Justify Failed a Drug Test Before Winning the Triple Crown

[Eugene]

Related: Baffert: Justify’s positive test came from contaminated food (Associated Press)

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Source: New York Times

Justify Failed a Drug Test Before Winning the Triple Crown

Bob Baffert guided Justify to the 2018 Triple Crown, but a month before the Kentucky Derby, the horse failed a drug test that could have ended that campaign before it began.

By Joe Drape
Published Sept. 11, 2019
Updated Sept. 12, 2019, 10:57 a.m. ET

On June 9, 2018, a colt named Justify thundered home to the full-throated cheers of a capacity crowd to win the 150th running of the Belmont Stakes and claim horse racing’s Triple Crown, one of the most storied achievements in sports.

It was the perfect ending to an improbable journey for a talented horse, his eclectic ownership group, and his Hall of Fame trainer, Bob Baffert.

Only a few people, however, knew the secret that Baffert carried with him into the winner’s circle that day: Justify had failed a drug test weeks before the first race in the Triple Crown, the Kentucky Derby. That meant Justify should not have run in the Derby, if the sport’s rules were followed.

They were not, according to documents reviewed by The New York Times. Instead of the failed drug test causing a speedy disqualification, the California Horse Racing Board took more than a month to confirm the results. Then, instead of filing a public complaint as it usually does, the board made a series of decisions behind closed doors as it moved to drop the case and lighten the penalty for any horse found to have the banned substance that Justify tested positive for in its system.

By then, Justify had become just the 13th Triple Crown winner in the last 100 years, and his owners had sold his breeding rights for $60 million.

-snip-

Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/11/sports/horse-racing/justify-drug-test-triple-crown-kentucky-derby.html

[Mosby]

1. He failed the second test as well.

[Desert Dem]

2. They are going to kill racing, take heart PETA.

[Mike 03]

3. What will it take to end this disgusting "sport"?

From the article:

Horse racing has a long history of trainers’ repurposing drugs in pursuit of a performance edge. Frog and cobra venom, Viagra, cocaine, heart medicines and steroids have all been detected in drug tests.

Scopolamine cases have resulted in disqualifications, purse reimbursements, fines and suspensions over the decades.

Dr. Rick Sams, who ran the drug lab for the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission from 2011 to 2018, said scopolamine can act as a bronchodilator to clear a horse’s airway and optimize a horse’s heart rate, making the horse more efficient. He said the amount of scopolamine found in Justify — 300 nanograms per milliliter — was excessive, and suggested the drug was intended to enhance performance.

“I think it has to come from intentional intervention,” he said.

When human athletes take dope it's their choice. The horses have no choice.

[El Supremo]

4. That did it for me.

The Sport of Kings? More like the Sport of Fuckwads.

[empedocles]

5. Then there are the trainers, owners, etc. of Justify

[twogunsid]

7. Tim Layden's take on the scandal...

...interesting read.

https://sports.nbcsports.com/2019/09/25/story-behind-justify-positive-drug-test/