by Neil Milbert
 
Illinois is the latest state to adopt the anabolic steroid model rule formulated by the Racing Medication and Testing Consortium and approved by Racing Commissioners International.
 
By a 7-0 vote, the Illinois Racing Board on Tuesday approved testing of Thoroughbreds and Standardbreds. The rule will go into effect on May 1 but the tests are not expected to begin until at least September 1 because of time and money considerations.
 
"There is a substantial price tag attached and we don't have additional funding," explained Dr. Adam Negrusz, director of the University of Illinois-Chicago's forensic toxicology laboratory, which has a contract to do medication and drug testing for the board. "We have to set up a separate laboratory just for anabolic steroids."
 
According to Negrusz, the testing instrument costs $248,000 but the university will be able to lease it for three years. He anticipates that the urine tests will cost between $350,000 and $500,000 per year.
 
"It's a very complex and meticulous procedure unlike any other," Negrusz said. "It's a very interesting analytical challenge for us."
 
The use of four anabolic steroids with therapeutic use—Winstrol, Equipoise, Durabolin, and testosterone—is permitted within designated limits. More than one, however, cannot be used at the same time.
 
Administration of all other steroids is prohibited.
 
Approval of the model rule helps Arlington Park and Hawthorne Race Course to comply with the Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders' Association’s mandate that took effect January 1, making mandatory testing for anabolic steroids a requirement in order for a race to be designated a graded stakes.
 
"I think it's a good rule," said Kevin Greely, Arlington's vice-president of racing and racing secretary. "But horsemen need to know six months out, not three months out, so it's good that testing is being delayed until September."
 
Anabolic steroids have become an international issue because of their documented widespread abuse by human athletes, most notably in the sports of baseball, track and field, and cycling. In horses, as in humans, the steroids increase muscle mass, stimulate the production of red blood cells and can have a serious negative effect on the reproductive system.
 
At Tuesday's meeting, the board also approved Arlington's 2008 stakes schedule. Conspicuous by its absence was the Washington Park Handicap (G3), a race won by such renowned horses as Armed, Swaps, Round Table, Dr. Fager, and Spectacular Bid.
 
During its December meeting, the board rejected Arlington's proposal that the 1 3/16-mile race for older horses be run on September 20, the week before the Hawthorne Gold Cup (G2), the Chicago circuit's premier fall race.

Arlington president Roy Arnold argued that this new placement of the Washington Park Handicap—which in 2007 was run on July 29—and Arlington's Polytrack surface would make it an ideal prep for the Breeders' Cup Classic Powered by Dodge (G1) on the artificial surface at Santa Anita Park.
 
Board members, however, feared that running the Washington Park Handicap at that time could have a negative effect on the field for the Gold Cup and jeopardize its Grade 2 status and asked Arlington to resubmit the stakes schedule after finding a new date.
 
Arlington decided to take a different approach.

"The Washington Park is going on hiatus for a year or two," Greely said on Tuesday. "We're taking the purse money and putting it into four other races.

“We're increasing the purse of the Illinois Owners Stakes from $75,000 to $100,000, the American One Thousand Guineas from $100,000 to $200,000, and the American Sprint from $100,000 to $200,000, and we're adding a new stakes race on September 20, a 5 1/2-furlong race for three-year-olds on the turf with a $100,000 purse."

Neil Milbert is an Illinois-based Thoroughbred Times correspondent