to the accusation of cheating or the temptation to cheat or the way to stop cheating. Lately, our own sport’s “leaders” have taken to comparing racing’s postures on clean sport to those of others, notably baseball, track and field, and even tennis! Don’t our leaders read the rest of the newspaper? Aren’t they aware that the temptation to be dishonest is just one (regrettable) aspect of human nature? It exists everywhere, in every human pursuit, from Main Street to Wall Street to the capitals of the world. In every primitive forest (though not too many of those still exist), and even in animals, some would have us believe. Rose was right in her sentiment, as we all believe to some degree. We were put on earth to rise above the base enticements of human nature, if not in a religious sense, depending on your faith, in the sense that humans seek to bring order out of chaos. Without rules of conduct (even among bands of thieves and murderers), life cannot even be lived. At least not safely. Which is to say enjoyment of life depends on observance of rules. Let’s stop and think for a moment. Which of the world’s sports has the most experience in rules and regulation, in independent oversight of its conduct, and the longest historical progress in deterring and preventing cheating? I think ours does. From its beginnings, given its essential gaming aspect, everyone realized that the temptations to cheat in racing were palpable and serious. But until other sports became truly professional, and countenanced gaming, including even the Olympic sports,
they were largely perceived to be immune from the need for serious regulation. Once the incentives to cheat, usually in monetary terms, exceeded the incentives to win according to the rules, everywhere there grew greater temptations to cheat! And so were born the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), and the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA). Largely because of suspected and actual cheating in the Olympic sports. “Experience is never worth very much until you have it.” Or so the old saying goes. And now some of racing’s most prominent leaders seem to have forgotten that truth, and suggest turning to USADA to regulate racing in the United States! As if we don’t already have elaborate independent oversight. USADA has exactly zero experience in the physiology or practice of equine drug testing, and the same depth of experience in veterinary medicine, horsemanship, and the practical conduct of our sport. In other words, none. Yet we should look to such an agency to “clean up” racing?! Which prominent owner who backs USADA’s intrusion into racing would send his valuable horse to a tennis coach? To a government bureaucrat? To a politician? To a football player? Each of those individuals has a modicum of “similar experience,” I suppose, but not an iota of value for the task at hand. Which brings us back to Rose. When Charlie told her that the Queen’s shaft was “twisted like a corkscrew and there’s a blade gone off the prop,” she answered, “We’ll have to mend it, then.” Ourselves. n
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USADA has exactly zero experience in the physiology or practice of equine drug
testing, and the same depth of experience in veterinary medicine, horsemanship, and the practical conduct of our sport. In other words, none. Yet we should look to such an
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agency to “clean up” racing?! 6
TRAINERMAGAZINE.COM ISSUE 39