The Canadian Sportsman
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Back To Last Call OnlineFebruary 03, 2010
Bulletproof? Even the name is insulting.
It carries the arrogant smack of being invincible, impervious, made of Teflon. Yeah, I get it. David Brooks’ company DHB Industries makes protective vests. Very clever.
But considering the New York Times reported in January of 2006 that about 23,000 of the company’s vest were recalled by the U.S. military due, allegedly, to “critical, life-threatening flaws” makes the name of the Brooks family’s racing stable that much more inappropriate.
Forgive me if I don’t congratulate the Bulletproof folks for not only being the sport’s leading owners in 2009, but for also setting a single-season earnings record.
Harness racing needs Bulletproof as much as a soldier needs flawed body armour.
The biggest joke of 2009 was that Bulletproof was allowed to race horses. David Brooks (above) was under house arrest for much of ‘09, charged with $186 million in fraud in a case now underway in New York. While awaiting trial, his brother, Jeffrey, was running the stable under the Bulletproof name, overseeing a 400-horse operation that includes top stallion Western Terror. Jeffrey was also, allegedly, helping David hide money overseas against the terms of David’s bail agreement.
That David, allegedly, used DHB money to support a lavish lifestyle that included helping fund his racing operation, puts harness racing at the centre of a trial that has caught the fancy of the New York press.
Why Jeffrey Brooks was ever allowed to take over the racing stable while his brother was awaiting trial for such a serious offense, I’ll never know. It’s not like they are estranged family members.
Why Bulletproof and the Brooks clan was ever allowed to take more than $12.6 million out of the industry in the first place, I’ll never know.
Apart from more information recently becoming public, there’s not a shred of difference between now and a year ago. Most of us knew a year ago Bulletproof was, at the very least, a questionable outfit and, likely, worse.
So, thank goodness the Ontario Racing Commission (ORC) finally led the charge on Jan. 26 by ordering the immediate suspension of Bulletproof, Perfect World Enterprises and a number of Brooks family members, including Jeffrey and David’s wife, Terry.
Minor kudos to the ORC for, once again, leading the charge among the group of regulators who have either dragged their feet on this, or ignored it altogether. Minor kudos to the U.S. Trotting Association for withholding horse transfer requests for the Bulletproof gang. Minor kudos to Standardbred Canada for not allowing Bulletproof to take home an O’Brien Award.
Trouble is, other bodies have been slow to act, with the exception of New York and New Jersey, which jumped on the train yesterday.
Before all you ACLU types launch into the old “innocent until proven guilty” line, remember being a licensed racing participant is a privilege, not a right.
Should David be found “not guilty,” he could apply for a license, though there would be no obligation to grant one.
In the meantime, the trial is going to make harness racing appear as unseemly as a Sopranos episode.
Again, here’s where harness racing pales in comparison to other sports blessed with commissioners.
Participants in other sports that sully its reputation are routinely fined and suspended long before courts render a verdict. Call it the “for the good of the game” clause.
In the absence of a commissioner, the least the various racing jurisdictions can do is agree that Brooks et al. are not welcome until a jury renders a verdict.
If regulators other than the ORC don’t have the fortitude to suspend the Brooks clan, then I suggest the industry’s participants take matters into their own hands.
Don’t train their horses and don’t drive their horses.
Jockeys at Penn National recently refused, en masse, to ride for owner Michael Gill over concerns that his horses aren’t safe. Why couldn’t trainers and drivers do the same in harness racing with Brooks’ horses for the good of the game? To do otherwise makes those who race his horses complicit in besmirching the very industry from which they derive their livelihood.
I’m not naive. Money talks. Talented horses are tough to come by. And it’s not the horses’ fault the people who own them are allegedly up to no good.
But if the Brooks family was suspended across the continent, the horses would have to be sold and, hopefully, raced by any number of scores of above-board people in this industry.
It’s the right thing to do. Though, admittedly, it will be small compensation for the damage already done to an industry that can ill afford it from a bunch that was clearly mocking us — and making a mockery of us — from the very beginning.
Bulletproof? Hardly.
Comments (3)
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1.
February 3, 2010
1:00 PM
1:00 PM
Kudos to the ORC (editor: Standardbred Canada, actually) for not awarding any awards to Bulletproof? or Brainard?
Collectively they only won everything there was to win in Canada. The fact that the Obriens were swept out from under their feet at the eleventh hour sounds like a big bowl of sour grapes to me.
One has to wonder if Bulletproof had Casie as a trainer if the outcome would've been the same?
Collectively they only won everything there was to win in Canada. The fact that the Obriens were swept out from under their feet at the eleventh hour sounds like a big bowl of sour grapes to me.
One has to wonder if Bulletproof had Casie as a trainer if the outcome would've been the same?
~ Lucien
2.
February 3, 2010
2:59 PM
2:59 PM
Thanks, David, for saying what so many of us who love the game have been thinking for some time. If no one stands up against sleazy and unscrupulous operators like this, they will rule the world, or at least the game.
~ Peter Kleinhans
3.
February 3, 2010
8:47 PM
8:47 PM
David Brooks and his family didn't amass 400 standardbred horses from thin air. This business has never seemed to mind where or how an individual made his money. Some of this sport's great syndicators are responsible for more industry damage than David Brooks.
The Brooks trial has very little to do with harness racing and I seriously doubt "OUR" reputation will be hurt by these events unless Brooks himself testifies that he personally saw to it that all his horses were illegally medicated last year.
There should be no secret to any people within this industry that David Brooks remained in control of his stable long after he handed over the "ownership" to other family members. That is something each jurisdiction allowed despite the fact that Brooks has been awaiting trial more than two years.
Brooks' has been both generous and despicable in his relationship with certain trainers.
The government's case against David Brooks centers around spending corporate money on personal items (horses and various other things) as well as cooking the books to make his company appear to be a better investment.
In closing Brooks made a mockery of the financial system by falsifying critical documents that caused investors to lose money while profiting nearly $200 million at the same time. Harness racing to some degree benefitted from his large racing stable, employment of various trainers and payment to shippers and feed companies. People who chose to do business with David Brooks "knew" who they were dealing with. People who bought stock in DHB industry didn't.
The Brooks trial has very little to do with harness racing and I seriously doubt "OUR" reputation will be hurt by these events unless Brooks himself testifies that he personally saw to it that all his horses were illegally medicated last year.
There should be no secret to any people within this industry that David Brooks remained in control of his stable long after he handed over the "ownership" to other family members. That is something each jurisdiction allowed despite the fact that Brooks has been awaiting trial more than two years.
Brooks' has been both generous and despicable in his relationship with certain trainers.
The government's case against David Brooks centers around spending corporate money on personal items (horses and various other things) as well as cooking the books to make his company appear to be a better investment.
In closing Brooks made a mockery of the financial system by falsifying critical documents that caused investors to lose money while profiting nearly $200 million at the same time. Harness racing to some degree benefitted from his large racing stable, employment of various trainers and payment to shippers and feed companies. People who chose to do business with David Brooks "knew" who they were dealing with. People who bought stock in DHB industry didn't.
~ Jay Bergman
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