by Pete Denk

Only one request for a steroid test was made at the Keeneland January horses of all ages sale, the first auction conducted under the Kentucky sales industry’s new rule that bans exogenous steroids within 45 days of a sale.

Exogenous steroids are those that are not naturally produced by a horse. Buyers can request a test at the time of purchase for a fee of $500. If a horse tests positive, the fee is refunded and the buyer may rescind the sale.

Keeneland’s Director of Sales Geoffrey Russell said test results take about a week. They are not made public.

“We’ll inform the buyer and seller,” Russell said. “We don’t tell the media if a horse is returned for any other reasons, and we won’t tell them about steroids.

“The buyer will find out, and that’s all that matters. This is not done for the media. It’s done so the auction process works well, and the two people involved in that are the buyer and the seller.”

Keeneland reported 1,493 horses as sold at the January sale, which ran January 7-13. Russell said he did not think the lone request was a sign that buyers are not concerned about steroids.

“I consider January yearlings to be foals for all intents and purposes, and the perception is you don’t see steroids in weanlings and short yearlings,” Russell said. “Going into January, we didn’t expect to have very many, but we were glad we had one request so we could make sure the logistics work.

“I think in September we will have a significant number, and we’ll see what happens in this case of perception versus reality.”

The two steroids with metabolites that clearly identify themselves as exogenous are stanozol (trade name Winstrol) and trenbolone, said Stuart Brown, D.V.M., a partner at Hagyard Equine Medical Institute in Lexington.

The Kentucky sales industry is funding research to advance the science and scope of the test by measuring naturally occurring levels of steroids in young horses, such as boldenone (the steroid in Equipoise), nandrolone, and testosterone.

“This is truly pioneering work, and the sales companies should be commended for it,” said Brown, one of the veterinarians working on the steroid issue. “There is no authority internationally that has ever looked at these age groups of equine athletes to establish any naturally occurring levels.”

Pete Denk is Thoroughbred Times sales editor