The 'Roid Report for the week of November 2

by Gary Gaffney, MD, Steroid Nation

During the 2008 Triple Crown run, top horse Big Brown ran full out on 'roids, injected monthly with Ben Johnson's favorite juice, Winstrol. In Kentucky, horses can legally juice with anabolic steroids, although this is changing in many states. Big Brown lost the last leg of the series at the Belmont Stakes, an outcome we speculated resulted from anabolic steroid withdrawal, as the big steed's big mouthed trainer Rick Dutrow ran the horse without 'roids for the final leg of the T-Crown.

With the widespread outcry against bad boy trainer Rick Dutrow spiking Big Brown's cool diet with hot 'roids, and the untimely horrific demise of Eight Belles on the Churchill Downs track in the aftermath of the '08 Derby, fans have pushed for more humane treatment of sporting animals. Sports organizations began the outlawing of anabolic steroids, EPO, analgesic drugs, and yes diuretics too.

Following closely on the hooves of the Triple Crown steroids spike, an 2008 Olympics horse-doping scandal occurred in the Beijing/Hong Kong Olympics as several dressage horses from all over the world (Ireland, the US, Germany, and Brazil) were found to have doped with drugs like capsiacin and analgesics. These drugs are banned by international horse federations.

Harness racing horses fell prey to unscrupulous trainers who injected their horses with the blood expanding hormones EPO. A fine trainer in Illinois even doped his horse with elephant juice.

Therefore it was welcome news when the prestigious Breeder's Cup reported out that none of the equine contestants juiced prior to the race. The stringent anti-doping testing showed that horse racing can be both exciting and steroid clean. As mentioned earlier, many states now ban steroids in race steeds; the drugs can be extremely dangerous to the horse, both in direct effects, and in increasing muscle size of the fragile beasts thus overwhelming the tendons and bones.

Doping and steroid use is not limited to humans and horses. Last week, rodeo fans noted that all bulls nominated for the Professional Bull Rider's Bull of the Year, were pure testosterone-driven beasts; none tested positive during the rigorous protocol designed to ferret out 'roids in rodeo. The no BS approach by the PBR paid off in clean beef.

Humans juice up other animal athletes like goldfish, illegal dog fighters (yeah Michael Vick too), and greyhounds. Performance Enhancing Drugs (PEDs) obviously are not to be limited to human cheats only. Looks like it is due time to ban the juice in all sporting species. Change animal athletes can believe in cannot come soon enough in sports. Outlaw those 'roids for beasts.