Fri Jul 30 2010
Several locally connected to thoroughbred racing say the industry needs changes in the wake of the Eight Belles and Big Brown controversies, a focus of congressional hearings.
They'd like to see one central regulatory authority " without federal government intervention.
"I'm one of those who is not generally in favor of federal government intervention in anything," said Dan Liebman of Frankfort who spoke to The State Journal Friday. He's editor-in-chief of The Blood-Horse, a Lexington-published magazine of the thoroughbred industry.
"But quite frankly, those who say racing has had its chance and have screwed it up are probably accurate. I think Congress is now giving us a final chance to get our house in order."
Testifying before Congress last week, Hall of Fame trainer Jack Van Berg summed up thoroughbred racing's woes in two words: "chemical warfare."
The use of performance-enhancing drugs took a big hit at Thursday's congressional hearing, which convened after Eight Belles broke down and was euthanized at the Kentucky Derby last month. And Big Brown, the favorite to win the Belmont and become the first Triple Crown winner in 30 years, struggled to a last place finish.
Fred Bradley, 77, a retired state senator and owner of Brass Hat " a 7-year-old thoroughbred who broke a track record at Churchill Downs last year in the 1 1/16th mile " said he believes the sport will survive the turbulence.
Bradley worked 10 years as a Kentucky Racing Commission attorney before serving 20 years in the Senate.
"I know over the years we have made gradual improvements," said Bradley, whose family owns 320-acre Indian Ridge Farm on South Benson Road.
"You don't do it all of a sudden " write a bunch of new regulations and enforce them. There's no use having a regulation if it is not being properly enforced. You have to oversee it correctly and strongly."
Friday afternoon, Bradley and his 44-year-old son, Buff, a trainer, sat at a picnic table close to a circular-fenced field where Brass Hat played gently with a pony friend.
They talked about problems in the racing industry and recalled a drug test that cost the Bradleys $1.2 million in second-place prize money in 2006.
"We were millionaires for a week, or we thought we were," Fred Bradley said, managing a smile.
Brass Hat finished second, losing by a half-length in the $6 million Dubai World Cup, the world's richest race. But Brass Hat was disqualified for trace amounts of methyl prednisolone acetate found in post-race testing.
Trainer Buff Bradley said he was following drug guidelines sent to him. The drug was listed with a 23-day withdrawal time and Buff Bradley said Brass Hat got the drug 28 days before the Dubai race.
"All I got from Dubai was an official document, and we followed it," said Buff Bradley in 2006. "It's given to all the trainers, but it shouldn't be out. It's very misleading. If a drug can stay in a horse longer, it's misleading."
Besides forfeiting $1.2 million, Buff Bradley was fined $5,400. The Bradleys lost two appeals. That was to swallow, but the Bradleys say they still love thoroughbreds and horse racing and want to see the business thrive.
Different rules and regulations in 38 racing states make it difficult, they say.
"I've seen a lot of improvements in the last few years on trying to help govern the industry," Buff Bradley says.
"I agree there needs to be one governing body. But you have to have people appointed that are in the business, or have been in the business, so they know what's going on."
Franklin County's Scott Kimbel " a farrier who works with newborn thoroughbreds to improve structural defects as they grow " doesn't think it'd be "the fox guarding the henhouse."
"Most individuals in this business have a high degree of integrity and want to see the business succeed and provide a sport that is enjoyable to the general public, and one that the public has confidence in," Kimbel says.
Congress was told Thursday American thoroughbreds are so inbred they're racing less and are more fragile, and the widespread use of drugs to help them compete threatens the sport's integrity.
Kimbel says he thinks horses have "gotten more fragile" in his 30 years in the business.
But he says he knows people in the business "go to extraordinary lengths and spend extremely large amounts of money to try to ensure the soundness and health of the animal.
"They also realize injuries do happen and sometimes they're catastrophic. Anything we can do to minimize those catastrophes is a good thing. But it is not always obvious exactly what those things are. What happened to (Eight Belles) was so extraordinary to have both legs broken " even after she was being pulled up " is just beyond understanding."
"The good side of that is the public concern and outcry does spur people in the industry to take a closer look at it."
Buff Bradley says he doesn't see any more horse injuries now than he did 20 years ago.
"I've seen stallions and colts retiring early to be bred because they're worth more in breeding than they are at the racetrack," he said.
"We live on this farm 24/7. We watch every horse. If one gets sick we're there to take care of it. If you're in this business you're doing it because you love it, plus you have to look at it as a business. You have to make sure you're protecting your owner's investment.
"True horsemen are going to take care of their animals. Some of them probably take better care of their animals than they take care of themselves."
He says every business or sport has problems that have to be worked out.
"There are probably cheaters in every sport," Buff Bradley said. "We know that. We have to catch them. Drug testing and making sure people follow the rules and regulations " that's absolutely the number-one thing. Because it makes us all look bad if they don't."
Eliminating most drugs wouldn't bother him, Buff Bradley says. But anti-bleeding medication "is one thing we do always need. I don't care about the rest of it. But you want to keep a horse from bleeding internally in the lungs. "
He says research has shown "if you scoped horses that have not been treated with anti-bleeder medication, 80 percent would bleed. If you have that, you're going to have horses sick and not performing the way they're supposed to perform. Then you're defrauding the public."
Fred Bradley says, "Not only do we worry about the horses, we worry about the public betting on the horses. If we didn't have betting, we wouldn't be in the business."
Liebman says horse racing is very different from other sports because of different regulations and medication rules in 38 states. He says he doesn't see how a racing commissioner in charge of the whole nation can work without federal intervention.
"We have 38 states that are going to have to agree on things, and we have a lot of varied interests " owners, breeders, trainers, jockeys, veterinarians."
History has shown that people in the horse racing industry "have a hard time agreeing," Liebman says. "We come up with committees and study things and nothing ever happens."
He says if the federal government gets involved, "I wouldn't think anything would happen very quickly because they don't have a history of that either. I hope this is a wake-up call, an alarm for us to get our act together. I love the sport. It's a great industry " the number one industry in the state. It means everything to Kentucky."
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