Question:
was secretariat on steroids?
First
2019-02-26 15:13:51 UTC
was secretariat on steroids?
Eleven answers:
Beverly
2019-10-10 00:50:51 UTC
No, the horse was a horse racing freak you might say, he was well balanced, his stride was true, he had a heart larger than most horses, it gave him stamina and endurance, he was well put together and had a great jockey.
anonymous
2019-05-19 12:06:06 UTC
No. If you look at the picture of maximum security he is more likely to be fed steriods. Steriods are a big problem crazies feed them to animals all the time
nick
2019-03-21 06:19:41 UTC
I seriously doubt they were advanced enough then to even think of using steroids in racing.
?
2019-03-06 15:54:05 UTC
No. The horse's performance was too consistent. If it was a typical champion, you would get only a few outstanding performances with drugs, and then the horse would break.
anonymous
2019-03-06 14:35:56 UTC
Which secretariat?
bwj1963
2019-03-03 16:38:09 UTC
NEVER! 1973 HE WAS THE MAN!
JSC
2019-02-28 15:06:16 UTC
As Sandra mentioned in her answer, we really don't know. Back then many horses including Secretariat had the benefit of being full of steroids, but then again they all were at that time..they were less stringent drug testing too. Plus as mentioned steroids don't make a horse run faster. Still facts are facts and the facts didn't changed, in 1973, Secretariat won horse racing's Triple Crown and set records that still stand today at the Kentucky Derby and the Belmont Stakes. Now years later, the legend has been recognized as having also set a still-standing record at the Preakness Stakes. Secretariat was know for his large heart too. The second largest heart was the heart of Sham, who actually broke the Kentucky Derby record, but still lost to Secretariat. I feel that Secretariat was just that great and it really doesn't matter.
Sandra S.
2019-02-28 01:00:46 UTC
The truth is no one really knows for sure. I like to think not. Now here is something to really think about; if so apparently Secretariat was on better drugs than every other horse in his era and since? I think not.. Secretariat broke records left and right. I would think more of the same would be true with other horses as well. I believe with all my heart that Secretariat was a natural, a one of a kind Thoroughbred racehorse who became the first Triple Crown winner in (1973) 25 years. His record-breaking victory in the Belmont Stakes, (he won by 31 lengths) is regarded as one of the greatest races of all time. Plus, during Secretariats racing career, he won five Eclipse Awards, including Horse of the Year honors at ages two and three. He was elected to the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame in 1974. In the List of the Top 100 U.S. Racehorses of the 20th Century, Secretariat is second only to Man o' War (racing career 1919–1920), who also was a large chestnut colt given the nickname "Big Red".



In 1968 the first horse was disqualified from the Kentucky Derby for the use of an illegal substance. Right after winning the Derby, Dancer’s Image was disqualified for the use of phenylbutazone, which is an anti-inflammatory drug. Although this wasn’t a steroid issue, it was the start of punishment for the use of illegal substances in racing. Which is another reason that support non use of steroids.The fact is steroids can help replenish energy but it doesn't make horses run faster.



Bottom line Secretariat was the greatest horse athlete in the world to date, period.
Starlight 1
2019-02-26 17:47:22 UTC
No. What makes you think he would have been?



And, for Sandra- There have been countless efforts made over the years to try to get the horse which was disqualified in 1968 restored to his rightful place among the winners of the Kentucky Derby. Especially since the year 2000 and during the decades following that, largely because it is now legal for horses to run while being given bute, as long as it is being used for a legitimate, therapeutic purpose and the trainer has filed the appropriate documentation with the racing stewards. In both 2017 and 2018, ALL of the horses which ran in the KD did so while receiving bute. The only reason that this particular horse was DQ'd was because at the time, bute was a new drug that no one really knew the side effects of. Since then, medical knowledge has advanced enormously, and we now know that it doesn't make horses high or cause them to run faster. But for this one horse to continue to have such a nasty stigma attached to his record is a shame, it really is. The racing world can and should DO BETTER than to continue to allow this.



Steroids, however, are a different matter altogether. They DO have serious side effects, and there are good reasons why these drugs are illegal. A good example of a horse who SHOULD have been disqualified in the KD but wasn't was Big Brown, who raced while being given steroids in 2008. No one knew he'd been given the drugs until after he won both the Derby and Preakness that year, when his trainer made the mistake of mentioning publicly that the horse had been given the drugs. And because that horse was bombed out of his mind on Derby Day, the poor filly Eight Belles ran herself into a premature GRAVE trying to catch up with him. I will never forget that day, because it was the only time in the entire history of the race that a horse died afterwards. Granted, Eight Belles was an accident waiting for a chance to happen in a lot of ways, yes, but I will always wonder what the outcome would have been if Big Brown hadn't been bombed out of his head on drugs that day. His trainer was eventually suspended for a decade because of illegal drugging of his horses in other races. As for Big Brown, well,he ran in the Belmont- without drugs for the first time in his life- and finished DEAD LAST. That result alone makes me question just how much of his two other TC race wins were due to drugs instead of natural ability. The really sad part about it, though, was that it tainted the reputation of not only the Kentucky Derby, but of the entire sport of horse racing. There's no place in this sport for people who cheat, there really isn't. And I will forever fault Big Brown's connections for their behavior. It was wrong, period.
danxp2
2019-02-26 15:50:32 UTC
No haven't you watched Bojack Horseman's protrayal of secretariat? Secretariat bet on himself to lose and threw a race.
exactduke
2019-02-26 16:13:59 UTC
Well you never know. However the racing commission does check for such things.


This content was originally posted on Y! Answers, a Q&A website that shut down in 2021.
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