Posthumous drug test ordered for Derby runner-up

0 Comments | AFP, May, 2008

LOUISVILLE, Kentucky (AFP) — Eight Belles, the Kentucky Derby runner-up who was euthanized on the track Saturday after breaking both front ankles, will have steroid testing during a necropsy by order of her trainer.

Trainer Larry Jones ordered the doping tests be administered as part of the final testing on the filly in order to show that performance-enhancing drugs were not involved with the horse's collapse.

"I guarantee there were no steroids ever on that horse," Jones said.

Critics have said the filly should not have been raced in the Derby, even though she was second to winner Big Brown, and that she might have been on steroids due to her large size.

Jones criticized the animal supporters group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA),...