By DAPHNE RETTER Post Correspondent
June 20, 2008
WASHINGTON - The trainer of Big Brown was AWOL at a congressional hearing yesterday, infuriating lawmakers who wanted to question him about steroid use in horse racing.
Rick Dutrow Jr., who trained the horse that won the Kentucky Derby and Preakness but finished last in the Belmont Stakes, was to be a star witness.
"I am disappointed by his absence, and I am disappointed that he did not feel the need to inform the committee," said Rep. Janet Schakowsky (D-Ohio).
Several experts did testify, including Jockey Club president Alan Marzelli and trainer Jack Van Berg.
Dutrow provided written testimony, but Rep. Ed Whitfield (R-Ky.) said it contained nothing useful.
Big Brown received monthly steroid injections until Dutrow suspended them before the Belmont. Because the horse did so poorly in the race, many suggested his past success was attributable to the injections.
"He would have been an important witness, because he knows what the drugs are about," Whitfield said.
Dutrow informed lobbyists he was ill and wouldn't be able to attend the hearing and the lobbyists supposedly passed that information along to the committee.
All of the witnesses supported a ban on performance-enhancing drugs, although Marzelli said he believed the industry should be given another chance to regulate itself before the government steps in.
