Dutrow suspension sends a bit of a message

Doubling the penalty recommended by Kentucky stewards and a hearing officer, the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission on Tuesday slapped trainer Rick Dutrow with a 30-day ban for a Clenbuterol positive dating back more than a year ago at Churchill Downs.

Dutrow's horse Salute the Count had finished second in the $100,000 Aegon Turf Sprint-G3 at Churchill Downs on May 2, 2008, the day before his horse Big Brown romped home the easy winner of the Kentucky Derby. And the most maddening truth of the violation, the 30-day ban, and the 14 months in between is that Dutrow has admitted that the Clenbuterol positive was a fact.

Salute the Count tested positive for the bronchial dialator, which increases lung capacity and also has some "steroidal properties." Clenbuterol is an approved medication for racehorses, but its use is not permitted on race-day. Stewards hit Dutrow with a 15-day suspension, but in what has become a routine for any conditioner accused of a violation, Dutrow filed an appearl.

It was October 2008 before hearing officer James Robke recommended that the stewards' suspension not be upheld due to questions about procedures used during the testing. The KHRC postponed its action on the hearing officer's report and punted the case back to Robke. Then, on April 23 this year, Robke held a hearing in which Dutrow testified that the violation was true, saying he didn't realize an employee had administered the Clenbuterol too close to a race date, but admitting that the positive result was accurate and took responsibility for the actions of his barn.

This time, Robke recommended that the 15-day ban -- which Dutrow had stalled for nearly a year already -- be upheld.

It seems that stalling was what eventually got Dutrow slapped with an extra 15 days, and it's good to see a message finally being delivered by those who are charge of running a clean game. The KHRC emerged from what must've been a spirited closed-door meeting Tuesday -- more than 14 months after the violation -- with a 6-5 vote to suspend Dutrow for 30 days rather than the original 15.

"They considered that he had recognized that he had made a mistake but that he had delayed (the punishment)," said KHRC Executive Director Lisa Underwood. But, Underwood noted, the KHRC also took into account that Dutrow had "flagrantly worked the system."

Trainers have figured out that appealing a suspension will give them time not only to mount a challenge if they still believe in their innocence, but also to merely stave off the punishment until a time more convenient to them. Churchill's meet ended Sunday. Dutrow not only made it through the rest of the 2008 Churchill spring meet during which his barn's violation occurred, but he skated through the track's fall 2008 meet and the entire spring 2009 meeting before the KHRC finally caught up to him for an infraction that the trainer himself conceded was committed.

The 6-5 vote makes it apparent that not everyone was in agreement with the stiffer penalty, though Underwood said the maximum suspension for a Clenbuterol violation is twice that -- 60 days. It's worth a round of applause among racing fans and horseplayers that the hard-liners won out, albeit narrowly, sending a message to all trainers through the punishment of Dutrow that when you're guilty, it's better to serve the time than to play games with the regulators.

"They want to take their charge seriously," Underwood said of the KHRC. "I think a lot of what is going through the commissioner’s minds is to protect the integrity of racing. It’s offensive to the betting public to see trainers who have a violation and who have admitted to the violation, to still be out there.

"Steward" indeed is a powerful word. Whether it's the stewards at the track or the officials who serve on higher regulatory boards and state agencies, we as fans, breeders, owners, horsemen, horseplayers and anyone else associated with the industry entrust the very integrity of the game to their heads, hearts and hands. It's good to see the KHRC, even divided 6-5, step up and say to trainers that it's time to start following the both the letter and the spirit of the rules, and to stop gaming the system.

"We are stewards of the sport," Underwood said, "and we want to protect the integrity and perception and we want the betting public to have confidence in the sport."

Another step toward establishing that integrity nationwide would be a centralized clearinghouse for maintaining records of all violations and penalties. Anyone can visit the KHRC's Web site and read up on all the violations, and the sactions levied, in Kentucky during the past few years. For instance, Dutrow was fined $1,000 on April 11 for running a horse at Keenland on April 4 without holding a current training license. But this information is not as readily available from all states, and it certainly isn't accessible in a one-stop shop for all U.S. or North American violations.

I certainly don't see anyone volunteering for that job, but it would be quite a service to the racing community, most notably to its fans and horseplayers -- who deserve to see a clean race -- and to owners who wish to fully screen potential trainers, veterinarians, riders and other track employees before hiring them.