Regulators and racing authorities are making headway in their efforts to curb the sport's seemingly insatiable appetite for drugs, but when Big Brown and his rivals compete in the Belmont Stakes on Saturday, horse racing will still be in the midst of its steroid era.
Triple Crown hopeful Big Brown and at least one of his Belmont Stakes challengers will compete on anabolic steroids, as will, no doubt, dozens of other horses performing that day at Belmont Park.
Steroids are legal in 28 of the 38 states where horse racing is held, including the three states holding Triple Crown races, and their use is prevalent. Before banning the drugs in Pennsylvania, racing officials there tested 998 horses and found that 61.7 percent were positive for steroids and 17.3 percent had been treated with two steroids or more. That does not make horse racing any different from many sports, where the biggest, strongest, most focused athletes are the ones who most often succeed and earn the most money.
"They're performance-enhancing," said trainer Graham Motion, who said his Belmont starter Icabad Crane is not given steroids. "Isn't that why all the athletes use it? What do they do? They build up a horse's muscle tissue and make the animal stronger. To me that's performance enhancing. It amazes me that we're still even discussing it. They should have been banned a long time ago."
Among the nine trainers who are planning on running horses in the Belmont, only Rick Dutrow, the trainer of Big Brown, and Barclay Tagg, who trains Tale of Ekati, said their horses would race on steroids. Dallas Stewart, the trainer of Macho Again, said he had yet to decide whether his horse would receive them. Trainers Todd Pletcher and Nick Zito would not comment.
Steroids have been part of horse racing long before they became part of the sports world's lexicon. Hall of Fame trainer Elliott Burch, who began his career in 1955, said he first remembered hearing of their use with thoroughbreds in the mid-1960s.
Among other benefits, trainers found that steroids provided a boost for horses who were not eating well or were listless. Steroid proponents say the drug will help with minor problems like appetite but do little to improve a horse's performance.
"Steroids do have some benefits," said Dr. Gregory Bennett, the veterinarian who treats Big Brown. "We're always under pressure to keep these horses going and to try to make races. Without steroids, they'd lose some horses that can't keep up the pace and race every three weeks or every month. You have horses, particularly fillies, who won't eat for three, four days and they'll start to lose weight. If used judiciously, it helps keep a horse up to the training standards we set for them."
