Policy Play - by Dan Liebman

Blood-Horse Staff — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 15:29:00 GMT

The Breeders’ Cup took important steps last week to help ensure the integrity of its races, while at the same time prodding those states not already on board to hurry and establish steroid policies for tracks its racing authority regulates.

Should a horse test positive for anabolic steroids at the Oct. 24-25 Breeders’ Cup World Championships at Santa Anita, the trainer of that horse will be suspended from the event for one year. The organization also instituted a “three strikes” rule that would ban a trainer from Breeders’ Cup races for life should horses in his care violate the steroids policy three times.

Perhaps more importantly, beginning Jan. 1, 2009, Breeders’ Cup will not help fund purses or hold Breeders’ Cup “Win and You’re In” races at tracks that are not following the model rules for steroid use established by the Racing Commissioners International.

With calls for uniform medication rules within the industry for decades, Breeders’ Cup officials are helping move racing in that direction.

While it is important for policies to be uniform from state to state, it is also necessary for the rules and regulations to be the same for claiming horses as they are for grade I horses. But headlines are made by “big” races and “name” horses, so the Breeders’ Cup forcing the issue is the right thing at the right time.

In this instance, the big race was the Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (gr. I) and the big horse was Eight Belles, whose breakdown while galloping out after finishing second on racing’s biggest stage made the type of headlines the sport was not looking for.

But, in fact, her tragic death has become a rallying cry for an industry often criticized for holding many meetings but accomplishing little. Many positive decisions have been made to help right the plight of the Thoroughbred since the death of Eight Belles.

Organizations such as the Breeders’ Cup have gotten the message that the time is right for not only urgent, but clear, decisive, and strong action.

In the release announcing its new policies, Breeders’ Cup chairman Bill Farish said the organization’s board believed it was crucial to take a leadership role in ridding anabolic steroids from the sport. He is correct. In fact, it has a responsibility to lead the sport into new territory, and based on its new policies, it is taking that duty seriously.

The Breeders’ Cup’s hard line on steroids is one of several firsts currently happening in the industry.

Thoroughbred auctions at Fasig-Tipton and Keeneland are being conducted this summer and fall under new conditions of sale, prompted by recommendations from the Sales Integrity Task Force.

Like the Breeders’ Cup has said it is watching trainers and veterinarians, the Task Force is watching breeders, consignors, buyers, and agents. It has taken some steps to help ensure the integrity of the Thoroughbred auction place, while realizing it has taken only the first steps in that process.

A monitoring committee has been established by the Task Force, with Fasig-Tipton chairman and former Breeders’ Cup head D.G. Van Clief Jr. as its leader. It is not easy to reach a consensus when self-regulating, but Van Clief ensures integrity in the process.

Other important matters, such as the disclosure of surgeries of young horses before they are sold, are being discussed by the members of the group.

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In New York, the first $100,000 allowance race was run at Saratoga after the New York Racing Association instituted a new policy adding purse money to distance races (nine furlongs or more) with more than six (dirt) or eight (turf) starters. The idea, conceived by NYRA chairman Steve Duncker and refined by racing secretary P.J. Campo, is a great step in promoting durability in the breed.

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Blood-Horse Staff — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 17:36:00 GMT

Imagine using something in your profession for 25 years because you believe it to be beneficial, and then having regulators take it away from you. That, said Dr. Don Catlin, is how some Thoroughbred trainers must feel about the industry’s push to ban the usage of most anabolic steroids.

Catlin, one of the world’s foremost experts in the use of performance-enhancing drugs in sports, founded the Anti-Doping Research Institute and for the past couple of years has headed the privately funded Equine Drug Research Institute.

The Thoroughbred industry, headed by Keeneland, raised $3 million to fund work done by Catlin, who was among the speakers March 17 during the second Welfare and Safety of the Racehorse Summit. The 69-year-old scientist said the industry is not yet ready to implement the steroids ban, and urged it to proceed slowly in order to get things right. He also stated he believes the powers that be are making a mistake by not banning all anabolic steroids.

Speaking later in the week from his home in California, Catlin, who formerly headed the Olympic testing lab and has developed tests that have caught cheaters, discussed his work. But in doing so, he also felt compelled to mention how “political” he has found the Thoroughbred industry to be.

Everyone who works with the Thoroughbred industry finds that out; usually sooner rather than later.

“We’re approaching the midway part of year three and trying to decide if we should go forward,” Catlin said. “Along the way, what I thought would be just science issues I have learned is just part of it. There is an overlay of political issues that are really the dominating theme.”

Catlin spoke of the Racing Medication and Testing Consortium, state racing commissions, and horsemen’s groups as among those with varied and vested interests in the sport. It is hard, he said, for some to give up something they’ve had for so long.

“Personally, I think there is only one way to go, and that is a total ban. But I am sympathetic that the industry has been using steroids for 25 years, and you don’t turn that off overnight. I don’t like the idea of regulating the four steroids, but it is far better than doing nothing.”

The suggestion by many that steroids have therapeutic uses does not sway him, Catlin said. “The industry must get a handle on it, and they are working hard to fix it. That being said, I would have started without any exceptions. I don’t see anything in the literature (suggesting therapeutic uses), but I am cognizant that I am just learning about this industry.”

Many once thought Olympic sports to be the purest form of athleticism. Because of the efforts of Catlin and his associates, we now know such high-profile Olympic gold medalists as Ben Johnson and Justin Gatlin were juiced. Johnson had used Stanzonol, one of the four steroids allowed under the RMTC guidelines. Gatlin’s steroid of choice was testosterone.

It was Catlin who developed the test for THG (tetrahydrogestrione), which was used to crack the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative case. Last year, one of those caught in the BALCO scandal, gold medalist Marion Jones, admitted to using steroids and lying to federal investigators.

At Keeneland March 17, Catlin said steroids make humans run faster, jump higher, and lift more. They have the same types of effects on horses, none of which are therapeutic in nature.

When asked what he thought when he learned how many drugs are permissible to use on Thoroughbreds in training, Catlin said he was both “surprised and horrified.”

Many medications used on the backstretches of America’s racetracks are necessary, and when used properly, help equine athletes compete to the best of their abilities.

Scientists and veterinarians, including Catlin, want to ensure that those are the only drugs being used. The goals are to rid the sport of harmful medications and catch the violators…no matter your politics.

What's Going On Here : steroids

Policy Play - by Dan Liebman

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