I have to ride with Silver on this one.

The following is a post from a few years back by keomi. It is worth the read. I have read it many, many times over.

(the ' > 'signs are a byproduct of copying the post from the internet)


"It's been a long time since I posted, but I have
> some experience with professional human sports
> doping, so I thought I might contribute a little.
>
> Regarding Justify, I've been convinced he's on a
> regimen since the foot problem. Most dopers shoot
> up in between their toes to hide the bruises. I
> imagine shooting up in a hoof is no different. If
> you shoot up into the most obvious
> places--sholders, flanks, withers--the tenderness
> is exposed just by rubbing your hands along the
> animal, even if you can't see the bruise for the
> hair.
>
> If you shoot up in a hoof you'd want the hind on
> the horse's less dominant side. Like humans, most
> animals are righthanded, Justify's lameness was in
> his rear, left hoof. Injection site tenderness is
> very short lived (think of when you've gotten a
> vaccination). The horse was reshod with an
> ordinary shoe.
>
> For EPO, you want to shoot up no later and no
> earlier than 3 weeks out to evade testing and
> still have a full tank. You also want to avoid any
> serious physical exertion during that time period,
> because not only is the EPO itself being
> metabolized naturally, exertion accelerates this.
> Between the KY Derby and the SA Derby the horse
> loped around in 1:13s, between the KY Derby and
> the Preakness the horse didn't do much of
> anything. The best time to dope is immediately
> after your last test, like the day after the KY
> Derby or SA Derby.
>
> Two weeks out the EPO tank is maybe still 3/4 to
> 2/3 full. Running in the Preakness could have
> knocked another 1/4 to 1/3 off or more. The longer
> an athlete is on EPO, the less EPO their own
> bodies produce, sort of like how chapstick use
> over time ruins your lips' ability to fight
> chapness on their own, so the amount lost varies
> with use. In the Tour de France, the mid-Tour rest
> day was the re-up day, 1.5 weeks in. With the
> Preakness and the Belmont testing, the horse is
> likely unable to re-up due to testing. Last week,
> both Baffert and Barnes said repeatedly they
> wished they could run him last week, which seems
> counterintuitive given the need for the freshest
> horse possible for the Belmont.
>
> The next step is recovery, which is the purpose of
> steriods. The steriod of choice with humans is
> testosterone, because like EPO, it occurs
> naturally and is difficult to test for. The key
> indicators of testosterone use is muscle sculpting
> and aggression. In fact, if you give a girl a
> short boost of testosterone, she can svelt up very
> nicely, very quickly, no dieting required. You
> pointed out the horse's current appearance, but
> the more telling sign to me is how keyed up and
> aggressive the horse is behaving: bucking and
> kicking under tack and rider, biting everyone,
> getting incensed by other horses, running off in
> 46.80, fighting when forced to run slower. Their
> chosing not to school is also a red flag for me,
> it suggests fear that doing so could make the
> horse go full on roid rage. Likewise, schooling by
> sitting a long time in the gate suggests to me a
> fear of him freaking out in the gate, something
> he's never shown a propensity for doing, but a
> horse hopped up with testerone might just.
>
> This a horse, who had trained up to the Derby
> loping around in company in 1:13s, now has the
> other horses yelling at him. Stallions typically
> scream at other stallions they find threatening
> triggered by pheromones released by testosterone.
>
>
> FWIW, the horse was also keyed up in the Preakness
> post parade, whereas he had been calm in the KY
> Derby post-parade.
>
> I do not work at and am not associated with TG.
> These opinions are strictly my own and should not
> be interpretted as being those of TG or any poster
> here. "
This was previously posted by kekomi

Coincidentally, Rodriquez had to scratch from the 2025 Derby "due to a small but slightly sensitive foot bruise that will need a few more days."......just saying, coincidentally

and likewise, I believe Scott Lake was dating a veterinarian when EPO abuse took him to the top