Big M success of Ron Burke fact/fiction/chemically enhanced

[AmyHollar]

Watch it Hollar, my Uncle created the Suave brand when he worked for Helene Curtis. (and now has a villa in Italy in addition to his Highland Park home and his Ft. Myers condo). It's great stuff (or was when he sent us freebies all the time)

I'm a Suave Girl..........I just wonder if Ronnie is..........I bet he bought a life time supply of "Gee-Your-Hair-Smells-Terrific" before they ceased production.

[AmyHollar]

I'm a Suave Girl..........I just wonder if Ronnie is..........I bet he bought a life time supply of "Gee-Your-Hair-Smells-Terrific" before they ceased production.

I also think he has a band of little people who brush it 100 strokes every night.

[JuiceJunkies]

Has anyone ever left the Burke stable and went out and started a stable on their own?

I always wondered why you do not see more assistant trainers go out and test the waters, if I am correct Tony Alagna left Erv and went on his own. I would certainly be tempted to take a shot if it were me in that situtation!

Jason Robinson?

[Match Play]

 I get a  kick out of people making accusations whenever someone is successful in the field they are in. Like any business there are always people better then others. They have more talent, are better businessmen, have the financial backers that can take a loss and still continue in business, without blinking.

 Harness racing is not much different. Buy good  horses, give them the care that they need, keep them sound, race them in the right class and you should be successful. Each night you can go through a program and see at least 50% of the horses entered on the card are racing over their heads. With the NW of so much money last 5 or 6 condition classes written the way they are at most tracks, they entice owners and trainers to do so because once they drop to the class they belong they will likely be rewarded with a good pay cheque. Until these horses get to that class they belong , they rarely are raced tough and rarely will win, hence the low training percentage of many trainers. Look at the programs at Yonkers and you will see tons of glorified $40-50 claimers that race in conditions only that made over $100,000 last year grinding out money. Many of their trainers are low % guys who have small stables and protect their horses because they are hard to replace.

 Large stables like the Burke operation can afford to lose a horse via a claim and need not worry about replacing them as they have many other good horses ready to drop in the same class. The message is they race their horses where they can win, they buy or claim off of a lot of low % trainers and thats the main reason why they are successful.

[beans and weenies]

If you win races you are a cheater in this game period.....(sarcasm)......people do not grasp that training horses is a skill and with any skill in life people are going to be better then others. Do people try to gain an edge of course they do. The key with many of these trainers who have high win % is the ability to classify their horses correctly and race them where they can win.....How often do you see Burke, Coleman's of the world racing 50-1 horses in claimers? They aren't and its not because the bettors are all over them every time, it is because if they had horses with those odds they would just drop them down to where they can be 3-1.

[NIATROSS]

I am not a big fan of the Burkes and Pletchers in the racing world.I think too much horsepower in one hand is not good for racing IMO.

I do give them the credit they deserve for their success in the business under the most trying of times.

[LB46]

A man, who has been in this business a very long time, told me that the best pre-race for a horse is to classify one and the Burke Brigade does a very good job of that. 

[LVGaryD]

A man, who has been in this business a very long time, told me that the best pre-race for a horse is to classify one and the Burke Brigade does a very good job of that.

As Match Play pointed out very aptly, Burkes can lose one and it doesn't matter. They have back ups for every class. It's just a dream operation as far as I'm concerned.

Of course if I was running it, it would be a nightmare operation.    I can handle 6-8 horses and no more. I'd rather get them going and sell them to a guy like Ronnie.

[Hugh Jass]

This shit gets so boring, show me proof of anything or STFU ! Same thing with Pena, yes it seems he

must be doing something to turn crippled 15k claimers into inv. horses but hell if they are doing their

job of testing and not finding anything then leave the man alone ! I will be honest and say I don't like

either one of them as a gambler cause you hardly ever get a price on them but I really respect the way

they manage their barns.

[AmyHollar]

 

[beans and weenies]

This shit gets so boring, show me proof of anything or STFU ! Same thing with Pena, yes it seems he

must be doing something to turn crippled 15k claimers into inv. horses but hell if they are doing their

job of testing and not finding anything then leave the man alone ! I will be honest and say I don't like

either one of them as a gambler cause you hardly ever get a price on them but I really respect the way

they manage their barns.

 

[sea biscuit]

This shit gets so boring, show me proof of anything or STFU ! Same thing with Pena, yes it seems he

must be doing something to turn crippled 15k claimers into inv. horses but hell if they are doing their

job of testing and not finding anything then leave the man alone ! I will be honest and say I don't like

either one of them as a gambler cause you hardly ever get a price on them but I really respect the way

they manage their barns.

You hit the nail right on the head.

The emphasis should be enhanced testing and more funding for the same instead of raising your eyebrows every time a horse ends up in the winners circle. I don't know how it is done in the US but in Canada they reserve .8% of the handle for testing facilities.

In a game where money changes hand, there will always be crooks and cheats trying to make a buck the illegal way. We just have to try and  be one step ahead of them as far as testing goes.

Take a look at this report where even the stewards were involved and they were paid to avoid testing 'certain' horses. 

http://www.paulickreport.com/news/the-biz/australia-harness-racing-embroiled-in-corruption-scandal/

[GalloBlueChip]

The problem with the Burke's is the PERCEPTION of wrong doing because of the Money won and High number of winners.....but this is FLAWED, due to the fact that he has SO MANY horses.....Below is his WIN Percentage, followed by some OTHER Trainers in 2012.

Ron Burke   220-55 = 25%

Dylan Davis  82-23 = 28%
Peter Pellegrino 61-19 = 31%
Tim Brown 36-16 = 44%
Joe Periera 59-16 = 27%
John Mungillo 44-16 = 36%
Kimberly Asher 43-14 = 32%

You'll notice ALL these trainers have BETTER Win percentages...Funny thing is...we don't hear about any of THEM being called SUPER Trainers...........

[Dolfan]

Tim Brown 36-16 = 44%

Not surprised here. 
He was also a great WR & KR with the Irish & the Raiders! 

[CyberChamp]

Not surprised here. 
He was also a great WR & KR with the Irish & the Raiders!