Potential Triple Crown winner Big Brown's trainer says the big guy will be clean...since April 15. Impressive. Those steroid effects will be eliminated by - oh - 2010 or so.
In one of the more bogus claims, Rick Dutrow says the big pony has been running well, so no need for more juicing -- as if the effects of anabolic steroids over the years simply dries up, like a runny nose.
Big Brown will begin the Belmont Stakes from the No. 1 post position. The big bay colt is a prohibitive 2-5 favorite to win the 140th running of the Belmont Stakes on Saturday and become only the 12th Triple Crown champion in history. Big Brown will also attempt to remain undefeated and gain immortality without his monthly steroid injection.
In fact, his trainer, Rick Dutrow, said Big Brown had not received the anabolic steroid Winstrol since April 15, when he was stabled in Florida.
“The horse had been doing so good, and is doing so good, I don’t want to screw things up,” Dutrow said. “I haven’t changed any routine.”
Dutrow said that he usually gave his horses an injection of Winstrol — which is legal in 28 of the 38 states where horse racing is held, including the three states holding Triple Crown races — on the 15th of each month. He said he did not give his horses steroids when they were not in training.
This horse remains cleaner than Ben Johnson at the Olympics.
In Big Brown’s case, he missed 90 days of training with a wall separation in his front hooves. He then received an injection of Winstrol when he returned to the racetrack in February and was injected again in March and in April.
Michael Iavarone, a co-president of International Equine Acquisitions Holdings, which is one of the owners of Big Brown, acknowledged that the accomplishments of his colt had been questioned by some critics because of the injections of Winstrol, the same anabolic steroid that the sprinter Ben Johnson tested positive for in 1988, causing him to be stripped of his gold medal in the Seoul Olympics.
“But Rick has said, and we have believed all along, that Big Brown is phenomenally talented and has not needed any performance-enhancing drugs,” Iavarone said in discussing the decision to not use steroids since April.
Some doping experts say the effects of the steroids are nil. (ha!)
Gary Wadler, a New York University medical professor and antidoping expert, said that if you took Dutrow’s claims at face value, that Big Brown has not received steroids since mid-April, then it would be fair to argue that a victory in the Belmont Stakes, at least, could be considered steroid-free.
“The impact on the race, if any, would be minimal,” Wadler said in reference to the April steroid injection.
Dr. Rick Arthur, the equine medical director for the California Horse Racing Board, agreed. “The fact of steroids having any effect at this time is virtually nil,” he said.
However Charles Yesalis gives the correct answer: com on guys, of course the 'roid affect performance. The horse trained under the influence. Anabolic steroids deliver long terms effects too.
However, Charles E. Yesalis, a professor of sports science at Penn State, said that the steroids previously injected into Big Brown had already affected his training, and that the athletic machine had already been built.
“These are training drugs — you don’t need them in your body for competition; the effect has already taken place,” he said. “It’s really immaterial that he is not doing it now.”
As steroids remain legal for horse racing in many states, any victories are legal for the horse. However, one might ask if the the wins tainted? What is the routine for the other horses in the races?
Comments