March 2020, is a month that most of us will never forget.

They usually say that if March comes in like a lion it goes out like a lamb and vice versa. Well this year it came in like a lion and looks to be going out just the same.

March 9, 2020: Canada confirmed its first death to COVID-19.

March 9, 2020: The United States Department of Justice announced the charging of a total of 27 individuals [many of whom are Standardbred trainers] with ‘offenses relating to the systematic and covert administration of illegal performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs) to racehorses…’

March 10-19, 2020: Horsepeople John Brennan, Rita Fusco-Jackson, Carmine Fusco, Grace Fusco, and Vincent Fusco Jr., all pass away from COVID-19.

As the month continued so did the pattern. More trainers were arrested for their involvement in the doping scandal, and as of late March, many believe more arrests are still to come.

As of late March, thousands and thousands more in Canada and the U.S. have tested positive for the coronavirus, and many more have died from it. All tracks in Canada close for the safety of our participants, and only Cal Expo, in California, remains open (with no fans permitted live) in the U.S.

Although it may seem that I’m comparing these two situations, let me also contrast them, because the two are very different in at least one way.

The onset of COVID-19 to the human race on planet Earth is a horrible and unprecedented disaster in our lifetimes. Hundreds of thousands have been infected, more than 30,000 have died, and no one even knows how bad this still may get. I wasn’t even going to write on this topic as it changes day-to-day, and most of you won’t even read this until at least a week after I write it. And I’m actually writing it at 3am because I just found out a few hours ago that our printer in Quebec may be forced to close for the next three weeks and we’re scrambling like mad, working all hours of the night just to try and get the magazine printed before then. Life as we know it is definitely upside down at the moment.

The arrests however, are not a horrible disaster. On the morning of March 9, some on social media called it, “A very dark day for horse racing.” Sorry, but I didn’t see it that way. Forever, people have been complaining about the cheaters, and how we have to rid the sport of them. Hell, even during our current self-isolation at home my son and I have been binge-watching the Showtime hit series ‘Billions’ and I can’t even get away from it there, as hedge fund billionaire Bobby Axlerod talks of his early years at Yonkers where he bet the trotters, even though he thought most of the participants cheated. It’s a dark cloud that has hampered our sport for years.

Well guess what? You can’t have it both ways. You can’t complain about the cheating and then say it’s a dark day when the cheaters get caught.

Now, I’m not saying that all of the people that were arrested are guilty - I don’t know all the details and I’m not the judge or jury, so I’ll leave that up to others to decide. But if people were cheating, and apparently some were, they’ve been caught. That makes this part of March 2020, a good news story. You want to cheat in our game and endanger the beautiful animals we’ve all been lucky to make a living off of? Eventually you’re going to get caught. And if so, I hope you go to jail for it - and rot there.

Where the COVID-19 and the cheating scandal are alike though, is here… they are both things that we will survive. It might not be easy, but we’ll do it as a community and as a family. We’ll do it for John Brennan, and for the Fusco family, and for every amazing racehorse that has ever won our heart. We’ll defeat COVID-19 like we’ll defeat the cheaters, and whether it be this April or May, or even not until June of 2021, we’ll once again breathe the air without fear and we’ll once again race our horses for the love of the sport that unites us all.

Be safe my friends.

Dan Fisher
[email protected]