BALTIMORE — While Doug O’Neill has been able to enjoy everything Baltimore has to offer during the last week and a half, his time in town hasn’t been devoid of controversy.
The trainer of Kentucky Derby winner I’ll Have Another has been accused of “milkshaking” his horses — giving them an illegal mixture that makes them feel less tired — four times in his career.
His record has been the center of some attention this week on O’Neill, who said he will answer questions in greater detail once the Triple Crown ends and California racing officials, who have yet to announce their ruling on a 2010 incident (the most recent), make an announcement.
With different regulations and guidelines for drug testing in each state, O’Neill and several other prominent trainers have been calling for a national governing body to be formed, led by a commissioner, in order to regulate the standards of drug testing and licensing in horse racing.
“Some states are more sensitive than others,” O’Neill said, adding that there are treatments prescribed by veterinarians that produce positive drug tests in certain states and not others. “It would be nice if there was one national hub that all the tests went to.”
Michael Matz, who trained Union Rags, a heavy Derby contender, and Teeth of the Dog, who will run in Saturday’s Preakness, also called for a commissioner to be put in place.
He is frustrated with the way bans and violations become almost irrelevant because there isn’t a governing body to truly enforce them and legal loopholes can extend the careers of trainers who break the rules.
Down the tarmac they come: Bodemeister, Cozzetti and Creative Cause all touched down at Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport just after 2 p.m. Wednesday and arrived at Pimlico shortly after 3.
Daddy Nose Best, the 10th-place finisher in the Kentucky Derby, walked the shedrow at Barn 38 at Churchill Downs before shipping here Wednesday.
Went the Day Well arrived Wednesday from Fair Hill Training Center. His trainer, Graham Motion, shipped Animal Kingdom, the 2011 Preakness runner-up, to Pimlico the morning of the race. Motion said Went the Day Well would benefit from coming to the track a few days early.
