Forget about those other owners of Curlin- you know, the ones that are tied up in the courts, and turning the story of Curlin into a sour one for some.

Jess Jackson owns 80% of Curlin and is a class act. He has recently stated that his horses will race steroid free, or his trainers will risk losing their jobs. Curlin ran last year on anabolic steroids, as his trainer is certainly not above drugging his horses. This entire year Curlin is free of the drug and looking better than ever (due largely in part to Dubai’s strict anti- drug rules).

IEAH also has stepped up to the plate to speak out against steroid use. Of course, a few months back when their brown monster was wiping the floor with the three year old division, they did not mind steroid use.

But, better late than never, I suppose. We will now get to see the real Big Brown in the Haskell, just as we have been seeing the real Curlin this year.

It is time for more owners to get on board the new anti-drug movement. Now if racing can begin to hold owners as accountable as trainers, and maybe even shelve drug-positive horses for a few months racing may, indeed, right itself.

Thoroughbred racing as a whole can shoulder the blame for drug use. The fact that they have no governing body, and states vary in what is legal or not, has led to most states turning a blind eye and legalizing practically everything you can think of. Back in the day lasix was not legal everywhere, and Alysheba was not able to race on it in the Belmont Stakes. He raced on it in the first two legs of the Triple Crown but did not fire Belmont day. Some trainers started to avoid certain states, and places like Belmont, were not going to risk not having the biggest stars on the biggest days. So, sadly they joined the anything goes club. Now almost every horse runs on lasix and it isn’t because they all have bleeding issues. It makes them faster, and everyone wants a piece of that.

Easy Goer could not race on bute in Kentucky in 1989, and he was not himself in his two starts there. Today bute is allowed there. A governing body across state lines would ensure that the same horse shows up in Kentucky, Pimlico and Belmont.

Drugging horses began when certain trainers started cleaning up a little more than other trainers. Hall of Famer, Max Hirsch was supposedly a pharmaceutical master, and many of his horses, coincidentally wound up sterile, maybe as a result. Owners, of course, wanted to go with the winning trainers, and would dump the good old boys who were eking out an honest living. A decent win percent used to be in the 15% range. Now it is double that. Trainers don’t stand a chance unless they level the playing field, and even the ones who don’t want to drug their horses, have to in order to pay their bills.

Heck, most owners don’t mind. The only ones who are suffering are the horses, and they won’t tell. Unless, of course they fall in front of millions of viewers on racing’s biggest day of the year. That will get Congress’ attention, and that could prove to be a very bad thing for a struggling sport. A sport that needs simulcasting more than horse racing, does not exist, and that is was Congress has the power to take away. If it suspends off track betting, there are simply not enough people at the track to ensure that tracks will stay open, perhaps another byproduct of seeing a horse drop to its nose after breaking both front ankles.