Nope, but go ahead and throw that (bigotry) in the ring if it makes you feel better John. I would see it all the same way if he were Bill Gates, the CEO of TEXACO, or any other person in charge of a large company on the New York Stock Exchange who is engaged in an activity paramount to creating a monopoly. All you have to do is play a few games of Monopoly to see what it takes to win. The difference here is instead of buying up properties, he's buying up horses. Endurance horses. Imagine, if you will, someone like George Steinbrenner, with all his wealth, and multiply that times ten thousand. Then, imagine, that good ole George decides to buy up all the teams in the National Baseball League, and after years and years of making deals he eventually succeeds. He owns them all. Once this happens, who is his team playing against? Why would a person do such a thing? Because, this way, he can never lose. Of course such a thing cannot happen; the league would not allow one owner to do this, no matter how much money he had. So, instead, George just buys up the best baseball players money can buy and ends up with the highest baseball payroll in the land. Is it legal? Yes, but is it fair or equal? The answer is life is not fair or equal; why should baseball or endurance be any different? But, endurance is not baseball, and UAE is not America. I don't care what country the man is from (even if he kind of owns it) or what his race or religion is; but if you think calling me a bigot or a racist is going to get me to put my head in the sand, and to ignore what I see as quite obvious, think again. Besides, it's not an original thought on your part; it's been said before. Here's my theory: please tell me what you think, John. I think he bought up quite a lot of the good endurance horses in the states, then, he moved on to other countries, where the prospects looked better. Why did he reduce his buying of endurance horses in the States? Well, if you listen to Tom Ivers it's because we've turned into wimps as far as endurance at this level goes; we aren't doing 9 hour 100's or what it takes to get a horse to travel that distance at that speed. According to his theory, America has fallen behind. So, the Sheikh moved on. Australia is one of those countries he is purchasing from now, as is France. I wonder what will happen when he buys up all their prospects? Has anyone dared to look at these ride times? 9 hours? 100 miles? Muddy, slick rock conditions? Am I crazy, or has everything gone a little wacky here? How much more will these horses be able to take? Or, are horses disposable at this level, and since he owns so many front runners, he'll just move on to another horse when this one loses his will, or stamina, to win at that pace. Rumor has it that two endurance horses died at the WEG, in Spain, to try and keep up at this level. Is this what we want others to think of when they think of endurance? I've run into quite a few non endurance horse folk who think the worst of our sport because of this sort of thing. Granted, it's a tough sport, but horses should not die because the bar is now set ludicrously high. Look, nobody is going to listen to me, because I am a nobody in this sport. But, these ride times are not right. Something is wrong here and unless we're breeding some kind of super carbo charged mega-horse I'm unaware of, maybe, we might want to start keeping track how long horses who travel at this pace endure. How long will their careers last at this speed? My final point is if you own a thousand of these super horses and a fellow competitor, at this level, only has one or two, is the playing field level? Is it even close? Look, I'm sorry if I've upset some folks and, maybe, after 9/11 it's not the best of times for me to talk about a Sheikh from UAE. I'm not writing any of this because I'm a poor sport or feeling sorry that the American team didn't do as well as I had hoped. Everything I've put down concerning the Sultans of Swing are things I've said before, for the last 3 years now. I only put them out there so ya'll can tell me how wrong or misguided my thoughts are; I do try and keep an open mind about the whole thing. I actually want someone to show me that I'm way off base here, because, you see, I love this sport so much, I'm concerned with where it's headed, and what the future for it holds. Please, someone, convince me that the playing field is level, that everything is fine and dandy and that there aren't any problems here at all. Convince me that a 9 hour ride time in 100 miles is perfectly safe for the well trained horse and that my concerns are unfounded. Convince me that I'm wrong in thinking there are those in our sport, at the top levels, who are equating a hundred mile endurance run to a mile and a quarter thoroughbred racetrack. Show me I'm clueless here. It's all I'm asking. cya, Howard (stay focused Scott, we're talking endurance, not Iraq or Afghanistan. Simmer down now, simmer down) ----- Original Message ----- From: John Bass Sent: Monday, September 16, 2002 7:24 PM To: ridecamp@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: [RC] He/Him Howard states: <I'm sure capitalism is alive and well all over the world and Americans are not the only ones who sell to him. My point is, if he continues to buy up all the best, whom will he be racing against in the future? > Would it make a difference if the he/him were from England or is it the idea that he/ him is from the UAE? Do I sense some bigotry? John Bass Beatty Nevada
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