B. McPherson
Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum of Dubai has had 11 of his race horses banned from competition in the UK. When authorities did a check of 45 of his thoroughbreds at the Godolphin Stables, eleven were found to have banned substances in their bloodstream.

Sheikh Mohammed, who is the largest owner of race horses in the world is reportedly appalled at the news. Blame appears to be falling on trainer Mahmood Al Zarooni who is quoted in a report from Bloomberg News.

“I have made a catastrophic error,” he said. “Because the horses involved were not racing at the time, I did not realize that what I was doing was in breach of the rules.”

Mr. Al Zarooni has been a trainer at the Godolphin Stables since March of 2010. The eleven horses that are currently banned from racing have already claimed $2 million in prize money.  It is really unfortunate that the head trainer for the stables in the UK was ignorant that doping horses was banned. The Godolphin Stables page gives a short biography of Mr. Al Zarooni, in which it details his training career starting in the 1990s.

It must be difficult to keep track of what trainers are doing when you own  more race horses than anyone else. In 2009 the Sheikh had been banned from long distance racing for six months due to doping. His trainer took the blame in that case as well.

B. McPherson

The winner of the Kentucky Derby, I’ll Have Another, was the winner of the Preakness on Sunday edging out the favourite, Bodemeister again. They will have a chance to compete again on June 9th in the longer Belmont.

One of the great human interest stories involving I’ll Have Another is the jockey Mario Gutierrez who trained at the Vancouver, BC racetrack before trying his luck in California. He was over the moon when he won the Kentucky Derby first try and was gracious enough to credit his mount. He was equally gracious in thanking those who helped him reach this point in his career. Sunday he was quick to point out that I’ll Have Another is a very special horse. Mario Gutierrez is a Mexican citizen.

Owner Paul Reddam spotted the great horse as a youngster when others passed him up, purchasing the colt for $35 000. The horse has earned $3 029 600 so far in his career.

Winning all three races is rare. Each race is longer than the previous and the break between them is only about three weeks, not very long for minor injuries to heal. The last previous Triple Crown winner was Affirmed 34 years ago. It was thought that Big Brown would take the prize in 2008, but he was unable to finish the Belmont