No Australians at Royal Ascot?

I think you have it wrong. Australian stewards are tough when it comes to substances given to horses. the main reason that you won't see their horses is the huge increase in stake money

You have raised interesting points here. Not forgetting though, that Australian horses coming here have the disadvantage of having to travel and acclimatise once here. I think the bottom line is we have to have a level playing field when it comes to the use of steroids especially. Proof of not being given 'prohibited substances throughout their life', is going to take some time to work through the system, and at the moment would rule out any horses other than those just started in training?

This whole thing brings more questions, than answers - every time you see a forward 2 year old, we are bound now to be thinking - steroids? And what about 'freaky' Frankel???????

Must go check the latest re Gerard Butler - has he been charged? I know he admitted to using drugs already, in the wake of AZ/Godolphin.

Very interesting. I personally enjoy the foreign horses coming to royal ascot and would love to see the likes of All Too Hard and Animal Kingdom here more often. But as much as I would enjoy to see them I do believe that these horses have been given steroids. And the biggest disappointment in all of this I that black caviar was probably on drugs even though the trainer says she hasn't. She did have a lot of "injuries" in her career. I don't understand why they need to permit steroids. Why can't the uk,Australia,USA etc come together and completely ban steroids? I found it quite idiotic of Peter moody to say "They bang on about steroids but they are the first to use Lasix when they campaign horses in the US," he said.

"Maybe the Poms might start looking at themselves rather than looking at us." . Lasix isn't performance enhancing unlike steroids. And although the steroids must be out of the horses system by raceday, the long term benefit are performance enhancing. British racing is the cleanest in the world and I hope all the trainers that have used ten are found out now. And frankel couldn't have been on drugs because he was probably the most tested horse in Britain.

interesting point and hard to argue as sprinters physically are not as tall as a middle distance ones in general,but weigh just as much due to there extra muscle mass ,and steroids increase muscle mass!

bit harsh to say gerald butler as wreaked havoc,no way he is in the same category as zarooni who was just plain stupid and arrogant in the whole affair,butler as been upfront and had his medication records up to date and the bha examined those and didnt think anything amiss.

butler also was advised by vets and it was to treat joints,zarooni just wanted to cheat and was sneaky about it, plain and simple!

ironic isnt it how we criticized american racing due to there horses running on lasix and bute,basically medication that allows them to run through the pain barrier.

the germans lead the way,no horse can stand as a stallion in Germany that as been on drugs ,hence why they have won races like the arlington million drug free as winning a group 1 guarantees them a stallion place,but had to do it drug free whilst most the other runner were on something!

if you want a laugh,go to the comments section on the rp website,some big headed aussies come on all the time ,especially at royal ascot time,bet they wont be so cocky now going on about how fast there sprinters are ,now we know why!!!