Kentucky Derby horses to undergo dope testing

For the first time in the illustrious history of the Kentucky Derby, horse will be asked to pee in a cup.   Kentucky.com with the story out of Louisville.

For the first time in Kentucky Derby history, horses are undergoing screening for blood-doping prior to the race.

A veterinarian for the Kentucky Horse Racing Authority took blood samples Wednesday of all 20 horses entered in the Derby and sent them Thursday to Iowa State University.

We have documented horse doping in the past. Horses can be doped with EPO to increase red blood cells production, steroids to increase muscle mass, snake venom to decrease pain, and other drugs such as Bute will help the horse run better.  Some blame doping and drugging for much horse mortality, including Barbaro.

"We've been doing EPO (blood-doping) testing in post-race testing but what we've added for the Derby is a pre-race test," she said.

Should a horse winning or earning a portion of the Derby purse be found positive for EPO or other illegal medications, the purse would go into escrow while the case was adjudicated.

EPO is among drugs prohibited in horses racing in Kentucky, according to racing rules. The only Derby horse ever disqualified for illegal medication was Dancer's Image, replaced by Forward Pass as the 1968 winner because then-illegal Butazolidin was found in his post-race test.

If the 'A' sample is found positive the 'B' sample is sent to Barbaro University of Pennsylvania.  It also sounds like there might be a problem completing the 'pre-race' sample prior to the race, which sounds a bit Catch-22 to us:

...if the initial screening at Iowa State University reveals an illegal drug, the blood sample in question will be forwarded to the University of Pennsylvania for more extensive testing.

Underwood said she was not certain whether all the pre-race testing of blood samples would be completed prior to the running of the Derby on Saturday.

State Steward John Veitch said definitely that test results will not be known in time for the Derby. They might have been known, according to Veitch, but shipment of the blood samples to Iowa was delayed because of Nobiz Like Shobiz's arrival late Wednesday at Churchill Downs.

(Note the Derby Vet is John Veitch, not to be confused with Deadspin's Will Leitch)

The Nation hopes this doesn't lead to marking of the horse Whizzinator which would be pretty hard to conceal.