Strong Drug Reform in Thoroughbred Racing Urged by Owner

Prominent Thoroughbred owner George Strawbridge Jr. said racing can only grow by eliminating medications.
Share
Favorite
Close

No account yet? Register

ADVERTISEMENT

North American Thoroughbred racing can only grow by eliminating the use of all drugs was the central theme of a keynote speech delivered Oct. 30 by prominent owner/breeder George Strawbridge Jr. as The Thoroughbred Club of America’s "Honor Guest."

Strawbridge, who has bred and raced hundreds of stakes winners through his Augustin Stable since the 1960s, told a crowd of about 250 at Keeneland Race Course, located in Lexington, Ky., that racing should enjoy a key advantage because the "noble, inspiring" Thoroughbred horse is at the center of the sport. Instead, he said, the sport is swimming in tumultuous seas with dark and threatening skies largely because medication use has eroded the sport’s integrity and reputation.

He referred to the results of a recent report by McKinsey & Co. for The Jockey Club, which showed the sport losing fans at a rate of 4% a year largely because of medication-related issues. He also pointed out articles critical of race-day medication use published in Time magazine and the New York Times around the time of this year’s Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands, which were followed by negative letters to the editor in the Times from people saying they had become "disheartened by (racing’s) lack of attention to animal welfare" and that "no one who really loves horses would be involved in racing."

"This is what the sport has become associated with, a sinister substance mixed in a black bag," Strawbridge said. "Holy moly

Create a free account with TheHorse.com to view this content.

TheHorse.com is home to thousands of free articles about horse health care. In order to access some of our exclusive free content, you must be signed into TheHorse.com.

Start your free account today!

Already have an account?
and continue reading.

Share

Written by:

Eric Mitchell is a Editorial Director and Editor-in-Chief The Blood-Horse magazine.

Related Articles

Stay on top of the most recent Horse Health news with

FREE weekly newsletters from TheHorse.com

Sponsored Content

Weekly Poll

sponsored by:

Where do you primarily feed your horse?
284 votes · 284 answers

Readers’ Most Popular

Sign In

Don’t have an account? Register for a FREE account here.

Need to update your account?

You need to be logged in to fill out this form

Create a free account with TheHorse.com!