The 72 hours before the Kentucky Derby traditionally have been filled with steam, as it is known in racetrack parlance — rumors about which horse is due for a big race and which veterinarians are working overtime to get their horses to the gate. But for the first time in the 139 years of the race, the authorities this year will know precisely who is going into which barn in the hours leading up to the race and for what reason.
The Kentucky Horse Racing Commission will have 24-hour surveillance on the 20 Derby horses and require their trainers, veterinarians and staff to log in and log out. Syringes will be collected, and expanded drug testing will be in place.
John Ward, executive director of the Kentucky commission, said the measures were meant to restore public confidence in a sport trying to change a drug culture that he and other officials concede has damaged its popularity.
"We're trying to have everything bulletproof," said Ward, who trained the 2001 Derby champion, Monarchos. "We want people to understand that we are doing everything we can to be transparent and present a clean and safely run race to a casual fan who tunes in for the spectacle, as well as our betting customers."
Last week, the Santa Anita Derby announced plans for stepped-up surveillance and expanded security for the first time after the owner of a horse in the race asked for it and picked up the bill.
The Kentucky Horse Racing Commission is trying to be pre-emptive as well. Rudy Rodriguez, the trainer of the Derby contender Vyjack, has been ordered to appear before the commission on Tuesday to explain why he should be given a training license. Last month, Rodriguez served a 20-day suspension and paid $7,500 in fines in New York, after having two positive tests for the anti-inflammatory flunixin. Another of his horses also recently tested positive tested for the drug.
Last year, the Derby victory and Triple Crown run of I'll Have Another was partly eclipsed by publicity surrounding the long history of doping violations by the colt's trainer, Doug O'Neill. On Wednesday, California authorities said they were investigating the sudden deaths of seemingly healthy racehorses — 17 so far this year. The three-time Kentucky Derby-winning trainer Bob Baffert has had seven horses die suddenly in the last 16 months, necropsies revealed.
Thoroughbreds rarely drop dead suddenly. A 2010 study in The Equine Veterinary Journal found that sudden death occurred in 9 percent of fatalities in California. In New York over the past 16 months, eight thoroughbreds have died suddenly, according to state records. Baffert issued a statement Friday calling the horses' deaths "personally troubling and of great sadness to me."
"I am working with everyone, including the California Horse Racing Board, my veterinarians and staff at the tracks, to find causes for the unexplained deaths," he said.
Both O'Neill and Baffert are expected to have horses in the Derby starting gate on May 4. O'Neill saddles the Santa Anita Derby champion Goldencents, and Baffert will try to win his fourth Derby with Govenor Charlie.
The new security measures are not popular among trainers. Last year at the Belmont Stakes, where a detention barn was created after 21 fatal breakdowns during the 2011-12 winter meet at Aqueduct Racetrack, some of the most prominent trainers in the sport, including Baffert and Dale Romans, complained that their horses' routines were disrupted and that the surveillance was unnecessary.
On the eve of the Belmont and I'll Have Another's bid to become the 12th Triple Crown champion, O'Neill scratched the colt after he suffered what the trainer called a freakish injury to his left front tendon. Veterinary records, however, showed he had physical ailments before he was withdrawn and was treated with painkillers and anti-inflammatory drugs as the race approached.
For the Travers Stakes last year and the Wood Memorial last week, New York authorities also put the horses under 72-hour scrutiny but let them stay in their own barns. That policy will stay in place and perhaps expand, especially in light of a New York State task force's finding that more than half of the 21 racehorses that had fatal breakdowns at Aqueduct could have been saved. The task force said racing authorities should have monitored more closely the horses' health and the liberal use of prescription drugs to keep them racing.
"Increased security in the barn area, through surveillance cameras or any other means, is always a good thing," said Ogden Mills Phipps, who, with Stuart S. Janney III, owns Orb, a Derby favorite. "We welcome anything that the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission or Churchill Downs puts into effect in the area of security for the Kentucky Derby."
The commission, which is working closely with Churchill Downs and local law enforcement, will make surveillance cameras available to individual owners who request them. Ward said that investigators had explored the technology and that they consider it "the wave of the future." He said, however, that he was uncertain if he could get it approved and in place for this Derby.
It will be up to the racing commissioners whether Rodriguez receives a license in Kentucky. Rodriguez is a former assistant to Rick Dutrow, who won the 2008 Kentucky Derby with Big Brown but is currently barred for 10 years by New York for a substantial list of drug violations.
"I'm going to the hearing and will see what happens," Rodriguez said. "I'm just paying attention to my horses now. I don't have a problem with extra security of any kind."
James Gagliano, president of the Jockey Club, cited the stricter medication regulation and the commitment to well-financed and more efficient drug-testing laboratories that were recently adopted by eight states in the East and mid-Atlantic region as signs of change.
"Backstretch security is a vital component in the thoroughbred industry's multipronged effort to preserve the integrity of competition," Gagliano said. "We must always protect the rights of our horsemen and our fans, and we must do so in a transparent manner."
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