Juice

"Steroids are legal in 28 of the 38 U.S. states where horse racing is held, including the 3 states holding Triple Crown races, and their use is prevalent. Before banning the drugs in Pennsylvania, racing officials there tested 998 horses and found that 61.7 percent were positive for steroids and 17.3 percent had been treated with two steroids or more."

It's obvious to see that we at TMT are for animal rights (those pesky prevalent vegetarian and vegan shoe posts), so you can bet we aren't the biggest fans of animal racing in general. But it's not always so simple.

I rode horses growing up, and I have this nagging feeling that if one is treated well, a horse prefers to be fast, of service, and praised with a happy rider on his back. And who doesn't like the whole weird bonnet spectacle? It's just traditional, old-timey fun.

In my more honest moments, I know that is bullshit. No matter how much a horse might like to run fast, he would prefer, I assume, to do it at his own will and not because he's being whipped or heeled in the belly. Ask the lone Philly, Eight Belles, who was euthanized within minutes of finishing this year's Kentucky Derby whether her few seconds of fame were worth it.

Saying that, I am not naive enough to think that Americans will give up horse racing. It is a romantic tradition, and people love hats. But maybe they will reform starting with the fucking roids.

From the International Herald Tribune:
"Among the nine trainers who are planning to run horses in the Belmont, only Rick Dutrow, the trainer of Big Brown, and Barclay Tagg, who trains Tale of Ekati, said their horses would race on steroids. Dallas Stewart, the trainer of Macho Again, said he had yet to decide whether his horse would receive them. The trainers Todd Pletcher and Nick Zito would not comment on whether their horses would."

Big Brown, the horse likely to win the first triple crown in decades, is juiced. Besides the whole leg up that performance enhancers give, making the competition unfair, it blows my mind that people don't have a problem with injecting these prized animals with something that will potentially harm them. I mean why are we pretending they are harmless-- we've seen the deflated, post-steroid Mark McGwire-we know that shit can prune you up.

At the very least, make the practice illegal and let the chips fall where they may. What you think Mark McGwire? Oh that's right. Raisins can't talk. They can only sing.