Steve and Cindy Stewart join WHOA
The Kentucky breeders are passionate about a racing industry with fewer drugs and greater integrity.
by Dave Briggs
Meadowlands, Tioga and Vernon Downs owner Jeff Gural has been an active supporter of the Water Hay Oats Alliance (WHOA) since 2012. Now noted Paris, KY standardbred breeders Steve and Cindy Stewart have joined the cause aiming for greater integrity via fewer drugs.
“We spend virtually every waking hour on the farm making sure the mares and foals we raise are as healthy as they can be and we want them to stay healthy, happy, and successful for the rest of their lives, on and off the track,” the Stewarts said in a WHOA release. “Over the decades of working toward that goal, we’ve come to believe that horse racing needs fewer drugs, period. We applaud the efforts of WHOA to stop the administration of race-day drugs and hope its well-meaning efforts spread more quickly to the standardbred industry, which has suffered long enough from suspicions that not every race is run on the level.”
WHOA (link here) is a grassroots movement of like- minded individuals who support the passage of federal legislation to prohibit the use of performance-enhancing drugs in the sport of horse racing. The appointment of an independent anti-doping program run by the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) will solve the problem of widespread drug use in American racing and put U.S. racing jurisdictions in step with international standards.
Founded in 2012, WHOA is a group of owners, breeders, trainers, jockeys, equine practitioners, industry professionals, handicappers and racing fans who stand against the permissive use of performance enhancing drugs in American horse racing.
Though most of WHOA’s members are from the thoroughbred industry, the group currently has 30 standardbred members, including Gural and the Stewarts, and is hoping to add more.
