BHA Chief Calls For Life Ban For Drug Cheats

Paul Bittar, chief executive of the British Horseracing Authority, has called for any horse that has been given anabolic steroids to be banned for life from competing in the UK, reports telegraph.co.uk. In an exclusive interview with The Telegraph in England, Bittar said that the time had come for the regulator to take "a strong stand" against steroids by outlawing them completely. For the Australian expat, that means investing even more in the fight against doping if a new law, which could take racing's annual Levy from bookmakers beyond £100 million, comes into force. Bittar advocates a zero-tolerance approach to the use of steroids in British racing, even if a horse has a genuine medical reason for being administered those substances. "Do we allow horses to be treated under a therapeutic use exemption?" he said. "Do we need that within British racing? My personal view is that we don't and that we should take quite a strong stand on that." Bittar admitted that the significant cuts to the BHA's budget in the three years before he became chief executive led to a less rigorous testing regime that "exposed British racing to some of the risks that we saw last year", namely the Mahmood Al Zarooni and Gerard Butler doping sagas, which Bittar calls "watershed" moments for the sport. He said that any increase in the Levy as a result of an amendment to the Gambling Act by Parliament would result in even more investment in the BHA's integrity services. "I'm pretty clear that I will advocate for increased spend in those areas," he said, admitting he would be "lying" if he claimed racing's doping problems did not remain a source of concern. "We're reliant on wagering in a way that no other sport is, so you could argue that our sport has more to lose by not having high standards of integrity." The irony of the recent doping scandals is that they come at a time when British racing is enjoying a revival under Bittar's leadership. The news last week that the Government was backing the BHA's bid to extend the Levy to offshore bookmakers operating within the UK was arguably the biggest success of his reign. This year's £72.9 million figure could be boosted to nearer £100 million if the proposed amendment to the Gambling Bill is ratified.
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