Note: This article is mostly satirical… mostly.

It was a tragic version of the “Shot Heard ‘Round the World,” the “Miracle on Ice” and “The Catch.” Hours after Dancer’s Image, the 7-2 second choice, won America’s most prestigious race — the Kentucky Derby — by 1 ½ lengths, lab specimen 3956 U (the urine sample of Dancer’s Image) was turning colors, indicating the presence of a banned substance.

Sixty-three hours later, the Kentucky Derby would witness its first disqualification of a winner and reputations would be torn to shreds, like betting tickets on Forward Pass, the horse that was ultimately declared the victor of the 1968 Run for the Roses.

Both the owner of Dancer’s Image, Peter D. Fuller, an heir to his father Alvan’s automobile empire, and the horse’s trainer, Lou Cavalaris Jr., who was inducted into the Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame in 1995, vehemently denied any wrongdoing. Fuller blamed the drug positive on lax security — “I don’t want to poke holes in racing, but this sort of security is enough to make a cat laugh,” he is quoted as saying in Sports Illustrated — while Cavalaris seemed genuinely dumbfounded.

“I’ve been in this game 21 years and I’ve never done anything wrong yet. I’m innocent, and so are my men. They love Dancer’s Image, just as I do,” the veteran conditioner said in that same SI story.

Ironically and, perhaps, tragically, the drug in question was phenylbutazone, which was legal in most racing jurisdictions at the time but was not approved in Kentucky until 1974 — six years after Dancer’s Image’s number was taken down. (Kentucky did allow Bute to be used for training purposes as long as there was no trace of it in the horse’s system on race day.)

However, now, in the wake of Medina Spirit’s potential disqualification for a similar legal drug (betamethasone), Fuller and Cavalaris, who both died at the age of 89 (the former in 2012 and the latter a year later) may finally get the vindication they long sought during their lifetimes.

Some racing fans are demanding that Dancer’s Image be reinstated as the winner of the 1968 Kentucky Derby.

In angry testimony before her Facebook followers, Karen Keller, a horse owner since her father bought her a pony in 1976, notes that Bute is like aspirin and has no performance-enhancing effects.

“It’s ridiculous,” she posted. “These degenerate gamblers want it banned because they lost a bet, but I use it on my horse Sunshine all the time!”

Karen Crandall agrees. “I love all these gamblers who don’t know [excrement] about raising horses chiming in,” she notes. “I actually care for show horses. I eat with them, sleep with them… use their mane trimmings as hair extensions. Bute is perfectly safe!”

 A 2019 study suggests otherwise, noting that phenylbutazone may be contributing to catastrophic breakdowns and urging states to go back to the zero-tolerance rules Kentucky had in place in 1968.

Although it’s not clear whether he ever worked with show horses, Hall of Fame trainer Jimmy Jones was another who opposed the use of Bute.

“First, no matter what you call a medication, in the public mind it’s dope. Well, it has taken horse racing a long time to build up the public’s confidence, and it shouldn’t do anything to lose that confidence. The second reason is that Butazolidin is going to encourage many trainers to run horses which are definitely hurting and should be laid up for repairs instead of running. Maybe I’m just old-fashioned and maybe I’m wrong, but I believe that if horses can’t run good enough on oats and hay then they shouldn’t be running at all.”

Karen Epstein finds this ludicrous.

“I have been around horses my whole life and am good friends with an assistant to an assistant of the hotwalker of a top trainer in New York. I have administered Bute to my horses and my five late husbands. Bute is not harmful in any way — and I said the same thing under oath at five criminal trials.”

These women and others agree that Dancer’s Image shouldn’t be punished for rules they think are stupid.

“The amount of Bute in [Dancer’s Image’s] system was too small to have any effect at all,” stated Karen Croll on Twitter, adding that those who disagree with her should engage in sexual relations with themselves.

The notorious Alex Harthill, Dancer’s Image’s vet and the man who admitted to giving the would-be Derby winner phenylbutazone — albeit nearly a week before the big race — may have begged to differ (he passed away in 2005 making such protestations difficult).

In a 2014 story written by Ryan Goldberg, the author claims that Barry Irwin, head of Team Valor International and owner of 2011 Kentucky Derby champ Animal Kingdom, told him that Harthill once said, “Even though a horse is five or seven times larger than humans, the amount of dope needed to have an effect is so small. An amount on the tip of a match would be enough to flick up a horse’s nose to get a spectacular result.”

This flies in the face of data compiled by Karen Zelinski while caring for orphaned tadpoles as a teenager.

“I knew the friend of a trainer’s friend, and she told me that most drugs do nothing at all,” Zelinski said in a biting Facebook post. “But gamblers don’t care about the horses. They are just greedy.”

Whether these compelling insights lead to Dancer’s Image being restored as the winner of the Kentucky Derby is yet to be determined, but at least now there is hope that the rules will be ignored.

Sources:

Angst, F. (2019, November 7). Study Finds Phenylbutazone a Risk Factor in Breakdowns. Bloodhorse. https://www.bloodhorse.com/horse-racing/articles/236930/study-finds-phenylbutazone-a-risk-factor-in-breakdowns

Martin, D. (2012, May 20). Peter D. Fuller Dies at 89; Had to Return Derby Purse. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/20/sports/peter-d-fuller-dies-at-89-had-to-return-derby-purse.html

Tower, W. (2019, December 20). It Was a Bitter Pill. Sports Illustrated Vault | SI.Com. https://vault.si.com/vault/1968/05/20/it-was-a-bitter-pill

Christine, B. (2019, March 11). The 1968 Kentucky Derby — The Victory That Wasn’t: Dancer’s Image, Who Finished First, Was Disqualified After Positive Test for Illegal Medication. Los Angeles Times. https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1988-05-01-sp-3316-story.html

Finley, B. (2018, May 3). Fifty Years After Dancer’s Image DQ, More Questions Than Answers. TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions. https://www.thoroughbreddailynews.com/fifty-years-after-dancers-image-dq-more-questions-than-answers/

Goldberg, R. (2014, May 5). The Derby Winner And The Vet Who Pioneered Racing’s Doping Addiction. Deadspin. https://deadspin.com/the-derby-winner-and-the-vet-who-pioneered-racings-dopi-1570943984