Race-day drugs should be banned

Trainer Rick Dutrow Jr. has admitted to using Winstrol, an anabolic steroid, on his potential Triple Crown champion, Big Brown. Dutrow has been quoted as saying the horses in his stable receive Winstrol on the 15th of every month. I don’t know about you, but given the nature of sports and drugs nowadays, it just sounds bad.

What Dutrow does is legal in most racing states. Steroids have therapeutic value for humans and horses in recovering from an injury or physical stress. The bad part is it’s a performance enhancer. Steroids create an unnatural buildup of muscle mass and strength. Long-term use leads to serious health risks. Nearly every sport, except horse racing, bans its usage.

If Big Brown wins the Belmont Stakes and becomes the first Triple Crown champion in 30 years, I don’t want mainstream sports media comparing him to Barry Bonds or Mark McGwire.

Drugs in horse racing long has been a hot-button topic. Drugs not only affect horses during their racing careers but afterward in the breeding sheds. Many experts have theorized that drug use in racehorses masks their infirmities and that too many of those negative traits are being passed on to future generations.

I firmly believe horse racing soon will join the ranks of other sports in banning steroids.

What I would like to see, but the cynic in me says never will happen, is a complete ban on race-day medication. The economics of racing can ill afford to do that for various reasons.

However, an attainable goal for this idealism is to focus on graded stakes races and stakes that hope to earn a grade from the American Graded Stakes Committee. These races can, and should, be run drug free, and here’s why.

It is financially feasible to test every horse in less than 1,000 stakes races versus those in nearly 60,000 everyday races. The public perception would improve, as America’s best races, the ones most likely to be nationally televised, would be run drug free.

The breeding industry would be helped, too. Breeders covet horses that earn “black type” for finishing in the money in stakes races. Breeders would gain the certainty that top-level, drug-free stakes horses performed naturally and will pass on their genetic strengths to future generations.

And I believe in a potential trickle-down effect. Any trainer seeking to develop a stakes horse will know that his own skill, and not his veterinarian, will be the key factor.

• ROAD TO THE ROSES — Congratulations to Matt Koontz of Las Vegas for winning the 2008 Kentucky Derby “Road to the Roses” Fantasy Challenge. Koontz won a VIP trip for two to next year’s Derby, plus a $16,150 cash prize.

Richard Eng’s horse racing column is published Friday. He can be reached at rich_eng@hotmail.com.