John Perrotta

Racetracker, living in Ireland, writer of gamblers and grifters.WGA,W member. Better a has-been than a never-was...

[John Perrotta @j_perrotta]

World Cup Shotgun at Lake Garda, Italy #kaylebrowning is amazing

[John Perrotta @j_perrotta]

Excuse me but this is so cool.Daughter in law #Kaylebrowning

[John Perrotta @j_perrotta]

@Tinky47flat Where I come from we would just call that “somebody cashed a ticket “.

[John Perrotta @j_perrotta]

World Cup Shotgun at Lake Garda, Italy #kaylebrowning is amazing

[John Perrotta @j_perrotta]

Excuse me but this is so cool.Daughter in law #Kaylebrowning

[John Perrotta @j_perrotta]

@Tinky47flat @BlueHenBldstck I was there at AC with my dad. And at Aqu by myself. Greatest racehorse ever.

[John Perrotta @j_perrotta]

The Curragh. Saw my first Irish Derby from the roadside in’68, Ribero. Second one from the stands in’86, Sharastani, amid IRA bomb threats. Great stuff

[John Perrotta @j_perrotta]

June 27, 1964. Made my first bet on a horse. Parka, trained by Jimmy Croll. Jockey Howard Grant, Monmouth Park. Oh, boy!

[John Perrotta @j_perrotta]

Happy Father’s Day, Dad

[John Perrotta @j_perrotta]

Enjoying the Royal Ascot races, maybe not as much as I did 40 years ago.

[John Perrotta @j_perrotta]

@Tinky47flat Sorry to hear this. Jimmy was a true racetracker.

[John Perrotta @j_perrotta]

Today marks eight years since my heart attack. 100% blockage of my‘widow maker’, with less than a two percent chance of survival. Thanks, Greg Hopper, for getting me to the ER in the nick of time. Thanks, Dr Grace Huang for being in the ER and Maggi, for keeping me alive.

[John Perrotta @j_perrotta]

@JayHovdey @mike_brunker Green Mountain
Rockingham
Suffolk Downs
Tropical Park
Birmingham
Charles Town
Waterford
Atlantic City
Garden State
Liberty Bell

[John Perrotta @j_perrotta]

@Tinky47flat A prized possession

[John Perrotta @j_perrotta]

Never a better mom. Thanks, mom.

[Jay Hovdey @JayHovdey]

Oh dear. Cherie thinks Donna was the first woman to win a Triple Crown race. We’ll write that off to the excitement of the moment. And Donna is too classy to correct such an innocent mistake on camera. But how soon some forget Colonial Affair.

[Jay Hovdey @JayHovdey]

Reposting this from the other day because I can now include this fab photo of Charlsie Cantey aboard NY stakes winner Bailjumper alongside trainer David Whiteley on his pony ... https://t.co/YzLQFlfNXH

[John Perrotta @j_perrotta]

Delighted to join this elite group and now I’m set hard at work on the final book of the Hamilton Greer trilogy. Many thanks to all my readers. https://t.co/1V5ax2vtZD is home

[John Perrotta @j_perrotta]

Loved our time in Sicily and the drive through Italy and France, but Ireland is my happy place, no question. Slainte.

[Tinky @Tinky47flat]

‡

When Will the Denial End?

In two of my most recent posts, I demonstrated Mike's @RepoleStable inability, at least in our exchanges, to admit that he is wrong when faced with serious, well-supported criticism, and his tendency to resort to dishonest argumentation.

His most recent response, embedded below, helps to illustrate the depth of his denial, and how far he is willing to go in efforts to keep it intact.

I recall, as most readers likely do, a simple, formative experience that I had as a child. Having thrown something, probably a candy wrapper, on the ground, my mother scolded me. I responded by noting, probably thinking that I was being clever, that "everyone" litters. She patiently explained that even if other people display dubious behavior, it isn't a valid excuse, and elaborated on why. The lesson stuck with me, as similar lessons undoubtedly have for the vast majority of people.

So, how did Mike choose to respond to my recent, critical post? Not by attempting to refute any of the fact-based points or arguments that I had laid out. Not with a belated, and refreshing admission that he had made some mistakes, and that he would try to do better. But rather with yet another dubious attempt at playing the Gotcha! game.

In other words, he chose to resort to what boils down to the same type of childish impulse as the one illustrated above: "He did it too!"

His aim was presumably to embarrass me by exposing dishonesty on my part, in order to rationalize his own behavior, but he missed the target. I could play the same game, and respond by asking him a number of questions that I am certain he would prefer not to answer, but I don't want to do that, as I believe that it would lead us further down a destructive, rather than constructive path.

I will, instead, answer his question, and it is not uncomfortable for me to do so. I was a "subject-matter expert (SME)" consultant for roughly a year and a half, leading up to the implementation of HISA. To my knowledge, no one from 5 Stones (5Si), including myself, went on to work for HIWU, after HISA took the reins.

Mike likely asked the question in hopes that I either wouldn't answer, or, if I did, that he might be able to make some related claims of dishonest behavior. The problem, if that was his goal, is that there was no associated dishonesty.

Any suggestion that I was somehow dishonest because I never volunteered the connection publicly, or any argument that I might have been dishonest when I "defended" TJC publicly, given that they sponsored 5Si, would fall flat for the reasons below.

While I have occasionally noted that hiring 5Si was to TJC's credit, as the company was involved in laying the foundation for the Servis and Navarro, et al, indictments and prosecutions, I was making that point well before I ever worked for 5Si, and the facts underpinning the simple, straightforward point, have long been publicly available.

There were never any nuanced conflicts of interest, either, as I have never said, or written anything publicly that was related to the private, and by definition confidential information that I was privy to while working for 5Si. How would readers know that? Because I support my opinions and arguments with publicly available facts. I don't say just trust me (wink wink), implying special knowledge.

Any suggestion that my various comments relating to TJC were connected to my association with 5Si would be entirely unsupportable. Not only did I write both positively and negatively about TJC for decades prior to that relatively brief overlap, but as I have noted many times, any of my perceived "defenses" of TJC have, in fact, been efforts to set the record straight, and/or remind readers that it is silly to paint the organization in a solely negative light, as if it hasn't also done many positive things for the industry.

Finally, I found the work that I did for 5Si to be both interesting and challenging, and have no reason whatsoever to feel embarrassed by anything relating to the experience.

Regarding the underlying exchange, I have never claimed to be a saint, nor that I have always been honest. But I can say that I have tried to recognize my mistakes, learn from them, and do better. And that, in a nutshell, is all that I am asking of you, Mike.