Back-stabbing Walter Case?

He should NOT be able to get a license and he should NOT be able to race again!! Too many chances!!!

Walter Case picked up right were he left off. Winning races.

He was an addict.Booze,drugs and the biggest one of all winning races. That's right, he was addicted to winning. At all costs WC wanted too win.

WC ruled wherever he raced. He was probably listed to drive on half the horses in every race. Life of a catch driver.

Now I don't know what lead to WC addictions to booze & drugs but as a life long fan and particapant of the sport I can speculate.

Throw in a couple of bad racing wrecks and the bump and grind of the schedule WC had one could see how he would end up with "the perks" or "pain killers" next thing you know he's hooked.

Winning may have lead to celebrating, and I'm sure the pain killers work even better with a"chaser".

Back in the day of WC reign, he primarily drove at the smaller Ohio/NY tracks were fans(as we used to call them) were track side. (Don't have too worry about that at Woodbine)WC could win 5-8 races a day but you know as well as I do some disgruntle fan would be at the fence heckling him. I've heard of death threats back in the day of Yonkers,Monticello remember the driver that got stabbed in Michigan by some fan?

Choose the right horse, choose the right trip, drive here, drive there, eat ,sleep, race, pills, booze, win, win,win. It seemed like it wasn't enough. The addiction too winning lead to over aggressive driving tactics, whipping and kicking violations.

You could see how his life could become overwhelming,no excuse for his actions to his wife, but most agree he has served his time that was handed to him by a court of law. Now he his a free man and he should be able to move on with his life(with conditions for some time).

In an industry that is crumbling between our fingers as everyday goes by, one might say "any publicity is good publicity" What will happen when David Clarke is released, will he resume riding at Woodbine after killing somebody while DUI?

While in no way am I making excuses for a man I have never met or do I condone what he has done, I feel the slightest bit sorry for him because no one could help him. I've seen other talented drivers lose it all because they coundn't cope with the stress or what have you.

With that all off my mind I can only say "Good Luck Walter Case" Keep clean, keep cool!

Harness racing commissions---for some reason---love to shoot themselves in the foot. Cut off their nose to spite their face....Mickey Burke currently has 2 Lidocaine positives at The Meadowlands from 2006. They have NEVER BEEN DEALT WITH.

I would rather see the likes of Walter Case (who has done his time for the crime he was accused of) back in the bike, rather than the likes of Herve Filion, whom despite recorded evidence of race fixing was ultimately only penalized for tax evasion due to loop-holes in the justice system.

If our sport wants to survive, the welfare of our horses and our paying customers must come first!

I think its very easy to make a comparison. One of these crimes were caught and the man did his time. The other crime keeps on going on a daily basis. Also, the one has a more direct impact on the sport than the other. In Walter's case ( no pun intended lol ) his demons were drugs, and alcohol and anger issues. This sure has a small impact on the industry but not nearly as big as " cheating" the public of their money everyday. please dont tell me people are unaware of this they just chose to ignore it. In the olympics you get caught with a positive test and your banned, in harness racing if you get a positive you cry and plead you had no idea how it happened and are allowed to appeal and keep racing and at the end the trainers accept the penalty and move on. In the meantime the horses they have trained have made millions of dollars in the process. I have been to many racetrack and not once have i seen " flying needles" just floating around looking for a horse to inject.

Kelly your right they are 2 different cases but before we go throwing stones we should look in our own backyard about what is wrong with the industry. The higher ups will just keep sweeping things under the carper then in a few years when the govt decides that they dont need to give the horsemen a % of the slots revenue we will only have ourselves to blame
I can hardly wait until the top purse is 15k at the a tracks and 5k at all the others.

Is the justice system was fair all the way around {NO}, trainers that have been caught for positive test' why are they back, because they have horse's for some big show,or their grand parent's were good people in the sport.Be responsible for our own actions and clean our own doorsteps.So if people are going to attack Walter after he is doing or done his time,you and I might have been victims racing against these chemist, maybe not great horseman/women.Take a good look at the fine a suspensions it's a joke some Author's don't have their names appear up so much as that list does.So clean the sport up because if it carry's on this way we won't have to worry.I'm not siding with Walter but if people don't let him get on with his life who's the victim.

Judge not lest ye be judged? Really? We're talking the racetrack here. Why have we been paying all those commissioner and judges if we want them to judge not????

Actually that's a pretty good idea. I think 10 horses in a race w/no judging would harken back to the days of Spartacus. Way more exciting!

I strongly agree with these last 2 post.The man has served sometime for is criminal act.Now how about these cheaters in the horse business itself.These horse people that have to cheat the system in order to make a living are just as guilty as him for stealing from the betting public and the other honest horseman in this business.My case is proven by the amount wagered so far this year being almost 10% off from last year .I wonder why people dont show up at tracks to watch cheaters in action.I have been saying it for 4 years to some horse people that they will drive themselves out of a job soon.So when we talk about someone doing time here and serving it what about starting to charge these horse people with a criminal offence ,bring them to court and let them plea there case in front of a judge for actually stealing purse money.Not just thatwhen you work for a company and you are caught stealing what are your consequences..Fired or brought to court.Keep cheating dishonest horseman your time is coming very soon..

Kelly: tell me what is worse? Allowing someone back into the sport that has done the crime that Walter Case has done or allowing people who have had positive tests swept under the table for allegedly using performance enhancing drugs on their horses.

What Case did was inexcusable but what about the people that keep this sport up and running, the bettors? How many millions of dollars were wagered on horses that were no good then BANG they win by 5.

These are the people that should not be allowed to participate in the sport anymore because it has a more direct influence on the sport.

I am sure there will a lot of people saying we don't need him back in the sport or paid his debt to society has not been paid. Second chances, he has had a couple. It is the hope he received the help he needed over these four years and is a better person for it. There is know doubt his victim and his family feel different and I am sure they can fight for him not to be driving again if they wish. Also the court system has an appeal system which I am sure they used at the parole hearing. There was something there that let the judge think he was fit to return to as normal of life as you can possibly have after an unforgivable instance like this. For you nay sayers let me try this on you. For those people who have been given five, six or more chances or no retribution at all for killing or injuring horses with illegal drugs or other means, we allow them to continue racing. We continue to let them race, who speaks for the horses? Why do we let these people continue to race? Maybe these people should be locked up and given counseling they as Walter was, beats the hell out of a thousand dollar fine and a five minute suspension. Good luck Walter, there are a lot of people pulling for. We hope the worst is over for you.

walter case won races, sometimes he was over agressive and was penalized/ his personal life reminded me of billy martin [ who also had subtanbce toleration problems]. but between the lines he was a hard nosed competitor to win every time.baseball allows many positives before ''banning'' a player.fans knew he was driving hard all the time and bet and rooted for him... if you dont want him to drive your horse, dont use him, but dont stop those who respect his horsemanship.

Kelly, I respect your opinion, and yes, Casey's actions in June 2004 are inexcusable, however, Case did serve all but 8 months of his time and for the first time in his life, was given the rehab that has been needing for years.

He has served his time and I feel does deserve one last, final, absolute chance, and I do believe this time he will make good.

And looking at other sports, Mike Tyson (not a great example), Danny Heatley and other stars in other sports also have been convicted of serious offences and have been given a second chance in their careers. Of the above 1 has made good the second chance, and the other admittingly not so good. Case does deserve the same opportunity.

Kelly,
Your pun--intentional or not---is absolutely priceless!!! Turn about is fair play, as they say. After all, he did stab his wife in the back.....

I have mixed feelings about his return. He certainly showed talent when he was driving. He also showed an absolute disregard for authority and following the rules. He threw away the opportunity to race at The Meadowlands by refusing to pee in a cup. He thumbed his nose at all the owners and trainers who put him down to drive for an entire week at Delaware without even calling the judges.

He's been in jail for 4 years. We'll never know how much of his behavior was due to his personal demons. Hopefully his time away has given him time to think and come to terms with them.

I am with you on that one......I don't think that this was a mistake, I think that is a BIG no no.
I bet if you could ask his wife, she wouldn't think he paid his "debt" to society!

Let us not judge, lest we be judged ourselves.

I believe it was a man in a white robe , with long hair and a beard that said that. Maybe we as a people and you, Kelly Spencer, should listen more closely to what he has to say.

Every man that has paid his debt to society deserves a second chance. We all make mistakes.

right on Kelly! Just because he was great while racing doesnt take away from what he did to his VICTIM. That is not the kind of people we need to bring our sport back into the publics good books. I, too was in the minority- Is the majority saying it depends on whom you are as to whether you were a good driver/trainer/owner or that you are a felon. Wonder what his victim and all victims of crime would say if their attackers got to pick up right where they left off when they are going to live with the memories forever?