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Racing's Loss If Big Brown Wins

I have never forgotten the thrill of watching Secretariat fly down the home stretch of Belmont Park so far in front of the rest of the field that he was the only horse the TV cameras could include in their wide angle shots of the field. The epic adventures of Affirmed and Alydar are constantly replayed every year that any horse has the opportunity to win the Triple Crown. So why do I, a horse racing fan and patron of so many years ( more than I care to acknowledge to you masses and giveaway my age), feel so ambivalent if not downright negative about Big Brown's assault on the Triple Crown? Simple, I think his win today could set racing back years, if not decades.

Big Brown's connections have pasts that leave a lot to be desired. His trainer has a trail of drug related suspensions that Barry Bonds would be ashamed of and his owners has a string of securities violations. But that's not really the problem. As Eric Crawford points out in today's Courier-Journal, shady owners and trainers has never really impacted a horse's legacy. No, what concerns about Big Brown is his acknowledged steroid use. Steroids have no more of a place in horse racing than they do in any human sport. They serve the same purpose in racing as they do in baseball - they are performance enhancers and should be banned. I don't for a minute buy they argument that they are a training aid and don't affect his racing. We have heard that argument in baseball and in track and it's no truer there than in horse racing. Big Brown has been juiced and his racing is suspect as a result.

Full post as published by Sports Biz on June 07, 2008 (boomark / email).