Drug at the Derby

It was Saturday evening, and in a van parked behind the barns at Chur chill Downs, Laboratory Technician James Chinn performed his postrace chore of testing urine specimens from 18 horses -- the winners of all nine races run at the Louisville track that day, plus one other horse from each race, chosen by lot. When he added his test chemicals to the tubes, one specimen turned blue and then orange -- the sign that some offending drug was present.

After further analysis, Chinn identified the drug as "phenylbutazone and or a derivative thereof. " A written report of his findings was sent to the track stewards. Nearly 48 hours later, the stewards met, matched the specimen's number with that on a sealed envelope, and ripped the envelope open. Only then did they discover that the drugged horse was Dancer's Image, winner of the Kentucky Derby.

The confusion and speculation that followed the stewards' announcement cast a darkening shadow over the nation's most famous race and its most popular spectator sport. Under Kentucky rules, the stewards had no choice but to disqualify Dancer's Image and place him last.* The disqualification cannot technically become official until a hearing is held this week, but it is virtually certain that first place and the $122,600 purse will go to Calumet Farm's Forward Pass, who trailed Dancer's Image to the wire by 1 1/2 lengths.

Second place will go to Saddle Rock Farm's Francie's Hat; show horse will be Bwamazon Farm's T.V. Commercial. But the changes in the Derby record book will not answer the big questions: Who drugged Dancer's Image? When? And why?

To Ease the Pain. Actually, Dancer's Image was not drugged at all, in the usual sense of racetrack dopings. Phenylbutazone is neither a stimulant like Benzedrine nor a sedative like Nembutal. It is an anti-inflammatory analgesic, a painkiller developed in Europe and introduced 17 years ago to the U.S., where it is marketed under the trade name Butazolidin and prescribed for such human ailments as arthritis, phlebitis, bursitis and tennis elbow. Athletes use it often:

Sandy Koufax, the great Los Angeles Dodger pitcher, took "bute" to ease the ache in his arthritic throwing arm; Whitey Ford, the New York Yankee ace, swallowed six Butazolidin tablets before games that he pitched.

In horse racing, Butazolidin is commonly used to relieve sore-legged horses --such as Dancer's Image, born with "mushy" (swollen) ankles--and permit them to train without pain. A normally sore horse will usually run better if his legs do not hurt, and unscrupulous trainers have used Butazolidin to run such animals "hot and cold"--sometimes giving them the drug, sometimes withholding it, in order to vary the horses' performance and affect the betting odds. To stop that practice, every major racing state now requires that no trace of Butazolidin remain in a horse's system on the day of a race. Kentucky was the last state to pass such a law; it did so in 1962, two years after a long shot named Venetian Way, who was practically hooked on bute, scored an upset victory in the Derby.

From a horseman's standpoint, the trouble with the law is that no one knows for sure just how long Butazolidin will remain in a particular animal's system. Most veterinarians consider 72 hours the normal outside limit, but there are recorded cases in which horses have tested positive for Butazolidin as long as 84 hours after receiving the medication.

Four Possibilities. Lou Cavalaris, the trainer of Dancer's Image and a 21-year veteran with an untarnished reputation, admitted last week that he gave his horse Butazolidin six days, or 144 hours, before the Derby. The drug was administered on a vet's prescription--two tablets, forced down the horse's throat with a "balling gun." That was the only time, insisted Cavalaris, that he or anybody in his employ ever administered bute to Dancer's Image. His story suggested that Dancer's Image, through some quirk in his physiological makeup, retained the drug for an extraordinarily long period of time--a tenuous possibility after reports from Kentucky indicated that his urine contained considerably more than a mere trace of the drug. Two other explanations were favored by the horse's owner. Boston Auto Dealer Peter Fuller: 1) urine samples somehow got mixed up during the testing process, or 2) someone not connected with the stable gave Dancer's Image an extra dose of Butazolidin. "Someone," said Fuller darkly, "may have gotten to the horse." He demanded an investigation and promised a "large financial reward" for information leading to such a culprit.

Fuller will get his investigation: when they meet at Churchill Downs this week, the stewards will interrogate everyone connected with the case, and decide what penalties, if any, should be meted out. If Trainer Cavalaris is held responsible for the drugging, he could be barred from racing for a time span ranging from a few days to life. Which leaves a big question in the immediate future of Dancer's Image. The horse is scheduled to race this week in the second of the Triple Crown events, the Preakness at Pimlico, Md. If Cavalaris is suspended, said Fuller, Dancer's Image will not go to the post.

*For betting purposes only, the original order of finish was allowed to stand, because win bets on Dancer's Image had already been paid off.

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