Dutrow suspended for 15 days

Horse tests positive for Clenbuterol; Dutrow faces ban in Kentucky

ESPN.com news services
June 25, 2008, 5:26 PM ET

LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- Rick Dutrow is in trouble again.

The outspoken trainer of Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner Big Brown is facing a 15-day suspension by Kentucky racing officials after another horse he trains exceeded the allowable limit for a drug that enables horses to breathe easier while exercising.

Two separate drug tests on 8-year-old gelding Salute the Count revealed the horse had twice the allowable limit of Clenbuterol in his system after finishing second in the Aegon Turf Sprint at Churchill Downs on May 2, said John Veitch, chief state steward of the Kentucky Horse Racing Authority.

Clenbuterol, considered a Class B drug by the KHRA, is often used by humans who suffer from asthma. The drug, which Veitch said contains some steroidal properties but is not considered a steroid, is sometimes used by trainers because of it's ability to increase a horse's lung capacity.

"It's a respiratory enhancer," Veitch said. "It's become quite popular in racing medication because it's used to train on."

The drug is not permitted in racing, but is regulated by the states through the use of a threshold concentration said Scot Waterman, executive director of the Racing Medication and Testing Consortium. Trainers are recommended to avoid giving a dosage to a horse 72-96 hours before heading to the starting gate, though the threshold level varies from state to state.

Dutrow waived his right to a hearing but plans to file a written appeal, which he must do within the next 10 days. There is no timetable on when Dutrow could meet with KHRA executive director Lisa Underwood, Veitch said.

"He will get a stay on his suspension until the appeal is heard," Veitch said.

Dutrow said he sometimes uses the drug in other horses and was previously reprimanded by the New York State Racing and Wagering Board for a similar infraction several years ago.

"I really haven't had any problems with it," Dutrow said in a phone interview.

The first positive test was conducted by a lab at Iowa State University. Dutrow requested a second test, which was conducted by a lab at Louisiana State University. That test also came back positive.

Dutrow raced four horses during Churchill Downs' spring meet, the last on May 17. He does not currently have any horses at the track.

As part of the penalty, Salute the Count owners Michael Dubb and Robert Joscelyn must return $24,521 in purse money. On June 15, the horse finished second to First Defence in the Jaipur Stakes at Belmont Park. Drug test results from that race are not yet available said Dan Toomey with the New York State Racing & Wagering Board.

The penalty is the first for Dutrow in Kentucky, though hardly the first time he's run into trouble. He spoke openly about his checkered past during Big Brown's run at the Triple Crown. He's been cited dozens of times over the years for everything from repeated medication violations to his own drug use.

Dutrow has been fined or suspended at least once every year since 2000 for doping issues:

• In 2000, a barn search in New York produced "an injectible vitamin which is forbidden."
• In 2001, a horse had excessive Lasix -- an anti-bleeding medication -- in its system.
• In '02, Dutrow "failed to follow Lasix procedures."
• In '03, a horse tested positive for Mepivacaine.
• From '04 through an '08 fine in Florida, there were citations regarding Lasix, Clenbuterol, Phenylbutazone and Oxyphenbutazone.
• Dutrow served a 60-day suspension in 2005 after two of his horses tested positive for banned substances and for a claiming violation.
• Then, in 2007, he served an additional 14-day suspension and was fined $25,000 for violating conditions of his suspension by having contact with his stable.

The news of the possible suspension comes just days after IEAH Stables, co-owners of Big Brown, stepped forward and said it would take all of its horses off steroids entirely and shy away from trainers who continue to use the drugs to maintain their horses.

"If they don't want to play by the rules, then they don't get to train with us," Michael Iavarone, co-president of IEAH, told The Associated Press in an interview Monday.

Iavarone did not return a phone call or an e-mail on Wednesday seeking comment.

IEAH's decision is part of a groundswell of support to rid the sport of steroids. The New York State Legislature passed a measure Tuesday that will give the New York Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association an additional 1 percent of purse money next year. The NYTHA plans to use a portion of the money to purchase state of the art drug testing equipment.

Dutrow is currently competing at Aqueduct while keeping an eye on Big Brown, who has been resting since a shocking last-place finish in the Belmont Stakes on June 7.

Several pictures have surfaced in recent days indicating Big Brown ran almost the entire 1½-mile race with the shoe on his right rear foot dislodged after he collided with Guadacanal shortly after leaving the starting gate.

Iavarone said he believes the shoe problem may have contributed to Big Brown's poor showing in the Belmont, though Dutrow isn't so sure. Big Brown also ran with an acrylic patch on his left front hoof to protect a quarter crack, an injury that kept him off the track for several days leading up to the race.

"I don't know, it's kind of a puzzle to me," Dutrow said. "I just don't get the whole thing. It looks like when you look at the pictures, it could have bothered him, but I should have seen it and the rider [Kent Desormeaux] didn't feel it."

Desormeaux managed to put Big Brown in perfect stalking position on the backstretch, only to ease him as they made the turn because the jockey felt the big bay colt wasn't right. An extensive post-race examination turned up nothing out of the ordinary.

"The pictures don't lie, but neither does the horse," he said.
Big Brown's next scheduled race is the Haskell Invitational at Monmouth Park on Aug. 3.

Information from The Associated Press and ESPN.com senior writer Pat Forde was used in this report.
http://sports.espn.go.com/sports/horse/news/story?id=3459863

15 days is a joke in my opinion..But I'm not a big fan of Dutrow

That a-hole should get 15 years.

Dutrow's arrogance is finally catching up to him.

he gets one of these a year same as assmussen and lake.....usually get 45 days clen must not be that big of deal

Good point steak but he has pissed off the racing community and I feel they will make him their favourite wipping boy.

He should have gotten much more. He's an Ass-wipe

If not for Big Brown, I would think he would have got 30-60 days

Isn't that why these horses break down as bute,lasix.anti biotics and so forth when these horses are running lame they don't feel the pain and pull up.

BadCo said:

Isn't that why these horses break down as bute,lasix.anti biotics and so forth when these horses are running lame they don't feel the pain and pull up.

Click to expand...

Bute is the only pain killer from your list above. Lasix is for Bleeders but it is used as a Mask to cover other drugs.

Antibiotics have no bearing on anything but what they are known for.
Unless you meant to say anabolic steroid ? which is THG

Erythropoietin ( spelling might be off there ) ( EPO ) is what most of these horses break down and/ or Die.

Well shit we'll call it a speeball then.

You know cocktial of all of the above.

Wow! Dutrow is starting to lose it. Now he is trying to throw other trainers under the bus.

Dutrow fires back over bad press
By DAVID GRENING

OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Faced with a litany of bad press, what he believes to be a mischaracterization of his past indiscretions, and the possibility of losing his best horses, trainer Richard Dutrow Jr. fought back Friday morning during a news conference held outside his Aqueduct barn.

Dutrow, who came under the national spotlight after winning the Kentucky Derby and Preakness but finishing last in the Belmont Stakes with Big Brown, touched on a number of topics during a 30-minute meeting with about 10 reporters, including his use of medications in horses and the job he did getting Big Brown to the Triple Crown.

Dutrow spoke two days after he was notified that one of his horses, Salute the Count, had an overage of clenbuterol, a bronchodilator, after finishing second in the Churchill Downs Turf Sprint on May 2. Dutrow received a 15-day suspension for the violation. He formally appealed the suspension Friday, according to Lisa Underwood, executive director of the Kentucky Horse Racing Authority.

While Dutrow admitted that his barn made a mistake in the case of Salute the Count, he said he is appealing the suspension as long as he can so he can be around his horses, many of whom will be running in graded stakes in the next two weeks.

Dutrow, 48, is particularly upset with the assertion that he has 72 rulings against him, which has been widely reported by high-profile mainstream media outlets. Before the news conference, Dutrow had an exasperated look on his face when he reviewed a list of his infractions by the Association of Racing Commissioners International that included such negligible entries as not having foal papers on record or not having owner's colors in the jockeys' quarters. There are even multiple references in the list to his license being restored to good standing.

"This is what they're talking about?" Dutrow said.

Aside from violations regarding his own personal drug use, Dutrow has been cited for two equine positives involving clenbuterol and one for mepivacaine, for which he received suspensions and fines. There are seven references to overages of butazolidin and four overages of Lasix. Dutrow was fined for all, but suspended for only one of those infractions.

"I don't give Lasix, the vets do," Dutrow said. "Why are they counting that against me? My vet gave too much or gave it too late, is that my fault? They make it my fault."

Dutrow said he used to give Bute, an anti-inflammatory, to his horses the day before they ran, but "I don't do that anymore." Dutrow said he does give Bute paste to his horses after they have a workout.

Dutrow said he would be in favor if veterinarians were barred from the grounds, and said he welcomed a national set of medication rules. In typical Dutrow fashion, though, he bashed many of New York's leading trainers over the years, basically accusing them of cheating.

"How does Oscar Barrera go from winning no races for 30 years and then he becomes the best trainer that's ever trained horses in two years, then they stop him and he goes 0 for 140?'' Dutrow said. "The same thing with Gasper Moschera - where's he at? How did he get to be the man in New York by laying carpet, then they stop him and he gets out of the game. Peter Ferriola, Juan Serey. You look at this jerk-off down there, [Gary] Contessa - how does he set records? How does he do it? C'mon, man, if everything is the same playing field, we're going to do as good if not better than anybody."

Contessa, who is the leading trainer in wins in New York, was dismissive of Dutrow's remarks.

"He's done more to hurt this business in the last three months than anybody has done,'' said Contessa, who is stabled five barns down from Dutrow at Aqueduct. "I'm still waiting for him to say something intelligent."

Dutrow was scheduled to appear before a congressional committee studying breakdowns and drugs in horse racing. Dutrow reiterated that he did not feel well enough to attend, but would have "if I had a gun to my head."

"They wanted to talk about breakdowns," Dutrow said. "Everybody looks at me like I'm a drug kind of guy, and if you're a drug kind of guy you're going to go out there and watch your horses break down. I want anybody here right now to tell me the last time you've seen one of my horses break down in the afternoon. You're not going to be able to find it because I'm safe, I'm sound, I protect my horses."

Dutrow said the last horse of his he recalls breaking down on the track was Lake Pontchartrain, who was vanned off following a last-place finish in the James Moseley Stakes at Suffolk Downs on June 2, 2001.

Dutrow also said that during the Triple Crown series too much attention was paid to his use of the steroid Winstrol on Big Brown. Dutrow said he deserves credit for getting the horse to the Derby. He said that few, if any, trainers would have raced the horse in a March 5 allowance race after not having trained him in January and only getting two breezes into him in February.

"I took a shot like I always do and it worked; nobody wants to talk about that," Dutrow said. "Instead, they're pounding on the Winstrol and clenbutrol and the things that look like they might be bad. I did a great job with the horse, you all, and you guys should be thinking about that and writing about that."

Before the press conference, Dutrow told Daily Racing Form about two equipment changes he made on Big Brown after the horse bore out winning the Florida Derby. Dutrow said he went from using a figure-eight and D-bit to a ring-bit and a noseband, which helped the horse retain a straighter course in the Kentucky Derby.

"I didn't come out and say all these things, but everybody's attacking me on these other things that don't add up to nothing," he said. "Why don't they look at the good things that we did? It's not fair."

At his side during the press conference was Michael Dubb, a longtime client of Dutrow's and part-owner of Salute the Count, who threw his unconditional support behind Dutrow.

"Rick Dutrow does not cheat," said Dubb, who has about 25 horses with Dutrow. "Rick Dutrow is all about his horses. He cares for his horses immensely. What happened with Salute the Count [is] he administered a legal - and I reiterate legal - medication too close to race day. It was during the Big Brown mania, no doubt an honest mistake."

The news of the positive came out just two days after one of Dutrow's biggest clients, International Equine Acquisitions Holdings Inc., announced its plans to stop using race-day medications other than Lasix on its horses after Oct. 1. Michael Iavarone, the co-president of IEAH, said he was angry that Dutrow did not inform him of the positive and admitted to considering removing all his horses from Dutrow's barn.

Iavarone said Friday that he will give Dutrow another chance, but added that the trainer is on a short leash.

"If Rick is part of this operation, if he's going to handle the best horses, we are deserving of him being completely straight up and not hiding it," Iavarone said. "That would be the crux of my irritations. I made it clear that it can't happen again."

http://www.drf.com/news/article/95884.html


Can you imagine if Iavarone pulled his top horses, including Big Brown, from Dutrow and gave them to another trainer?? That would be too funny.