No drug violation for Big Brown trainer Dutrow

Kentucky racing officials plan to challenge a recommendation that there's insufficient evidence to suspend Big Brown's trainer, Rick Dutrow, for violating doping rules.

The order by hearing officer James Robke indicated the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission was unable to prove Dutrow's horse, Salute the Count, had an excessive amount of the legal drug Clenbuterol in his blood after finishing second May 2 in the Aegon Turf Sprint at Churchill Downs. That was one day before Big Brown won the Kentucky Derby.

"We have concluded that we have a strong basis for filing exceptions to the recommended order, and we intend to do so promptly," Lisa Underwood, commission executive director, said in a statement.

Robke's finding is only a recommendation to the commission.

This summer, the commission found Dutrow in violation and suspended him for 15 days, under appeal pending the officer's ruling.

Clenbuterol allows horses to breathe easier while exercising. Its use is legal at low levels but considered to be a performance-enhancing drug at higher doses.

"It's cost me a lot of money and a lot of embarrassment just because the stewards decided to make an announcement," Dutrow said Friday in a phone interview with The Associated Press.

Jim Carroll, spokesman for the Kentucky Public Protection Cabinet, said the commission likely would take further action at its Oct. 27 meeting.

Dutrow said he will not attend.

The Oct. 27 meeting is two days after Dutrow is scheduled to race Derby and Preakness winner Big Brown in the $5 million Breeders' Cup Classic at Santa Anita, a race that could pit him against Curlin, the horse of the year and richest racehorse of all time.

Although the hearing officer found Clenbuterol was in Salute the Count's system, he said there was insufficient evidence that it was above the legal threshold of 25 picograms per milliliter of serum.

"The blood and urine from Salute the Count were taken promptly after the race under the supervision of the Commission veterinarian and the authority laboratory presented the Commission a finding, but that finding did not rise to the level of a positive finding," Robke wrote.

Although Dutrow said he had no knowledge of Salute the Count getting an overage of the drug, he said he was willing to accept a suspension, provided it not prevent him from preparing him for the Breeders' Cup.

"I just told these guys, 'I don't care what you do, but I don't want any days before Breeders' Cup,'" Dutrow said. "My lawyers looked into it. They called me and said, 'Rick, we can beat this.'"

Dutrow has been the target of public scrutiny because of his acknowledgment that Big Brown competed in the Derby and Preakness with the steroid stanozolol in his bloodstream. The horse did not get a dose before the Belmont, in which he was pulled up and finished last.

The drug, which Dutrow says brightens his horses' coats and increases appetite, was not illegal in the Triple Crown states this year. However, it has since been banned in Kentucky and several other states.

Dutrow said he will abide by the new drug rules and doesn't intentionally send his horses out with illegal substances. He says if there are occasional overages for legal drugs, it's because he doesn't have day-to-day oversight of all his horses.

"I think we run a pretty clean outfit," Dutrow said. "I don't use stuff you're not allowed to use."