Iowa Racehorse Tests Positive for… METH?

Athletes at all levels test positive for performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs) all the time. Most of the time, it's not a huge shock to most people.

Unless that athlete is someone of the magnitude that Lance Armstrong, a seven-time Tour de France champion. Two years after he retired in 2013 he finally shared with the world that he was using a variety of banned substances to improve his performance throughout his career as a professional cyclist.

When Armstrong came forward though, the PEDs he claimed he used are some of the more traditional ones -- testosterone, blood doping, corticosteroids, etc. It's not like he was shooting up heroin, using LSD, or taking any schedule one drugs to make him bike any faster.

That's just a human example, though.

It was shared by KCCI that Drag Malibu, a winning horse from Prairie Meadows race track in Des Moines just tested positive for meth after winning its third race on May 29.

METH.

Brian Ohorilko, administrator of the Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission, had this to say regarding the positive test:

The horse had trace amounts of methamphetamine in his body when the horse ran in the race.

The Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission discovered that the individual taking care of Drag Malibu had also tested positive for meth, and they believe that to be what caused the issue at hand.

Ohorilko added this:

The groom had put a tongue tie on the horse and it's very reasonable to assume based on the level of methamphetamine detected, that's probably how the horse tested positive.

Ohorilko continued, elaborating that there are occasionally positive drug tests throughout the year for the horses, but meth 'isn't something that we see very often.'

The typical penalty for testing positive for the drug is a yearlong suspension from racing, but Ohorilko told KCCI that the owner and trainer of Drag Malibu have 'no history of violations and didn't knowingly give the horse meth, so they are only suspended for 15 days. But, they will lose their first place winnings and must pay a $1,000 fine.'

The owner and trainer of the horse, Kenny Smith, has 'cut ties' with the groom that was handling the horse.