Four-time Iditarod winner denies giving dogs banned drugs

Iditarod champion Dallas Seavey was identified by the Iditarod Trail Committee as the musher who had four dogs test positive for drugs after the race in March.

The dogs were found to have traces of the opioid pain reliever Tramadol.

Seavey, who has won the Iditarod four times, denied that he drugged his dogs and withdrew from the 2018 race in protest. 

“I have never given any banned substance to my dogs,” Seavey said in a Facebook video.

The Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race is an annual event that takes place in some of Alaska's most remote areas between Anchorage and Nome. Seavey won in 2012, 2014, 2015 and 2016. He finished second in 2017 to his father, Mitch.

Iditarod officials chose to identify Seavey as the musher after an emergency meeting, as 83 other mushers demanded the identification.

“Because of the level of unhealthy speculation involved in this matter, ITC has now decided to disclose the name of the musher involved,” the committee said in a statement.

Contributing: The Associated Press