Barry Irwin Calls Bullsh*t
In a letter to the editor in the Thoroughbred Daily News, Team Valor founder Barry Irwin responds to Michael Iavarone’s announcement that IEAH horses will race drug-free (except for Lasix) and his invitation to other owners to make the same committment:
I think almost all of what he proposes makes sense. The problem is that Mr. Iavarone’s headline trainer is a Rick Dutrow. When he received a suspension for violating the rules in Kentucky this month, it marked the 73rd ruling against him since 1976…. I am sure I speak not only for myself when I answer his call to join him in saying no to drugs as follows: only somebody terribly naive is going to sign up as long as Rick Dutrow trains for IEAH. If he really wants to make a statement, he should consider moving his horses … Until then, the proposal looks like an attempt at damage control or a PR stunt.
Iavarone told the New York Post that he wasn’t happy learning of Dutrow’s latest violation, especially with news of it breaking the day after IEAH made public their new policy, but that the stable is standing by the trainer for now:
“We had serious thoughts of taking all the horses out of the barn,” said Iavarone. “But IEAH has won over 400 races since its inception and Rick has won over 200 of them…. We never had a positive with Rick as our trainer.”
I suppose it’s only fair to mention Steve Asmussen as well. (Throw in Jeremy Rose’s suspension for whip use, and this has really been an embarrassing week for racing — time to get things in order, guys, in case last week’s hearings weren’t enough notice that rules reforms were ripe.) The trainer was given official notice on Thursday of a positive for lidocaine in a filly named Timber Trick, winner of a maiden special at Lone Star on May 10. Asmussen’s case has been taken up by prominent owner-lawyer Maggi Moss, who plans a vigorous defense with co-counsel against the charge, based on the contention that the result is due to environmental contamination. A hearing is scheduled for July 18. If the positive stands, the violation would be Asmussen’s 18th or 21st (depending on how you count one entry in his record, which covers three horses) medication overage and could earn him a six month suspension.
Here’s an enterprise assignment for someone, based on all the recent chatter about the records of Asmussen and Dutrow — what’s the average number of all violations for trainers? The average number of medication violations? What are the three most common drugs cited? How does dosage and testing vary across the jurisdictions? (Jennie Rees has some insight on this question in her C-J blog.) Are there any patterns that emerge when looking across all records? I’d be most interested in reading the 2500-3000 word article to come out of such research …
Two Positives
Thanks to Ernie for passing along a link to an article on trainer Rick Dutrow’s latest infraction, a positive for twice the legal level of clenbuterol in a horse named Salute the Count, second place finisher in the G3 Aegon Turf Sprint at Churchill on Kentucky Oaks day. According to chief steward John Veitch, who said the clenbuterol overage was the highest he’d seen in four years, Dutrow waived his right to a formal hearing and “more or less accepted responsibility” (NYT). Paul Moran notes that the positive keeps Dutrow’s dubious streak of being suspended or fined every year since 2000 going, while Ray Paulick is incredulous that Kentucky is treating Dutrow as though it’s his first offense, handing out a 15-day suspension and requiring the return of purse money. Listen to Bozich, babe: “You’re killing the game you say you love.” And IEAH, if you’re really serious about the no-drugs policy and advocating for a zero-tolerance environment, you might want to start looking for a squeaky clean (at least, by current standards) conditioner for your stable.
I’ll grant that might be difficult, when even the sport’s good guys are users, with little separating them from guys like Dutrow other than that they manage to follow the inconsistent, sometimes lax rules of 38 different jurisdictions 99.99% of the time. Clenbuterol, a bronchodilator with steroid-like side effects, is also the drug for which trainer Larry Jones recently received a positive, the first medication violation in his 27-year career if the split sample on Stones River, winner of an allowance on June 8 at Delaware Park, upholds the original test results. Jones, and Stones River owner Jim Squires, contends the positive was sabotage, although the trainer did own there was an “outside shot” the result is legitimate, due to Stones River being injected with clenbuterol the day before Delaware’s 72-hour raceday deadline (Inquirer). The investigation is ongoing, but if the positive is confirmed, Jones could face a $500 fine, seven-day suspension, and purse money forfeiture.
How ludicrous both cases look, especially in the wake of all the discussion and pontificating and committee-organizing that followed poor Eight Belles’ breakdown after the Kentucky Derby. The rule-breaker gets a wrist slap, the rule-follower gets caught on a technicality. No wonder congress held hearings and threatens legislation.
Doped, But Never Failed
A prominent track and field coach is about to go on trial for doping and lawyers on both sides plan to prove that cheaters are steps ahead of sports authorities. Consider:
The I.A.A.F. performed 3,277 drug tests last year and barred only 10 athletes for doping. In her career, [Marion Jones] passed more than 160 drug tests.
You don’t have to be paranoid to wonder if the doping problem is as — or even more — widespread in racing with millions of dollars in purses at stake.
Steroids Once and Forever?
The WSJ reports a small Swedish study suggests the effects of steroids continue after athletes stop using:
Rather than returning to their original proportions, the muscles of the steroid users who’d stopped taking the drug looked remarkably similar to those of the subjects who were still using. They also had larger muscle fibers and more growth-inducing “myonuclei” in their muscle cells than the nonsteroid users.
The study subjects were 26 elite powerlifters, not equines, but I wonder if the same effect would be seen on racehorses previously supplemented …
About
Jessica Chapel writes and edits in Massachusetts. Railbird is a Thoroughbred horse racing blog published from June 2004 to July 2019. More / Contact
Elsewhere
Find Jessica on Pinboard and Instagram, Railbird on LibraryThing and Twitter.
Etc.
Links
Search
Boston Racing
Spreadsheets/Data
← Home
Copyright © 2000-2023 by Jessica Chapel. All rights reserved.