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Originally Posted by Cannon Shell
The problem that I have is that the testing is so much better now that almost no positive now would be caught under the same test of earlier eras. There is a perception that all our horses now are under the influence of medications of some kind but the truth is that there were far more powerful substances being used in the 70's in particular than there are now. That is not to say that every trainer was using something but drugs like sublimaze and etorphine were used and they are far greater performance enhancers than any steroids or minute clembuterol traces found. Also there were many horses being treated with Lasix except for a long time it was not even published. The thought that horse racing is a dirtier game now simply ignores the reality of earlier eras.
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I'm no expert in performance enhancers in horseracing, so I will paraphrase this by saying I am speaking solely from a fans point of view. I agree that all eras new and old probably have had their cheaters. I even remember reading that Tom Smith, Seabiscuit's Trainer was alleged to have been a cheater, though that was a rumour. I'm not convinced though that the drugs of yesterday supercede the more sophistocated drugs of today. Veterinarian's today can easily mask drugs to pass tests, it has happened for atheletes in other sports, that once a drug can be detected the cheaters will find something else that testers cannot detect. Essentially performance enhancers are far more sophisticated than the old milkshakes of years gone by. HGH is the big word for steroids now, and it wasn't just until recently that the public started to become aware of how many atheletes use this drug. One must wonder just how far Trainer's and Owner's will go these days to gain an advantage, but I surmise since it has found its way into Baseball, Football, Track and Field, it has found it's way into horseracing in a big way. Making it a big question mark for me how many Roger Clemons or Barry Bonds we have in horseracing today? I would be far more comfortable calling Secretariat great, rather than Ghostzapper who I regard as 1-2 the fastest horses of this supertrainer era.