Just came across this article when Binocular was banned from running in the Champion Hurdle:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2011/ma … ion-hurdle
The part that catches my eye is this:
"because a steroid being used to treat an allergic reaction
will not clear the horse’s system in time
"
Was Al Zarooni’s mistake to authorise the administering of the drugs or to get the timing wrong? In other words is the practice commonplace but he simply got caught out?
I am no expert and appreciate the Binocular case did not involve "anabolic" steroids, however I seem to recall that in human athletes anabolic steroids were used a specific number of days before competitions in order that traces had disappeared by the day of an event meaning the chances of being positively drug tested were remote. One presumes it is the same with racehorses.