Horse Trainer Raises Suspicions with Injections

A year after the fiasco with horse trainer Rick Dutrow and roiding Big Brown, a new trainer is causing concern with similar questionable practices. His timing is perfect with the Kentucky Derby.less than a month away.

Trainer Jeff Mullins was busted Saturday giving Gato Go Win a cough remedy substance in the detention barn before the $200,000 Bay Shore. Per state racing rules, New York racing officials removed the horse from the race. The syringe and substance were confiscated and an investigation is underway. Joseph Mahoney, the spokesman for the New York State Racing and Wagering Board, said giving any medication to a horse while waiting in the detention barn is against the New York racing rules.

“If a horse needs a product of this order to get to the finish line, then we have a problem with that,” Mahoney said.

According to The New York Times, the substance was labeled as Air Power, an over-the-counter cough formula manufactured by a company called Finish Line. On its Web site, the company claims that one dose will usually stop a horse’s cough all day and that “nothing manufactured and sold by Finish Line will test positive in any race or show jurisdiction in the U.S., Canada, Mexico, South America, England or Saudi Arabia.”

Unfortunately, for the sport of horse racing, the Mullins-trained I Want Revenge won the Wood Memorial later in the day and is a favorite to win the 135th running of the Kentucky Derby in May.

This is not the first time Mullins has run afoul of the rules of the sport, similar to Dutrow. Turns out, Mullins has a history of medication violations in his base of California. Last spring, he was suspended for 20 days by the California Horse Racing Board for use of the Class 2 drug mepivacaine. Per the NYT, “in 2005, one of his horses tested positive for exceeding the limit of total carbon dioxide, which indicates the horse had a ‘milkshake’ — a concoction of baking soda, sugar and electrolytes that helps a horse ward off fatigue. His horses were put under 24-hour surveillance for 30 days.”

A California Horse Racing Board complaint said another horse of Mullins’s had exceeded the regulatory threshold for total carbon dioxide in a blood sample taken before a race at Del Mar in August.

Michael Iavarone, who heads the International Equine Acquisition Holdings (IEAH), which bought 50 percent of I Want Revenge last week, understood that Air Power was not a PED, and that his Derby contender was not part of Mullins’s violations. IEAH, you’ll recall, was the owner of Big Brown last year trained by controversial Rick Dutrow.

IEAH needs to get a clue. Even though they claimed to be roid free last October and "unnecessary medications," are we supposed to believe that IEAH will police themselves? Two years in a row that they have a major stake or outright owned the Derby favorite / winner, but it has come with a considerable price. The scrutiny and the "win at all costs" mentality with a complete disregard for what trainers and others involved with the horses could be doing to get those wins. Why is it that every trainer who is busted with one horse gets a pass with all the other horses he trains? Ignorance really is bliss.

Curlin Off Roids...Looking for 4th Win Roid Free

Today Curlin will look to win it's 4th race in a row, roid free.

After being named the 2007 Horse of the Year, it turns out, Curlin might have been aided during his impressive run by Big Brown's roid of choice, Winstrol. His owner Jess Jackson, has acknowledged Curlin's past roid usage and now wants to prove that Curlin is a roid-free champion.

In January, Jackson "discovered" that Curlin was roiding up from trainer Steve Asmussen and advised him to stop its use. Since cycling off the juice Curlin is undefeated, and crushed the field in a seven-and-three-quarter-length victory over an impressive field at the $6 million Dubai World Cup in March. Dubai has the some of the world's toughest testing standards in horse racing.

In today's Grade I $500,000 Man o’ War Stakes at Belmont Park, Curlin will try to keep the roid free winning streak alive. This race is important for Curlin and Jackson because their sights are set on the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe on Oct. 5 at Longchamp Race Course in Paris. If Curlin can win today and in October, Jackson hopes that he can bring back some much needed credibility to the sport of horse horsing.

“I’m trying to prove that Curlin is a real champion, and that we can race horses into their 4-year-old years and beyond,” said Jackson, 78, the founder and owner of Kendall-Jackson Winery. “I want to show the industry that we can breed horses with stamina and durability, and race them clean.”

Last month, Jackson put all his trainers on notice (he has more than 60 racehorses) that he would take the step to independently drug test his horses after each race. The owners of Big Brown, IEAH, have also said they will do this starting in October. Unlike most professional sports, Jackson has instituted a one strike and you're out policy: the trainer would be fired for any positive test.

Ironically enough, Texas racing officials said that a horse trained by Asmussen tested positive for the anesthetic lidocaine, the same drug that Roger Clemens said Brian McNamee injected him with and not the PED's that McNamme alleges.

What is it with baseball players and horses taking the same drugs? Isn't there something inherently wrong if the same drugs that Barry Bonds allegedly used to fuel his assault on the home run record is being used to fuel Big Brown's assault on the Triple Crown? If anything, this disturbing development leads credence to the claim that pets should be able to take psychotic drugs that humans take - apparently animals and humans are reaping the same benefits.

In this specific instance, Asmussen took a page from the "tested positive athlete" playbook and has denied wrongdoing, claiming that the test was "faulty" and that he was not allowed to send the samples to a lab of his choosing. Isn't the purpose of having independent testing so that the possible cheat doesn't have the option to send it to a "friendly" lab? Lucky for Asmussen, Jackson is buying his story! Jackson will take a wait and see approach before any discipline. I'm sure today's race had nothing to do with altering his stance on the one and done strict discipline policy.

Dutrow Busted for PED's; Suspended for 15 Days

PED's once again caught up to controversial trainer, Rick Dutrow Jr.

Salute the Count, one of his horses he trained earlier this year, tested positive for twice the allowable level of clenbuterol, a banned substance. Two drug tests were performed after finishing second in the Aegon Turf Sprint at Churchill Downs on May 2. Clenbuterol helps burn fat while promoting muscle growth. In humans, the drug is used to treat asthma. As a result of the positive test, Dutrow faces a 15 day suspension; he does have the option of filing an appeal within the next 10 days, but has already taken responsibility for his actions.

“I was there all week and am responsible,” Dutrow said. “I use that medication on many of my horses and only once can ever remember having a problem with it.”

According to the New York Times, "clenbuterol is an approved medication in horses, and is used as a bronchial dilator — which increases lung capacity — though it has steroidal properties. It is illegal to administer it on race day, but states vary on the length of time beforehand that it can be administered. In New York, for example, it cannot be administered within 96 hours of race day. In Kentucky, 72 hours".

With the recent Congressional subcommittee hearing on the sport, this state discrepancy as to when clenbuterol can be administered illustrates the need for a national governing body. Simplify the process: create a national oversight body, implement universal rules and provide a stringent transparent drug testing program so that the public will be more comfortable that they are seeing less of these "chemical horses" that recent breeders have been testifying to.

This is not Dutrow's first suspension. He has been fined or suspended at least once for the past 9 years for various medication violations — including positive tests for mepivacaine, phenylbutazone and oxyphenbutazone and clenbuterol. He also served a 60-day suspension in 2005 after two of his horses tested positive for banned substances and claiming there was a violation.

Given Dutrow's track record, would any owner want all the additional baggage and speculation that comes with employing this trainer? Apparently, the folks at IEAH do not have a problem with it.