Glass Half Empty or Half Full?

Stuart Janney, chairman of the Jockey Club's Thoroughbred Safety Committee, has addressed the media on his committee's safety recommendations and while he has done a great job explaining the rationale behind these recommendations, in my opinion, they do not go far enough. The suggestions are: ban steroids on race day, eliminate toe grabs on horses' front shoes and use a padded and shorter riding crop.

With regard to the steroid ban, Janney was forceful but also pragmatic: "Steroids have no place in a horse on race day," he said, leaving the door open for the use of steroids for therapeutic purposes. What will have to be made extremely clear, however, is the window during which steroids may be administered prior to racing.

Part of this package requires the development of an appropriate test, ideally blood based, that detects synthetic steroids in horses. What will need to be determined is whether or not steroids like Winstrol, for example, which Dutrow admitted to administering on the 15th of every month, is still detected in the bloodstream of a horse on the 30th of that same month. In other words, no steroids on race day still leaves open the possibility of administering steroids prior to race day.

As for the elimination of toe caps, I think it is a great idea because it does put added stress on the horse's front legs. The question remains whether they should have eliminated them on the hind legs as well.

Think about wearing cleats. When you walk on surfaces that require their added traction, you do not notice them. But when you don't, they do change your gate. I am thinking, in particular, of the yak-trak cleats I wear to walk my dogs in winter snow and ice. You could break your neck on my tile floor, so I walk very gingerly in the house, but they are great on the ice. Even so, the first few days I wear them, my calf muscles are sore from walking in a different way. I can only imagine that if I had four feet instead of two and had cleats on only two of my feet, my weight would be totally redistributed and would indeed, place more stress on different muscles.

There is the risk of eliminating traction all together, which in itself is dangerous, but shifting toe grabs from the front to the rear feet may also prove to be problematic. Why not eliminate them all together--which they could do if they mandated synthetic racing surfaces. To be fair, Larry Bramlage, veterinarian, said the committee would be addressing the issue of traction devices on the hind legs but it would require additional data--which might be forthcoming pretty quickly once they eliminate the toe grabs on the front feet.

As for the shorter, padded whips--again a good suggestion and one that walks the middle ground. Will enforcement be needed to examine those "padded" whips? Will some be less "padded" than others? And are those whips only for race days, not training? Why not make them mandatory on the racetrack at all times?

So how do you see it? Is something better than nothing?