Last night on Twitter, Luis Castro, a vet at Palm Meadows, tweeted that blood was taken from horses pointed to next week.  The exact quote is this:

\"Blood samples were drawn today on all Oaks & Derby probable runners stabled at Palm Meadows. #out-of-competitiondrugtesting\"

https://twitter.com/#!/LuisCastroDVM

1st time I have heard of such early testing.  Anyone have any more information on this?  Is this a new innovation or has it been done in the past?  Seems like a reasonably big deal.

sighthound: Has been done in the past.  Remember, no steroids, either.

TGJB: Sight-- yeah, no steroids, except for the new clenbuterol derivatives that are 5-10 times stronger and aren\'t being tested for. And maybe some others.

phil23: I ask this out of sheer curiosity...

Anyone know if the West Coasters were blood tested beforehand like the GULF horses were?

sighthound: From what I hear, yes.