Very different than what Big Brown was on. Not a “bulk you up” steroid.
And to Laurie’s point, it’s illegal to race on corticosteroids, too, and he got caught.
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I don’t know where everyone gets the idea that Medina Spirit was scrawny or little. Not singling you out, @dressagetraks - this is a misconception that seems pretty widespread as I have noted it elsewhere.
I can’t recall where I saw his stats, but he was 16.1 or 16.2, so about average for a 3yo Thoroughbred colt.
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I got the idea from looking at him on videos, up against the other horses as they are running side by side. Noticed in several races, not just once from an odd angle. He may not have been short, but he definitely was not as muscular as 90% of his competition. He was built more greyhoundy.
ETA to add a quote from Baffert himself, who presumably saw the horse regularly. "That little horse is all guts. His heart is bigger than his body.”
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LOL, really! Outlawed and used are not even close to a common thing, or we would not have to threaten with tests!
It is quite open these days that in the 80s the top athletes retreated to camps so they could get a better handle on the dugs and withdrawal periods. There is a reason so few obviously juiced people actually came up hot!
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Betamethasone is a component in joint injections. Many, if not most, show horses, eventers, reining horses, etc would probably test positive for it, if it were looked for. As Texarkana pointed out, it’s not the kind of “swallow down and bulk up” steroid that dressagetraks was referring to.
TB testing is sensitive enough to detect the presence of a banned substance in trillionths of a gram. Which is why BB got caught.
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it really does not matter what the stuff is used for: It is not legal to have it on board on race day!
And shooting up a 3y/o? jebus. Talking about disposable culture.
Baffert just needs to take this one on the chin. The world is not out to sabotage him (or he’d be banned by now) and sloppy barn management does really fly in the face of things when you have triple crown contenders in every other stall in your barn.
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When is a steroid not a steroid?
Betamethazone is a ‘Controlled’ drug under FEI rules. Such a drug is deemed to have therapeutic value and/or may commonly be used in medications. But controlled substances also have the potential to affect a) performance and b) welfare of the horse. The FEI does test for a long list of substances, both banned and controlled. Bit of a worry if most American equine athletes would test positive for it. Only meds can keep your horses sound?
UK racing has a mandatory 14 day stand down period after an intra-articular injection of betamethazone. There is no published detection time limit, since there are so many variables, but it is the absolute responsibility of the trainer to ensure blood is clear before running the horse.
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Well, anabolic steroid v. corticosteroid to answer your first question. The conversation was about whether or not Medina Spirit was on an anabolic steroid like Big Brown, and Laurie was saying no, he was not. Pre-2008, horses could and did train on anabolic steroids. Now that is illegal thanks to Rick Dutrow. I think most states require 60 days before racing post-therapeutic anabolic steroid use.
Corticosteroids manage inflammation. They don’t enhance physical performance, however they can be used to mask pain, therefore enhancing performance in a horse who is battling a physical ailment. Around 2008, states cracked down in the use of corticosteroids in racehorses, too. Like the UK, a horse can’t race for 14 days after receiving therapeutic corticosteroids.
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Speaking of UK racing https://www.thoroughbreddailynews.com/dunne-banned-for-18-months-for-conduct-towards-frost/
Thank you for explaining that better than I did.
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Irad Ortiz for suspended 30 days. Boy did he deserve it.
Go to :39 here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=doIf59b8s0k
Sorry for the derail. It didn’t seem to need a thread of its own.
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That could have been so much worse.
The right called to suspend him.
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Corticosteroids and anabolic steroids are somewhat different things. Betamethasone is a corticosteroid.
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It would be truly pathetic to award the Eclipse to a dead horse that was DQ’d from a TC win.
Just saying.
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This doesn’t deserve its own thread, so I will put it here, since it’s a Baffert trainee.
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so every Baffert win deserves an Asterisk?
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Here is another incident concerning Irad Ortiz Jr.'s race riding in the Remsen Stakes. It was discussed today (Saturday, 12/11/21) during the “America’s Day At The Races” broadcast. Go to (approximately) 1:15:20 to watch it.
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The owner of the 2nd placed horse has protested the non-disqualification of the horse ridden by Ortiz.
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Maybe an improper comment here but politicians meddling in areas they know next to nothing about.
From a Bloodhorse article, Feinstein Urges Transparent Medina Spirit Investigation…
As you well know, Medina Spirit is one of 71 racehorses who have died at California racing facilities thus far in 2021. While this represents a reduction in deaths from prior years, it is apparent that more work is necessary to prevent these tragic fatalities.
I totally support any and all efforts to reduce/minimize racing fatalities; it also strikes me that horses sometimes die of cardiac events when at horse shows (Hickstead comes to mind) or just in their pastures at home. We need to continue research to identify individuals at tracks at risk but to ‘prevent additional fatalities’ maybe the answer is outlaw horses in the state of California?
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I found this article, as an example of how judges award legal fees, very interesting and educational.
Not much gets by Judge Amon. She knows an overreach where attorneys fees are concerned. Doesn’t like “vague” record keeping either. Even though Baffert prevailed he’s still stuck with almost 53K in legal bills due to his choice of attorneys.
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