Question mark over Black Caviar as steroids saga takes new twist

• BHA refuses to release form clarifying Black Caviar matter
• There are different rules regarding steroid use in Australia


The Guardian, Monday 29 April 2013 20.39 BST




Racing's ruling body has refused to release a form in its possession which would clarify whether Black Caviar was ever trained on steroids before winning at Royal Ascot last year. The great Australian mare, who recently retired unbeaten after 25 races, had her name dragged into the debate over steroid use at the end of last week when the British trainer Roger Charlton used Twitter to ask if she had been "treated with anabolic steroids during her career".

British-based trainers are prohibited from using such steroids on horses in training, which is why Mahmood al-Zarooni was banned for eight years last week, but there is no such rule in Australia, where the requirement is simply that any steroids be out of their system on the day of any race in which they take part. Some British trainers now have concerns over allowing Australian runners here, since the benefits of steroid use can last much longer than the drug itself.

For several years trainers of horses from overseas who wish to run in Britain have been required by the British Horseracing Authority to complete a form, either confirming that the horse has never been given anabolic steroids or detailing the occasions on which such drugs were given. Overseas runners are also subject to routine testing before racing.

Will Lambe, the BHA's head of external affairs, asked if he could release the form relating to Black Caviar which was presumably signed by her trainer, Peter Moody, last summer, said: "We don't comment on individual cases or details of our dope-testing programme unless the matter warrants a disciplinary hearing.

"There is no evidence to suggest that horses trained from outside Britain competing in this country have done so with the benefit of anabolic steroids. There has been no positive for anabolic steroids. If there was one, the horse in question would be barred from running in the race for which it was entered."

In a separate development the BHA confirmed it was investigating the Newmarket trainer Gerard Butler after an unspecified number of his horses returned positive samples for banned substances when tested at his yard in mid-February. Butler had given a newspaper interview blaming a joint treatment called Sungate, which he said was prescribed by his vet but turned out to contain stanozolol. Butler believes more than 100 horses at other yards in the town may also have been treated with it.

Hunt Ball has left Keiran Burke's yard at the trainer's request, Burke having fallen out with the horse's flamboyant owner, Anthony Knott. The pair were recently fined by the BHA after the initials of the bookmaker Paddy Power were painted on Hunt Ball's hindquarters when it ran at last month's Cheltenham Festival. "I see Knotty had it put in the paper that Paddy Power will be paying our fines," said Burke, fined £1,000 to Knott's £4,000. "But that's not the case; I'll be paying my own fine.

"I've been thinking about this for weeks and it'll be better for me if I don't have him in the yard. It's gutting, really, because he's such a good horse, but I'll have to press on and try and find another one."

Burke has 11 horses remaining in his stable at Ash, Somerset. Hunt Ball was among the most improved horses of the 2011-12 jumps season and won at last year's Festival.

A Monday of unusual drama was completed when the jockey Graham Gibbons was interviewed by police at Wolverhampton racecourse, where he rode two winners. West Midlands police later confirmed they had arrested a 31-year-old man on behalf of North Yorkshire Police, who offered no comment on the matter, which is believed to be unrelated to racing.

Aidan O'Brien has supplemented Moth into Sunday's 1,000 Guineas at a cost of £30,000 and the filly is now 8-1 fourth-favourite. There were no surprises at the five-day declaration stage for Saturday's 2,000 Guineas, with Dawn Approach, Toronado and Mars still the leading contenders.

Funny how people sit on a high horse,and snear at Godolphin,when this kind of abuse is rife world wide..

In this day and age of international racing rules should be uniformal

hibernia Wrote:

---

> Funny how people sit on a high horse,and snear at
> Godolphin,when this kind of abuse is rife world
> wide..
>
> In this day and age of international racing rules
> should be uniformal

(tu)

Funny how an issue totally unrelated to Black Caviar somehow becomes all about Black Caviar.

It just won't do to have a foreign horse better than the British ones - it must be because of steroids.

About the rules being uniform, that makes sense to me.
The problem is trying to get the different jurisdictions to agree to anything.
We can't even get that right here at home.

All other sports "doping " is banned universally, why should horse racing be any different in USA, UK, Aus etc. Are the playing fields really level, was she the greatest race mare ever ????? Why did she retire so quickly after Peter Moody revealed her racing plans for 2013 on Off the Rails ???? Will be interesting to see the saga unfold.

nothing in racing surprises me so lets just see how this unfolds.mr goodman is adamant that steroid use is rife in rsa so i hv to believe that certain yards in rsa are guilty and its scary because us punters are always doubting some of the shocking results we are getting.always that element of doubt was this donkey @ 40 or 50/1 on steroids?lol.not funny but it could be true.who knows anymore wats going on.

I often made comments about the uncanny results we have here in SA.

Some of them been
- horses without any form beating a coupling with form.
- favorites( both true and false favorites) either getting beaten or running unplaced.
- jockeys not riding to form or horses not riding to form..etc etc

Each time I raised something which appeared controversial, a handful of posters preferred to tear my comments apart, but the issue that was preferred to be ignored was the level of cleanliness of horse racing.

Now that we are hearing about drug abuse overseas, why do some still have the mindset that SA racing is clean.

The results of late have shown some enormous payouts and if we assume that there is no drug issue in SA, then it can only be to manipulation of another kind, I.e. human influence.

Await with interest to see how the international story unfolds, and the impact it will have on the rest of worl horse racing.

I personally think this is the tip of the iceberg.

racingpost.com

Australia: Peter Moody has launched a fierce defence against claims that Black Caviar's successes at Royal Ascot and elsewhere are sullied by the use of steroids.

As a result of the fallout from the Mahmood Al Zarooni doping case, the Australian rules allowing horses out of training to be given steroids have come under the spotlight in Britain.

A request had been made to the BHA to reveal if Black Caviar had been treated with steroids, which may have given her long-lasting benefits when racing, but the governing body failed to reveal any details.

However, Moody was furious that such accusations had been made against his unbeaten champion, who retired last month after 25 wins.
Lee Freedman Trainer

Asked if Black Caviar had ever been given steriods, Moody told the Melbourne Herald Sun: "Nil. Steroids increase bulk. Black Caviar was a huge mare, from the day she was born. It would have been absolutely counter-productive."

Moody added that Black Caviar had been tested on arrival in Britain last summer and three days before her heart-stopping win in the Diamond Jubilee Stakes.

Moody went on to question the views of "lilywhite" British trainers on raceday medication, citing the use of Lasix in the US as evidence.

"They bang on about steroids but they are the first to use Lasix when they campaign horses in the US," he said.

"Maybe the Poms might start looking at themselves rather than looking at us."

Moody's strong views were echoed by trainer Lee Freedman, who saddled Miss Andretti to win the 2007 King's Stand Stakes.

"Some Brits need to pipe down re Aussie horses at Ascot and not tar all. My Ascot winner was never given steroids," Freedman wrote on Twitter

Let's not loose sight of reality - If steroids were the cause of BC's wins then how come there were no other horses in Aus that could topple her - Did the roids not work on them? Bad losers