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THERE’S
good news emanating from the United States that will
have a major impact on our horsemen who buy their horses
there.
The
Keeneland Association and the Fasig-Tipton Co., two of
the world’s largest and North America’s oldest auction
houses, jointly revealed their new policy banning the
administration of “exogenous anabolic steroids” within
45 days of sale of weanlings and yearlings beginning
next year.
You know
what exogenous anabolic steroids are? They are federally
controlled substances not generated by a horse’s system
that are classified for therapeutic use in racing and
sale in the US. They are also being used worldwide in
various auction houses in order for a horse to get
bigger in size and look better before they are put on
sale.
This
could have been the reason why many horses in the past
that were bought by local horsemen from abroad
surprisingly arrived thinner and did not look like how
they were during the auction. Experts said that many
horses, especially those who lack size and bulk, were
given steroids several days before they are taken to the
auction houses.
Given
the right doses, these horses became bigger and bulkier
and became good-looking at the sale pavilions. But
several days after the steroids are washed out of the
body, the horse go back to their original size or become
thinner because it sometimes loses its appetite to eat.
And with the additional thousands of miles of travel
from the quarantine to their point of destination, you
could see the ribs and the bones on the horses’ hind
legs almost sprouting out when they come down from the
plane.
Beginning January next year, no exogenous anabolic
steroids must be administered within 45 days of sale or
else the buyer of a positively tested horse will have
the right to rescind the sale within 24 hours of
notification of the test result.
“This is
not a competitive issue; this is an integrity issue. By
establishing a policy, and developing testing procedures
that are practical and fair to all involved, we
safeguard the credibility of the entire thoroughbred
industry,” Nick Nicholson, president and chief executive
officer of Keeneland, and Walt Robertson, president of
Fasig-Tipton, said in a joint statement, surprising US
regulators who have yet to issue a ruling on the matter.
The Kentucky Horse Racing Authority has discussed but
not adopted steroid regulations.
Here are
the pertinent issues regarding the said policy:
§
The
buyer has the right to request, at the time of purchase,
that blood be drawn to test for the presence of
exogenous anabolic steroids,
§
The
respective sale company will coordinate testing with a
designated veterinarian and report the results of those
tests to the consignor and buyer in a timely manner,
§
If the
horse tests positive for exogenous anabolic steroids,
the buyer has the right, within 24 hours of
notification, to rescind the sale and return the horse
to the consignor, and
§
The
buyer will bear the $500 cost of the test; however, if
the test results are positive, the cost will shift to
the consignor.
I said
that this is very significant because the local
horsemen, having had enough of the high prices of horses
locally, are now going either to Kentucky, Maryland, New
Zealand or Australia in sourcing out their horses.
Buying horses abroad is like hitting two birds in one
stone. A two-year-old filly can be used for racing in
her younger years but can be developed into a
top-producing mare after her racing career.
Although
it is very expensive (yes, $500 is almost equivalent to
P22,000 per testing), one can be assured that what he is
buying from abroad is guaranteed safe from steroids and
other substances.
WE have
also received news from Keeneland, whose almost
three-week sales is going to a close today, that two new
racing personalities have splurged in buying horses in
the United States recently.
“Masyadong
maraming pera ’yung dalawa at kaliwa’t kanan ang bili ng
mga kabayo doon. Balita nga namin eh mahigit
$250,000 na ang halaga ng napapamili nu’ng isang
baguhang owner na dating opisyales sa gobyerno,”
said one source.
Meantime, another new face in the industry who is an
alleged leading gambling personality in the south is
also on a buying spree in the United States right now.
He had already acquired more than 15 horses there,
according to our source.
OUR
congratulations to the Marho officials and members for
the very successful staging of the 12th Marho Breeders’
Cup Racing Festival on Sunday at the Santa Ana Park.
One of
the happy faces there was my kumpadre, Nery Sunga,
whose horse Es Twenty Six was a runaway winner in the
Smart-MBC 3YO Filly Mile. Ridden by jockey Jesse Guce,
the three-year-old bay filly by Principality left his
four other rivals eating her dust and covered the
1,600-meter distance in a respectable 1:39 flat.
Treasured Ack was second while stablemates Defiant and
Landed Visa placed third and fourth, respectively.
Longshot
Macho Man was the unexpected winner in the Smart-MBC
3-YO Colt Mile, beating the heavily favored Legendary
who came only sixth. It was EJ’s Magic who checked in
second while Musix King was fourth. The scratching of
another favorite in the event, Golden Sutter, puts a big
question mark on its coming major championship this
December which is the P6-million Grand Presidential
Derby.
Ibarra
is still a questionable participant in the said big
event while experts said that with the easy victory of
Es Twenty Six on Sunday, they are already laying their
hard-earned peso on Nery Sunga’s galloper come December
23, the date of the multimillion-peso race which is the
richest racing event so far in the history of racing in
the country.
Another
big surprise was the results of the San Miguel Beer-MBC
Classic in which Native Land was the winner of P1.2
million. It was also Jesse Guce who partnered the
six-year-old horse of Tony Tan in winning the
2,050-meter race. Longshot Mr. Victory was the surprise
second for P450,000 while Special Edition was third for
P250,000 and Batong Silyar was fourth for P100,000. Eye
Candy and Sound Of Silence checked in fifth and sixth,
while the heavily favored Empire King was a dismal
seventh and dead last!
DANEHILL,
the top English/Irish stallion the last two years,
picked up another sire title this year. The deceased
stallion’s runners earned £3,546,902 (approximately $7.3
million), according to the Racing Post. His runners were
led by Dylan Thomas and Peeping Fawn, each of whom won
four Group I stakes.
Danehill,
by Danzig, stood at John Magnier and partners’ Coolmore
Stud in
Ireland.
Coolmore
stallions filled the next five spots. Runner-up Galileo,
who was the leading sire of two-year-olds, sired the
earners of £2,850,570. Following Galileo were Montjeu,
Danehill Dancer (by Danehill), Sadler’s Wells and Rock
of Gibraltar (by Danehill). Seventh on the general list
was Pivotal, who stands at Cheveley Park Stud in
England.
Sadler’s
Wells, sire of Montjeu and Galileo, headed the year’s
leading English/Irish broodmare sire list. |
