STATE

Report: Drugs pervade sport of dog racing

T.S. Jarmusz
The Daytona Beach News-Journal
A report based on public records collected by an animal rights advocacy group found that nearly half of all drug violations detected among racing greyhounds occurred in Florida. Industry supporters say the violations occur at a very small rate. [News-Journal Archives/David Tucker]

Medications people take for asthma and bladder control, and a growth hormone used to bulk up pigs before slaughter — all were among the more than 50 industry-banned drugs used to dope hundreds of racing greyhounds throughout the nation, a new report by an animal rights group says.

Through public records requests, Grey2K USA Worldwide compiled a list of drug violations in the sport of dog racing that span from 2007 to 2017. Nearly half of all the 847 drug violations occurred in Florida, which is home to 12 of the nation’s 18 dog-racing tracks, the report says.

“It’s shocking and disturbing there have been so many drug positives in Florida,” said Carey Theil, executive director of Grey2k. “I think that raises really serious questions.”

In Daytona, 12 greyhound trainers have been cited for doping greyhounds with a host of banned substances, including novocaine, opiates and cocaine. Nationally, of the 71 cases of cocaine or a derivative, 68 — or 96 percent — were in Florida. The Sunshine State lead the nation for highest number of positives for almost all of the drugs greyhounds were tested for.

Jack Cory, lobbyist for the Florida and National Greyhound Association, dismissed the report.

“An out of state, radical animal rights group — that takes care of no animals anywhere and spends all of their donations on their own salaries to produce reports that are filled with half-truths, innuendos and some out and out lies — has done it again,” Cory said. “Every year at this time, just before the Florida legislative session, they (Grey2K) come out with a 'false report' to try to raise more money for their own organization and not to take care of any animals.”

Cory said use of illegal drugs in humans or dogs was wrong, but given the thousands of races that have occurred over the time frame, the drug violations are infinitesimal. Cocaine positives, for example, amount to less than .0001 percent of all greyhounds that raced over 10 years, he said.

Data from the report support his assertions. In fiscal year 2016, the University of Florida’s racing laboratory, the designated entity that conducts the drug tests, received 59,274 samples. Of those, 39,031 samples were analyzed, yielding 18 drug positives.

"The state requires and administers testing of the winner of each greyhound race, as well as another randomly chosen dog, to be drug tested after races," Fred Guzman, president and general manager of both the Daytona Beach and Orange City Racing and Card Clubs, said in an emailed statement. "For Daytona, that means not a single positive test in over 12,500 drug tests in 2016."

Daytona hasn't always boasted such a clean record. In 2010, for example, two trainers were fined a total of $3,500 for seven positive cocaine tests. Their licenses were suspended for a year each.

With the industry continuing to be haunted by violations like the recent case at Bestbet Orange Park, when one trainer was cited for 12 counts of cocaine, critics say drug abuse persists. Cory countered instances like that are rare and not indicative of the sport.

“That’s a guy that needs to be banned from the industry, and we support that,” Cory said. “It was a bad guy, (but) you don’t attack 3,000 people because of one bad guy.”

For those that race greyhounds for a living, the risks of cheating outweigh the benefits, he said.

“There’s no motivation to drug a greyhound,” Cory said. “You’re going to lose your purse. You’re going to lose your license. And you are going to get caught.”

While Florida does a better job than other states at reporting drug violations, Theil said the continual legal challenges against the pending violations were problematic. The report also shows that despite Florida’s greater transparency, more work is needed.

“The biggest known discrepancy between reported drug positives and drug rulings occurs in Florida,” the report states. “The Division of Pari-Mutuel Wagering’s annual reports from FY2008 to FY2016 cite 349 drug positives. During this time, GREY2K USA Worldwide submitted monthly requests for information, but only received documentation for 124 drug positives. This may be a result of laws preventing disclosure of information contained in open investigations. Therefore, barring repeated public information requests, the withheld documents never enter the public domain because regulators have no duty to inform requesters if or when a case is closed.”

Theil argues reforms also are needed to address the lack of consistency in penalties levied on offenders. Case in point, cocaine: While one trainer in Florida was fined $1,000 for cocaine and faced a 10 day suspension, another was fined $700 and faced no suspension. In other states, trainers have been fined as little as $50 for cocaine, Theil said.

“Right now it’s the Wild West,” Theil said. “The drug testing programs throughout the nation are weak, are flawed, and if racing is going to continue, we need to take this issue much more seriously.”

But Cory countered that the existing laws were adequate as they are. With a drug-testing budget of $1.58 million, Florida spends more money than any other state testing racing greyhounds.

Other drug testing reforms Theil’s pressing for include banning the use of anabolic steroids in racing, which despite the recent legislative push, still is legal is Florida. In any case, with a constitutional amendment to ban dog racing in Florida by Dec. 31, 2019 making its way through a committee responsible for putting measures on the ballot, the battle over drugs in the racing industry could be left in the hands of voters next year.