I was clearing up the DVR and caught "Simply Siegel" with Jeff Siegel on HRTV. He did an interview with the head Vet for CHRB.
Some of the comments made by the Vet surprised me a little. He alluded to the fact that they have come to understand that Steroids are providing much more benefit to some horses than previously thought. At least I kind of got that feeling, reading between the lines so to speak. He also talked about trainers (Sadler) who had decided to just continue using Steroids even though the State had basically tried to imply nicely that they should stop.
The real surprise, to me anyway, was how he also mentioned horses going through withdrawal after Steroids are stopped. It made me think real hard about Big Brown and the Belmont. I guess maybe I failed to read between the lines well enough during the Triple Crown run. But after listening to this vet I am thinking that Big Brown will never be the same as he was during the build up to the KY Derby and Preakness. I just didn't think it made the horse that much better. Apparently I was wrong. In fact, now I believe that even though I know other horses in the Triple Crown races were using Steroids, Big Brown is much more degraded in my eyes now. I feel for the horse, but have to wonder how different he would have been without the Steroids.
The CHRB vet seemed rather perturbed that Sadler had not taken the hint that other trainers had. In a related note, Sadler's barn is now getting into fights with other barns...............over the steroid issue.
http://www.signonsandiego.com/sports...25dmnotes.html
