by Dean A. Hoffman

Dean Hoffman

Columbus, OH — American colonists rebelled against taxation without representation, so perhaps harness horsemen should rebel against regulation without representation.

Even though harness racing will be affected by any decisions made by the Congressional committee examining anabolic steroids and other issues in horse racing, we didn’t have a seat at the table when racing recently got to present its side of the story.

The spokesmen for the racing industry were members of the Thoroughbred industry and/or racing regulators.

The only no-show in the group was Rick Dutrow, the controversial trainer of Big Brown, who flopped so badly in his Triple Crown quest in the Belmont. Dutrow probably wouldn’t have enhanced the stature of racing with the Congressional committee as his personal drug use and positives for his horses are well known.

In fact, it’s ironic that normally the best time of the year for horse racing has become the worst time of the year. The general public often pays attention to racing only during that interlude from the Kentucky Derby through the Belmont Stakes, the bookends of the Thoroughbred Triple Crown.

When you have a heartwarming story, such as Funny Cide or Smarty Jones, and a Triple Crown contender, the whole country gets swept up in the moment. People who normally pay no attention to racing begin to follow it and wouldn’t miss the Belmont for anything.

It’s usually horse racing’s time to shine.

This year, however, the bookends of the Triple Crown have been marked by the death of Eight Belles in the Kentucky Derby and the debate over Big Brown’s anabolic steroid use before the Belmont.

The cast of characters around Big Brown don’t flatter racing’s image and, in fact, probably reinforce racing’s reputation as nothing but “drugs and thugs” with the media and public.

It’s amusing to note that the Big Brown camp seems to feel it’s very gallant that he will race “drug free” in the future. What they mean, of course, is “anabolic steroid free” because they ignore the fact that he will be given the drug Lasix.

The anabolic steroids issue has been a topic of urgency for Congress and it now seems that it’s just a matter of time before they are completely banned or strictly regulated. Most state racing commissions still give their blessing to using anabolic steroids on horses, but the pressure will probably be such that they’ll have to move to adopt the Racing Medication & Testing Consortium model rule or risk a Congressional ban.

The death of Eight Belles after the Derby last month received enormous publicity and I don’t think anyone knows exactly why this tragedy took place. But such deaths aren’t limited to Thoroughbred racing. Remember the death of Dreamfair Kogel who collapsed and died after the final of the Little Brown Jug just three years ago? And two horses recently died in the Rolex Three-Day Event in Kentucky.

I just returned from the annual meeting of American Horse Publications and for the first time in my memory, we had a representative of the Humane Society of the United States at the meeting. She was very polite and professional, but I think her presence is a sign that the HSUS is looking at horse racing a lot more closely these days. And its membership of 10 million people dwarfs the people involved in horse racing. USTA membership, for example, is around 23,000.

HSUS is pushing a movement to create a National Racing Commission to settle “national regulations for the humane treatment of horses in the racing industry.” Go to the HSUS and you can sign a petition to prompt Congress to act.

I mentioned in a recent column that one of the top officials with the HSUS is Connie Whitfield, whose husband, Rep. Ed Whitfield, is the ranking member on the Congressional committee looking into anabolic steroids and other problems in racing. That’s a strong alliance.

This issue isn’t going to go away, and people in harness racing should have a right to express their opinions on the issues. You still have time to make your voice heard. Contact your Congressional representative or contact your state racing commission. If people in harness racing are going to be bound by regulations, we certainly have a right to let our representatives know our opinions on these issues.