ANABOLIC STEROIDS

I employed one trainer in SA whose yard I visited once.

He wanted to show me my horses and some of his.

He began by bringing out out of their boxes his horses.

When I looked at the first one, I said to myself, "Jesus, this is a strong sucker. Look at the definition of muscle in those hindquarters. Very impressive. He must be a real star."

As each subsequent horse was brought out, and each one had similarly well developed hind quarters, I realized the guy was using steroids.

So I said to him "Hey, what are you using?"

He said "What do you mean?"

I said "You are using steroids."

He said "Why do people always say that!"

I said "Because it's true?"

He tried to convince me it had to do with his superior feeding program and the fact that he jogged his horses a lot to build them up behind.

He said "I can assure you that this is not the case."

I concluded by saying "Do you have a gym in the back of the property where these horses are lifting weights?"

I subsequently met an individual that confirmed Testan was the product being used.

Barry

Some people on this forum will rebuke you for writing about the extensive use of
steroids in SA. They don't like the image of horse racing in SA to be tarnished.
They are living in denial, especially some of the vets.

zsuzsanna04

'mis-using medication in order to get results', you are spot on with this comment.
You are a breath of fresh air. Nobody writes like the way you do on this forum.
When are you going to write a book on South African horse racing?

Shocking

im no expert,iv been punting for many,many years and iv often wondered why certain trainers can improve any horse they get.after reading mr irwans post i now understand y.lol.one other question for the experts is y do certain trainers only do well with distance horses and cant train a champion sprinter or even good sprinting types?it boggles my mind that no one asks the basic question wat makes 1 trainer so much superior to another trainer even with inferior stock by below avg sires.my conclusion is that said trainer must hv some magic potion that cant be detected and only works with horses running 1400m and further.like i said im no expert and was just wondering if anyone else finds this strange.p.s please dont castigate me im no expert and it has always boggled my mind why no one has ever questioned wat makes 1 trainer so superior to another trainer.

Winzip: here are the two answers, as follows:

1) Training styles account for whether a trainer is more successful with horses that run short or long. This is true all over the world.

2) Drugs that increase the amount of oxygen carrying red blood cells combined with a buffer to delay the impact of lactic acid build up do allow horses to decelerate at a slower rate than their rivals, so they are more successful over a route of ground.

thank you for your reply.very informative and interesting.my assumption that a certain trainer is being dishonest must then be totally wrong.he must just be miles ahead of the other trainers.like they say assumption is the mother of all f ... ups!

1. A horse cannot test positive if one of the 2 samples breaks by accident or a sample goes missing from the testing process.
2. A conviction cannot be obtained when the docket is removed by a higher ranking officer from the captains desk.
3. Conclusion : onlly those that need to be brought in line, ends up being convicted.
4. Learn to read the patterns on these horses and back them, more money to be made by backing these horses than arguing about things that cannot be changed yet.
Have a great 2012 and make millions backing horses that eat pampers - lol

Andrew West, you have just given about the most perfect example possible as to why our sport not only has trouble attracting quality new fans, but is losing the ones it has.

Barry Irwin as a influential international owner why dnt you expose these filthy cheating trainers and help make the sport better ?

They need you more than you need them so f them,expose them and let them rot

I have been writing about it since 1978!

If there was NO indication for a Steroid then the relevant Medical Authorities like the FDA in America or the MCC in South Africa would NOT register them. The problem comes in when unqualified people try to use them for the wrong indications..and their use on animals like racehorses is totally unacceptable unless it is used by a qualified Doctor and used in the approved indication.

My major bone of contention as regards growth steroids is the potential use of it on very young horses to prep them up for a sale.