Jan 22 2008
3. Medication
If you talk to most serious handicappers, and even the “Athletes” group, you are going to hear something to the effect of “drugs are ruining the sport.” I believe this to be true now, but I can tell you my head was firmly buried in the sand until I had a conversation in 1999 with a friend who happens to be a very highly respected and prominent trainer.
I’m not going to tell you who he is, but a conversation we had at Keeneland in the fall of 1999 sticks with me to this day. I had not seen my friend for some time, and had just moved to Lexington. At the time I was consulting on simulcasting issues with the NTRA, and upon hearing that I was working for them he said to me “Bowk … can you get them to do something about the medication issue?” Not realizing that medication had become an “issue” I asked him to explain, and was told in no uncertain terms that he had to make the decision to race most of his best horses outside of his home base because medication abuse was so wide-spread at the time that he couldn’t compete with it, and he refused to join in.
Yes, there is an “issue” and heads can no longer be buried in the sand about it. So what can be done?
Let me start with a disclaimer here. I am not a veterinarian, nor have I ever trained a horse or a dog. I was a hotwalker for one horse, cooling her out after a race. I’d tell you the “whistle till she pees” story but Kris tells it so much better than I do … 
)
If the industry is going to get serious about the medication problem, then there are several areas that need to be addressed:
- The List
- Penalties
- Thresholds
- Testing
Let’s start with “The List.” Every major sport with rules about medications its athletes may or may not use has a banned substances list. Our industry needs one that covers EVERY jurisdiction. If it’s banned in Nebraska, it’s banned in California. I don’t know a lot of specifics about all the drugs that can be used in racing, but I do know this. If WADA can come up with a list for human athletes, someone can come up with one for animals. For our human athletes, we can just use the WADA list. This is where reform has to begin. Most of the jurisdictions where I have worked as a racing official have some rules about what medications are allowed on race day. This is the wrong approach. Don’t tell the participants what they can use … tell them what they can’t use.
As I mentioned, I’ve never trained a racing animal, nor am I a veterinarian. I don’t know what needs to be allowed on race day. Logic tells me if other countries can ban everything, the U.S. should be able to as well. I’m not going to make a case for allowing this or that drug here. In fact, in the grand scheme of things I don’t really care what drugs are allowed or are not allowed (within reason of course, I do care for the animal’s well being). I don’t think the customers really care either. Consistency is the key. Customers want to know what is being used, and whatever “it” is, there needs to be transparency. The industry must publish the information for public consumption, including the Veterinarian’s names that are treating each animal.
Personally, I think the penalties handed out for drug offences are a joke. Yes, I said it, they are a JOKE. Having said that, I am not a cold, heartless, bastard.
I am for fair punishments.
“Fair” to me means EVERYONE associated with the drug positive gets penalized. The Vet that administered the drug, the owner of the animal, the trainer of the animal, and the animal itself. All get suspended the same amount of time. Don’t think that’s fair? Well, maybe I really am a cold, heartless, bastard … but when the judgement comes down, go sue each other … not me, not the Host Track, not the Racing Commissions.
Accountability goes a long way people. As does due process. Both should be championed to clean up this mess. The absolute insurer rule might be a little suspect in this regard, but we have to live with it. One thing that can, and should be done, is having better security on the backside, and better documentation of treatments by the veterinarian.
There is a big difference between performance enhancing drugs and non performance enhancing drugs, and penalties should reflect that. Penalties should be consistent, no matter where the infraction occurred. If violation “A” results in a 30-day suspension in Ohio, then it should be a 30-day suspension in Florida. At some point there also has to be a place for career ending sentences … where someone loses their ability to participate in our sport. Period. No more 50th chances for people that can’t figure out the rules. Oh, and one more thing …. no Eclipse Awards for ANYONE with a drug violation that contributed to the Eclipse.
Before we can intelligently talk about testing, I want to address thresholds. Testing becomes more sophisticated every year, and technology can find more things at lower levels than ever before. There has to be threshold levels established below which a violation is not deemed to have occurred. Also, establish formal withdrawal times for the therapeutic drugs on the list. Make the veterinarian training the animal keep detailed records, and if they can prove the medication was given outside the window, then it’s classified as a minor infraction, or none at all. As an example, if we can assume the facts that were reported are true, Brass Hat didn’t deserve his DQ in Dubai.
Testing needs to be done on every athlete that participates in the sport. Animals, every time they run. Humans, on a regular (and random) basis. Yes, I am saying that I believe that a sample should be taken from EVERY animal every time it races. If for time/money reasons they all can’t actually be tested, the deterrant is still there. Samples should be kept for longer periods of time and periodically tested for new drugs which are discovered later … not necessarily for penalty purposes, but at least to help advance the science.
And, yes, I have a way to pay for all the testing too.
I believe that the industry as a whole should set up ONE lab for testing, and all samples should go through the same testing procedures. Uniform medication rules and uniform testing. Let’s also fund it with 0.25% of simulcast handle. So you don’t have to go back to my previous posts, that number comes to about $32,742,500 based on 2006 simulcast handle.
Back to the revenue split, we are now looking at: Host Track-4.875%; Athletes-4.875%; Outlet-4.875%; Customer 4.875%. Don’t worry, I still have some more money to spend.
*** Since my original post on the subject a story was published in the New York Post which quoted a good friend and Hall Of Fame Trainer, Jack Van Berg on the subject of medication in racing. And just for the record, Jack was not the trainer I mentioned above.
“These horses, they can’t say no,” Van Berg told The Post from his barn at Hollywood Park. “They’re getting steroids from the time they are babies. They don’t have time to grow and mature like they should.
“Just open your eyes and look around. You know how many trainers would still be winning races if they couldn’t use medication? Some of them would starve to death. The veterinary bills are as big as the day money (training bills) for a lot of them. You watch and check how much these veterinarians are making on the backstretch now. They’re becoming wealthy.
“I don’t have that many horses, and people will say that’s sore eggs with him. But I’m telling you facts. Any horseman will tell you. You couldn’t get 10 percent of horses racing (in the U.S.) to pass a drug test in Hong Kong or Japan. We’re a laughing stock. It’s disgusting to think that the foreign countries don’t allow that stuff, but here in the United States, we’re supposed to be leaders, and they give them everything from soup to nuts.
“I think we should be racing with absolutely no medication whatsoever. Zero. Stop it all. If the horse ain’t right, turn him out instead of running (him) until he breaks his leg off.” If you want to read the whole story it’s here.
I believe him. It’s time to act.