Should an EPO test be done before the Derby Draw???

[Silver Charm]

Why not? Who has anything to hide? Correct.

These are not horses who have been moving around from barn-to-barn like claimers where the trainer holding the bag of goods can say it wasn\'t me.

You can still test for banned race day medication after the race is run. But what you do by testing for EPO three days prior is eliminate the public from being screwed. (But who in racing cares about them) With some horse winning, the result being declared \'official\' only to turn up drug induced, racing has another scandal.

Yes, I know someone can cheat with a race day medication, but when do you test for that, when they are being led over to the paddock. By doing the test three days prior the excuse of \"we don\'t want the horse to be disturbed is bullshit\".

EPO, from what little I know, is something that needs to be given out over a period of time to build up a horses stamina. In the old days Charlie Whittingham used to do that with something called \"gallops\", now they days its different.

This isn\'t NASCAR where if someone is cheating they can make him start at the back of the pack or be given a penalty lap.

If a trainer knows his horse will be tested they will know not to enter the horse.

Is this one of those ideas that makes so much sense that racing officials say \"we need to sit down and study this for a couple of years.\"

Probably!

[derby1592]

I like the idea. In fact, why not do it for all TC races, the BC and maybe even all G1 stakes?

Probably not possible as a \"requirement\" near term but why not have some of the \"clean\" trainers and owners voluntarily submit to a comprehensive suite of tests...

Chris