Published: July 21, 2008 05:03 pm            

No steroids

Racing commission needs to swiftly end practice

When Gov. Steve Beshear on July 3 replaced the Kentucky Horse Racing Authority with the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission, it was clear the governor was unhappy with the failure of the authority to act quickly and decisively to ban steroids from racing in the state and that he expected the new commission to be more aggressive.

“Kentucky’s signature industry is in crisis and immediate, aggressive action is necessary to preserve its integrity,” the governor said in announcing his action on the day before Independence Day. “These actions I have taken today reflect my continued commitment to strengthening horse racing in the commonwealth.”

Less than three weeks after its creation, a subcommittee of the new racing commission unanimously recommended an anabolic steroid ban in horse racing throughout the state. The recommendation would prohibit horses from racing under the influence of steroids. It closely mirrors the national model rule proposed by the Racing Medication and Testing Consortium.

At least 10 states have approved the model steroid rule, but Kentucky has remained a high-profile holdout. The subcommittee’s recommendation will now go to the Kentucky Equine Drug Research Council, which could edit the language of the proposal before sending it to the KHRC for consideration. KHRC executive director Lisa Underwood said she hopes a steroid ban will be on the agenda at the commission’s next meeting on Aug. 11.

Just before the Belmont, Rick Dutrow, trainer of Big Brown, admitted his horse had been injected with steroids prior to the Derby and he vowed to not use steroids on Big Brown before the Belmont. When the three-year-old colt faltered in the Belmont after easily winning the Derby and the Preakness, many wondered just how much of a role steroids had played in his earlier victories.

Well, just as the use of steroids and other performance enhancement drugs have marred the achievements of human athletes in baseball, at the Tour de France and in a host of other sports, those same types of drugs can skew the results of horse races. There is no room for steroids in horse racing, and it is time the new racing commission moved to ban them in Kentucky.

Governor Beshear is right: At stake is the integrity of Kentucky’s signature industry.

        

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