Brown: New FX, New York Times documentary sheds light on drug use in horse racing

Hopefully, next week of Kentucky Derby 150 is nothing like what Churchill Downs, and the sport overall, endured this time last year.

Not even the "fastest two minutes in sports" could overshadow the rash of horse deaths that not only preceded the race but had more than a handful of people praying it would not happen during the Run for the Roses.

An investigation did not find a singular cause for the 12 horse deaths. That area of uncertainty is where a sobering documentary that will air on FX Friday at 10 p.m. picks up. “The New York Times Presents: Broken Horses” runs about 64 minutes and takes a deep dive into why drug use has exploded in the sport and the role it plays in undermining the health and safety of horses.

How to avoid more clusters of horse deaths in the future will, in part, be determined by how willing the industry is to change what drug use is acceptable.

It’s not just blatant doping and use of banned substances that’s at fault. Most trainers aren’t like Jorge Navarro, who all but begged to be busted. The documentary tells how he brazenly drugged horses to perform to the extent that the Crocs he wore had “#Juice Man” colorfully pinned onto them.

Navarro and the veterinarian he worked closely with, Seth Fishman, were among the dozens convicted and sentenced in 2021 after a federal investigation into doping. It clearly didn’t deter everyone in the sport, but it did help in the final congressional push that led to the creation of the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority (HISA).

There continues to be an overreliance — some might even say abuse — of items on HISA’s controlled medication list to mask pain and minor injuries. That, in turn, puts horses at greater risk for catastrophic injuries.

The documentary also highlights last year’s death of Havnameltdown, a Bob Baffert-trained horse, as an example of overmedicating.

Havnameltdown threw his jockey Luis Saez in turn two at Pimlico Race Course and had an injury that caused it to be euthanized on the track before Baffert won with National Treasure in the 2023 Preakness Stakes.

The New York Times had two veterinarians examine the necropsy in the documentary. They found Havnameltdown had lesions in his fetlock joints in all four limbs, which occurs when a repetitive injury wears away the cartilage.

Both veterinarians agreed that red flags were ignored and he was medicated for the purpose of being able to run.

“This horse was a disaster waiting to happen,” Dr. Kate Papp said. “And it was only a matter of time. Havnameltdown should not have been racing that day. Absolutely not. Under any circumstances.”

What’s happening in horse racing now is similar to what Major League Baseball experienced during its “steroid era,” the difference being horses aren’t actively seeking out performance-enhancing drugs.

Trainer Chad Brown, who has one of the Kentucky Derby favorites, Sierra Leone, told The Courier Journal that change is uncomfortable, but it’s worth exploring to position the sport in a better place.

“Everyone has to sacrifice some level of comfort with adjusting if we really are serious,” Brown said. “Not every idea is going to come out the way it was thought up, but if we’re not all collectively at least attempting, within reason, to apply some practical, positive changes, then there’ll be no progress.”

No progress is unacceptable with the stakes as high as they are in this moment. HISA implemented its anti-doping policy almost one year ago, but as Times reporter Joe Drape warned near the conclusion of the documentary, the organization itself can’t solve horse racing’s drug problem.

“It’s ultimately up to the people in the sport themselves,” Drape said. “They’re either going to play right, have integrity, quit cheating and care for their animals, or the sport of horse racing is going to go away.”

Reach sports columnist C.L. Brown at clbrown1@gannett.com, follow him on X at @CLBrownHoops and subscribe to his newsletter at profile.courier-journal.com/newsletters/cl-browns-latest to make sure you never miss one of his columns.

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: New York Times documentary a sobering look at drug use in horse racing