A Drug Free Triple Crown

The Belmont is this Saturday and without the Derby and Preakness winners, the race has lost some of its marketing appeal to casual fans of the sport. Once again, many blame the structure of the Triple Crown series for keeping the big names in the sport out of contention, but Bill Finley, over at ESPN.com has got it right. "Sorry," he writes. "But it's not the Triple Crown that needs fixing , but the horses that run in the Triple Crown."

It is the drugs ingested by these horses, Finley contends, that are weakening them, especially lasix, the diuretic, which was in the bloodstream of every horse that competed in the Preakness, Derby and most likely, the Belmont. Have you ever taken a diuretic? It depletes your body of excess water, but also of potassium and essential nutrients. Finley puts it this way: "Is it any wonder that a horse has a hard time bouncing back after competing when every time they race they race with a drug that dehydrates them? (How would you feel after running a mile-and-a-half while dehydrated?)"

Not to mention all the other things that get pumped into these horses that are still "legal" but hardly "safe." Finley quotes the trainer Ken McPeek, who doesn't believe that drugs belong in the top level events in the sport. "I strongly believe that Lasix is why horses can no longer make all three races," he says.

What a concept! Run the Triple Crown races, and for that matter all Grade I races, drug free. And this from the trainer of Noble's Promise, who ran on Lasix and was fifth in this year's Derby. At one time, Lasix was only used for bleeders; now it is used by everyone who feel it gives them an edge.

The point, according to Finley, is that McPeek and all trainers should not be given a choice to use the drug or not. "While everyone else gets by fine with hay, oats and water, the United States and Canada are the only major racing countries that allow a drug that every shred of common sense says has led to unhealthier horses making fewer starts," comments Finley.

Skeptics may tell you that the hay, oats and water in Europe are not as "pure" as many believe (they just don't get caught) but there is absolutely no denying the fact that the horses in Europe run longer distances for many more years than their American and Canadian counterparts.

I'd love to see the NTRA adopt a drug free policy for the Triple Crown and see if it trickles down. You have to start somewhere and there's no place like the top.