Beyer on Drugs

Andrew Beyer is working overtime this August (with Del Mar datelines) with his second column in as many weeks! I'm hoping for a "How I Got the Washington Post to Pay for my Summer Vacation Even tho I Don't Really Still Work for Them" column sometime around Labor Day. Today we learn that Beyer's second-favorite sport is cycling (who knew?). And we also learn that what horse racing really needs is its own Floyd Landis to run out of town.

[Thoroughbred racing and cycling] have much in common. Both are plagued by the use of performance-enhancing drugs. Both are being spoiled by public cynicism; fans suspect that any brilliant or extraordinary achievement might be the result of cheating.

Cycling's governing body metes out meaningful penalties for drug positives, in contrast to horse racing's laughable response to cheaters, Beyer argues. He trots out the recent suspensions of Richard Dutrow and Steve Asmussen to make his point:

Yet no track executives question the presence of stand-ins for rule-breakers such as Asmussen and Dutrow. (In racing, we don't use the word "cheater.") Most owners have continued to support these trainers, feeling no stigma of being associated with them.
There is only one way that horse racing can prove that it is serious about stopping the use of illegal drugs. When the sport catches a high-profile trainer engaging in a blatantly illegal practice, it should throw the book at him, run him out of the sport and castigate him as a cheater and a disgrace. What horse racing needs, in short, is its own Floyd Landis.

Washington Post: Let's Follow in Cycling's Tracks