The Villages Daily Sun

Editor’s note: This is Part 3 of a three-part series by Steve Day titled “The Unknown Future of Horse Racing.”

Medication in horse racing is a huge matter that will very much have a hand in the future of the sport.

Some want all medications banned, but if you really love horses, you want the horses to be healthy and some meds help keep them happy and sound.

IEAH Stables co-president Mike Iavarone has come out and said the stable will no longer use drugs in their horses beginning Oct. 1. IEAH owns the majority interest in Big Brown.

Trainer Rich Dutrow Jr., who trains many of the IEAH horses, has been granted permission by Iavarone to use only the bleeder-medication Lasix.

Dutrow said the only drugs he uses are lasix, bute (phenylbutazone), Clenbuterol (controls mucus), Adequan (improves joint function) and Winstrol (a steroid).

I am one of those that say if it helps maintain a horse’s health, give it. If it is used as a performance enhancer, can it. I came up under those who thought bute and lasix were givens and things like Ritalin and other illegal drugs were medication. If you would ask them, they would say they were against medication, but some consider their basics medication.

I know now is open season to knock Dutrow and not take up for him, but he is a heck of a horseman — personality aside.

I believe in bute as long as the blood count is monitored. That is what a doctor does if he prescribes bute for you.

Lasix is a must to keep the horses from having microscopic, internal bleeding after hard labor. The knock on lasix, before the more sophisticated testing came into the world, was it could mask

illegal drugs in testing.

I believe Clenbuterol can be used if it is not used in excess or too close to a horse’s race.

I really don’t have an opinion on Adequan, because I don’t know much about it.

I do feel differently about steroids in horses than a lot of the public. Some very helpful steroids get clumped under the general umbrella of harmful steroids. I believe if a certain drug helps a horse clean up his feed tub and makes his coat look good, then it is useful. If it promotes growth, it is wrong.

That, of course is just my opinion.

Let’s face it, many of our local softball players keep themselves in shape with drugs that help them be able to participate but don’t enhance their performances. Many players take bute, aspirin or other painkillers before a game; they get vitamin-B shots, use substances that allow joint flexibility, take allergy medication or even indulge in some steroid use (ever have a cortisone shot?). This doesn’t make it bad for them. It just allows them to play. It doesn’t improve their ability. It is much better for them to be playing than to be sitting on the sidelines. The same can be said for horses.

Let’s make sure the horse’s well-being is considered before banning all drug use.

It now seems that speaking out on drugs is dangerous.

A horse trained by Larry Jones, the trainer of Eight Belles, has failed a post-race drug test at Delaware Park. Stones River was found to have a higher than allowable amount of Clenbuterol in his system following a win.

Stones River is owned by Jim Squires. Both Jones and Squires have been outspoken critics of medication, especially steroids, in horses.

Squires pointed out that fact; plus, Jones has never had a test come back positive for illegal drugs in 25 years of training. Eight Belles was free of illegal drugs or steroids at the time of her death; the positive test came back the week of congressional hearings on drugs and safety in horse racing and, in fact, Jones has been made a villain since Eight Belles’ death.

Squires claims circumstances are so suspicious he feels someone sabotaged both him and Jones for speaking out or someone was trying to hurt Jones over Eight Belles’ death.

Stay tuned. What makes this so interesting is the executive director of the Delaware Thoroughbred Racing Commission is John Wayne. Wayne is the one that began the investigations in 2006 that caused many jockeys to be suspended across the country but have not proved anything as of yet.

I remember when Wayne came to Churchill Downs in a security position about 25 years ago.

Someone told me then that, “My father called me to tell me John Wayne is coming. He said John Wayne is his name and he tries to live up to it.”

My dealings with Wayne have proved the speaker correct. Let’s hope he gets to the bottom of this and it doesn’t just linger out there like the jockeys’ scandal has. Let’s have more action and less hype.

Maybe some of the animal activists are correct. Maybe we should ban horse racing. After all, it seems every day we see more and more bad things happening.

Of course, they wouldn’t want that; they would lose something else to gripe about.