Big Brown to Run Belmont Without Steroid

ELMONT, N.Y., June 5 -- Trainer Richard Dutrow said Big Brown has not received a shot of the anabolic steroid known as Winstrol since before the Kentucky Derby and would not race on it Saturday in the Belmont Stakes.

"It's just too much for the three races, five weeks; he's doing absolutely fabulous," Dutrow said Thursday morning outside trainer Bobby Frankel's Belmont barn, where Big Brown has lived since winning the Preakness Stakes three weeks ago. "I even cut out giving him his vitamin jug. Just so you know, the horse looks like an absolute picture, so I didn't want to mess with him."

Dutrow said his veterinarian, Greg Bennett, was in charge of the "jug" and that he did not know what was in it. "Sounds like a bunch of vitamins is in there," Dutrow said. "It's not a shot, not in the feed tub. You kind of put it through their nose down into their belly. That kind of thing."

Reached later, Bennett said the "jug" is an electrolyte solution administered intravenously.

"If you were sick yourself, they'd hook you up to keep you hydrated," Bennett said. "We're giving the same things to horses. They work on Lasix [a dehydrating blood thinner and diuretic used to prevent bleeding in the lungs] and dry out. That's one of the most important things, to keep them hydrated."

Dutrow courted controversy in the days before the Preakness when he told reporters that he gave Big Brown and all his other horses shots of Winstrol on the 15th of each month but didn't know what it did. "I just like using it," he said.

Winstrol is a synthetic steroid used to build muscle mass and promote weight gain and healing, said Nick Meittinis, a track veterinarian based at Pimlico.

Meittinis is an advocate of using steroids in horses. They are scheduled to be banned in Maryland on Jan. 1. New York and Kentucky also are considering bans.

"There is a place in racing for anabolic steroids in that they promote healing and muscle mass, and increases the appetite in horses that are debilitated from the job we ask them to do," said Meittinis, who does not work with Big Brown.

Bennett, who has worked with Dutrow for more than 20 years, said he could not be sure when Big Brown previously received a shot of Winstrol.

"Since the horse has been back in New York, he has not received Winstrol from me, but Rick has other vets, as most trainers do, but we do most of the work and take care of the barn," he said.

Dutrow has had multiple medication violations in his career, and Bennett said the trainer does not explain common practices well.

"Rick's under a lot of scrutiny," he said. "Those things are done routinely. The horses he's been running this meet have been supplemented on electrolytes and primarily by stomach tube. We use different formulas that are compounded and safe and effective for the horse. We give them water with the electrolytes to make it palatable to their stomachs. Horses do get gastric ulcers. Rick is just being extra careful with this horse."