Steroid Use in Sports Horse Racing

The steroid use in sports horse racing is legal in every state but Iowa in the United States. The equine trainers often use equine steroids to create a more fit, more powerful, more energetic, and more spry horses for horse racing. The Food and Drug Administration has approved the use of 4 types of anabolic steroids for horses, which may include Equipoise, Ganabol, Equigan, and Ultragan – the four brand names of Boldenone undecyclenate.
Equipoise (boldenone undecyclenate) was created specifically for equine use (horses). The steroid is often used in racehorses to increase performance during training phases. It increases red blood cell production, thereby increasing oxygen uptake. It’s an androgen that causes maximum muscle gain in the shortest duration, It’s also used as a weight gain compound for emaciated horses or to step up testosterone production in stallions. This drug can produce monster strength gains and tremendous muscle when taken in a 2cc dose 2-3 times per week.
These steroids are legal and widely available, but these are often used illegally by human athletes and jocks. The statistics of steroid use in sports horse racing industry reveal that nearly 50 percent of the horses competing in California have been treated and trained with steroids. This has made the racing industry to take the massive steroid use in sports horse racing seriously.
The equine health & safety concerns now may make the sports join other major sports in banning the use of steroids. The California Horse Racing Board is in the process of prohibiting steroid use in sports equine racing, 30 days before a horse race, and an industry consortium on medication and drug testing has approved a model rule similar to the one on the table in California in hopes that it will be adopted by other states.
Of course, the steroid use in sports horses help building muscle mass, improving appetite and helping against the fatiguing of racing. The trainers say that the steroid use in sports horses tends to have rejuvenating effects on the racing horses.
However, like other sports, the steroid use in sports horses is also unethical. Dr. Gary I. Wadler, an associate professor of medicine at New York University and a member of the World Anti-Doping Agency, says that he is not well versed on the use of steroids in horse racing, but he is very critical of steroid use in sports horses.