Eight Belles Breakdown Prompts Change In Steroid Laws
Thursday 14th August 2008
The tragic case last year of second placed Kentucky Derby thoroughbred Eight Belles seems to have had a major affect on the administrators of horse racing in Kentucky. It has been leaked that the forthcoming meeting to discuss the banning of steroids in thoroughbred racing throughout the state will rule for a change in current regulations and a future ban.
It was the cruel breakdown of Eight Belles and the fact that the prize giving continued just yards from where the poor horse was humanely killed which caught the eye of the world. The fact that track officials claimed they did not realise the true extent of the horse’s injury was a fair point but one which was lost in the worldwide revulsion at the TV pictures.
This move in Kentucky is the latest throughout the US which has seen the government threaten to become more heavily involved unless the sport gets its house in order. This, as well as the tragic TV pictures of the injury, has forced many horse racing associations to revisit their rules on steroid assisted racing. The UK horse racing community works under a totally different mindset from its US counterpart and steroids have no part to play in the UK.
