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I just don't understand how anabolics are not seen by all as performance enhancers?
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First, not all steroids are anabolic, and then, not all anabolic steroids can give the same results.
Secondly, there is therapeutic use, and then there is overt, ridiculous abuse.
Third, the general public thinks "steroid", and pictures Barry Bonds or competitive weightlifters, thinking that is always the result of "giving steroids".
That is not what usually happens at all, unless there is incredibly excessive abuse going on.
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They give the horse more strength, faster recovery, and better appetite. A race horse that is extremely strong and muscled is almost always going to perform better. Horses aren't that much different than men in the way anabolics act.
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Are you basing your last sentence upon personal experience?
In men, or in horses?
The "more strength" part of therapeutic doses is minimal to nil. And if you gave a horse the particular illegal steroid drugs, and the amounts, that men abuse (if you had a horse built like Barry Bonds) I doubt he could run more than 4-5 furlongs before tying up or gasping for breath. If he didn't kill the stable help well before getting on the track. There are definite metabolic tradeoffs for excessive steroid misuse of some anabolics. And you don't see long distance runners abusing them, do you?
Speaking about testosterone: it is such an innocuous drug regarding possible performance-enhancement, that it is the legal drug of choice - it is SPECIFICALLY APPROVED - for use in greyhound racing (the other public gambling racing sport), to keep females out of estrous.
It is approved as it has zero affect on performance.
In fact, some greyhound trainers will not use testosterone to supress estrous, as there has been a repeatedly-proven
decrease in speed and endurance in female racing greyhounds routinely given testosterone for estrus supression (low dose use). There is little to no muscle enhancement. Female racing greys found with overages of testosterone have no improvement in performance.
By contrast, a drug not approved for use in greyhound racing is milbolerone, a different anabolic steroid, the "Cheque drops" popular and commonly given by show dog owners to keep their girl dogs out of heat.
Milbolerone isn't used in racing as it causes an increase in undesired aggressive tendencies at higher levels of approved dosage regimines (which gets your dog banned from the track). It does not provide much muscle development, and like testosterone causes a measurable decrease in speed and endurance.
As Chuck says - this is a nice PR move, but doesn't mean much or will have much impact.
I also agree that there is little to no proof that giving any of the approved anabolic steroids enhances performance at all.
And, the most dangerous part of this regulation is indeed that metabolism varies wildly among horses, and there are going to be alot of false positives.
Just because some cheating trainers will try anything at all to get a competitive advantage doesn't mean that what they do actually does something.
I'm sure there have probably been more horses killed or seriously negatively affected by things like milkshaking or steroid abuse than have been "helped".