Wednesday, June 11, 2008

Desormeaux Never Had a Chance; Racing’s Steroid Era Must End

It’s been days since the stunning non-performance by Big Brown in the 140th Belmont Stakes and everyone is still seeking an explanation, a reason for such a glaringly listless performance.

The truth is the fans and the industry will never know for sure until the results of a test, one that should have been administered on the morning after the Belmont, are made public.

Ever heard of Hypoadrenocorticism? Neither had I. But as a Big Brown fan I cannot accept what I saw last Saturday at Belmont Park. “Not himself” was not a suitably acceptable explanation, nor should it be, I thought.

Now I know better. Not only was “not himself” acceptable, it’s the only answer. Perhaps with an added qualifier. Because what I have learned since is that the Big Brown of Kentucky Derby and Preakness fame might not have been himself, either.

Maybe every single horse that’s ever been administered steroids, whether it be of the anabolic or corticosteroid variety, was never truly itself from the moment it got its first dose. Here’s what we didn’t know in the moments after the Belmont, nor learned from Dr. Larry Bramlage.

Hypoadrenocorticism is known by other descriptive names: adrenal exhaustion; turn-out syndrome, or steroid letdown syndrome. The condition, according to wikipedia sources, is a poorly documented cause of poor performance in race horses. Apparently not even experts in the field understand it fully.

But they know this much: Poor performances are usually attributable to the withdrawal of exogenous corticosteroid. It’s been a month since trainer Rick Dutrow was forthcoming about administering Winstrol, a non-corticosteroid, legal in 28 racing jurisdictions, to all his horses on the 15th of every month.

At that time, Dutrow said that he didn’t know what it did, but liked using it, and referred the media to his veterinarian, one of several he uses. Dutrow never said that his horses received corticosteroids, and subsequently admitted that Big Brown hadn’t received Winstrol since April 15.

Corticosteroids are commonly administered to race horses for one of two reasons, neither of which is good for the animal or the sport. By injecting it into the joints, it reduces musculoskeletal pain. Its other use is as a stimulant by causing a state of euphoria.

Prolonged corticosteroid therapy causes decreased secretion of ACTH by the pituitary, which results in adrenal atrophy. Withdrawal of exogenous corticosteroids may result in low concentrations of plasma cortisol.

Another symptom of turnout syndrome may be adrenal exhaustion, caused by the chronic stress of training. Or, perhaps, racing three times at the highest levels over three different surfaces in five weeks. Additionally, long term use of anabolic steroids may lead to adrenal insufficiency.

There are five clinical indicators of Hypoadrenocorticism, two of which are depression/lethargy and intolerance to exercise. According to what is known about the condition, the best time to test for this is the morning after a poor performance, seeking out either low concentrations of cortisol or a decreased response to ACTH stimulation.

There are three acknowledged methods of treating steroid letdown syndrome: The gradual withdrawal of corticosteroid treatment; turning out the animal for a period of one to three months, and decreasing alternate day doses of ACTH.

Relative to the above, either Dutrow or his veterinarians must supply some answers to racing authorities, preferably before the wrong people start asking those same questions.

Personally, there were many indications that Big Brown was not himself Belmont day. I watched video of him in the paddock on the large infield screen from my reserved grandstand seat. He appeared listless, not the inquisitive colt I’ve seen several times before.

But I’ve learned not to trust my lying eyes since the first time I learned that stretch runners don’t come flying down the homestretch to win a race. Rather, they simply decelerate at a slower pace than front-runners racing on tapped reserves.

Big Brown looked no better live in the post parade. He was sweating--something that horses should and must do on 94-degree afternoons. But the sight of kidney sweat, often a sign of internal stress that’s unknowable to onlookers, is never a positive.

Appearing listless is one thing but there were other indications this wasn’t the same undefeated winner of five races, three Grade 1s and two classics, by a total of 39 lengths.

The barn said that he had been rank--hard to handle--in the two days preceding the race. That’s not him, either. Neither was it him seen throwing his head, tugging at the reins on several occasions; nor was he a pretty picture prior to loading into the starting gate. We had never seen skittishness from Big Brown like that before.

Clearly there were other factors at work, too. He wants to run outside of horses. If not, why would his connections choose post 20 in the Derby when there were four other options available at the time?

The Belmont’s rival jockeys knew this, too. Alan Garcia on Da’ Tara got in front of him going into the first turn. Eibar Coa on Tale Of Ekati trapped him in a box on the lower first turn. Without question, Big Brown resented his jockey’s restraint and probably the tight quarters he was in, too.

Even if he did so abruptly, Desormeaux got him to the outside of rivals as soon as he could, almost bowling over Anak Nakal to do it. Then, after straightening out into the backstretch, Coa did some more race-riding, making sure he kept Big Brown way out in the middle of the track.

And the middle of the main track appeared dead all afternoon, and Desormeaux had to know that. He was in a perfect three-wide position aboard Commandeered, a 2-1 chance in the day’s first race, and the team just floundered there, never making so much as a bid.

For this, superintendent John “Fast Track” Passero must take the heat. The Belmont Park surface was sealed and rolled tighter than a drum on Friday night, long after the rains of Thursday had stopped.

There might not be as much cushion on Big Sandy as there used to be, but the surface still requires a great amount of water. Given the extremely hot day and the notion that all the moisture had been wrung from the surface the night before, the surface certainly would have benefited from more water content.

Desormeaux said that he thought Big Brown “slipped up front” coming out of the gate. That did not appear to be the case. Television analyst Jerry Bailey said he couldn’t verify that either from slow motion replays, but thought he might have slipped in behind.