"Then there is sodium bicarbonate, given two to three hours before a race, via a stomach tube, to delay muscle tiring. Known as a milkshake, it works by increasing blood CO2 levels, which in turn triggers the expulsion of lactic acid from the horse\'s muscles the build-up of which, during exertion, creates the sensation of fatigue. This artificial expulsion of lactic acid \'fools\' the horse\'s physiology into thinking it is not really fatigued, thus allowing the exertions to continue; a dangerous game. An added attraction of sodium bicarbonate is that, by altering urine PH, it can prevent certain drugs from being excreted, thereby making them undetectable. In this way, milkshakes serve as potential masking agents. (23) The extent of their use in Britain is not known."
(23) Dr. Steven Barker, Chemist with Louisiana State Commission and a professor at Louisiana State University School of Medicine, testifying in a Louisiana Court of Appeals case heard September 25, 2002.
http://www.animalaid.org.uk/campaign/sport/ridingb.htm
Delmar Deb,
Thanks for another informative and interesting, if not tragic, post. raz
I don\'t know. I\'m in favor of better treatment for horses and all animals generally, but the above link read like something out of PETA. Their lastest gig is \"Don\'t eat fish, fish are our friends.\"
-\"We scarcely do any roadwork with flat horses which is good for strengthening bone and hardening-up tendons and ligaments, because of increased traffic...\" (O.K. Cars are a problem for horses. Try more track exercise.)
-\"But seasoned industry watchers, such as Kareena Grey who runs an investigative organisation called Discover Racing Death (KareenaGreyDiscoverRacingDeath@hotmail.com) is convinced that thousands (of young horses) are simply shot and fed to hunting hounds or turned into pet food.\" (\"Shes convinced\" and all that is provided the reader is an email?)
-\"Dr Thomas Tobin, of the Department of Veterinary Science at the University of Kentucky, has shown that horses\' bones actually become weaker during the course of a race, sometimes by over 40%. The results can be appalling.\' (No footnote for this claim, I wonder why? I think I\'d accept the bones are stressed, but become half as strong?)
-\"An added attraction of sodium bicarbonate is that, by altering urine PH, it can prevent certain drugs from being excreted, thereby making them undetectable. In this way, milkshakes serve as potential masking agents\" (O.K. as recently as a month or so ago, I didn\'t know milkshakes were about lactic acid, but theres no way that altering the Ph of urine prevents the kidneys from cleaning the blood of drugs and sending them to the bladder. They may be masked but the only thing thats gonna keep them from being excreted is if the horse doesn\'t want to go.)
Whip Abuse is in this story too? I don\'t know, if my horse is third and looking kind of hangy, the jockey sure as hell better start tattooing him. Horses don\'t even show the results of broken bones for days afterwards and they suffer from the whip? That whip abuse thing is over rated.
I couldn\'t read the whole thing, but was getting hungry for a French steak about half way through it.
CtC
\"I don\'t know, if my horse is third and looking kind of hangy, the jockey sure as hell better start tattooing him.\"
\"I couldn\'t read the whole thing, but was getting hungry for a French steak about half way through it.\"
...Chuckles, that was funny man...LOL
Chuckles:
Forget about the publication where I found Dr. Barker\'s quote, even animal rights\' activists have to rely on experts at times whether they are part of their organization or not.
The link below will give you the background of Dr.Barker...and if I remember correctly, wasn\'t Louisiana the state where Wimbledon was dq\'ed from purse money in one of the Derby preps after a \"positive\" came back from the state testing authorities?
http://www.equiworld.net/uk/ezine/0303/lsu.htm
Delmar Deb wrote:
> if I remember correctly, wasn\'t Louisiana the state where
> Wimbledon was dq\'ed from purse money in one of the Derby preps
> after a \"positive\" came back from the state testing
> authorities?
Deb, I\'ll read your second link here asap. To my knowledge the only race the Mattress Mac owned and Baffert trained \"Wimbledon\" won in Louisiana was the Louisiana Derby. I\'ve never heard a word about a purse money disqualification in that race. It would be major news to have a purse money disqualification in an important Derby prep like the Grade II La. Derby. What makes you hint at that?
Heres Wimbledon\'s lifetime stats per Pedigree Query. They have him retaining the big earnings from the La. Derby and I didn\'t find a purse disqualification story in a quick Google search. Whats going on?:
http://www.pedigreequery.com/index.php?query_type=horse&search_bar=horse&h=WIMBLEDON4&g=5&inbred=Standard&x2=n&pedloggedin=0
I\'m all for cleaning up the game, but lets hold feet to the fire in the right circumstances. Mullins and Canani and Frankel as soon as they get him.
So sorry! You are right, it was NOT Wimbledon (who won), but Kafwain who finished 2nd in 2003. The clenbutoral violation resulted in a loss of purse money as it was discovered after the fact.
My only point in responding to you about Dr. Barker was to legitimize his comments as a vet involved in horseracing, rather than merely a hand-picked advocate of the animal rights group that carried his statement on milkshakes as I thought you implied by dismissal.
As for holding feet to the fire, there are no financial consequences (purse money or bets via dq) currently in place in California\'s \"testing\", and the date at which state sanctions of any type can be applied keeps moving further away. Seems to me that after the 30 day detention barn duty and 2 weeks without entering, all you have to do is return to your Hollywood Park stall and continue to use whatever you were using without any consequences.
I don\'t want to be this flip or cynical - I live in California and loathe the fact that we are so inadequate in setting standards and following through in the state\'s horse industry overall. And I have a hard time convincing myself - let alone new blood in the form of would be handicappers - that it will improve.
But I do think that whatever is in place should apply equally to all - regardless of their \"status\" or \"connections\"...and that includes informing the public...something that is at best an afterthought.
well my memory is bad. you are correct Kafwain was d.q.d from 2nd purse money and it was the La. Derby and that is a big story.
The jurisdictions do need to get their act together on the medications. Baffert has no excuse for violating substance rules. Its his job to be sure his horse is clean. To his credit I don\'t think he used the \"Shuman Defense\". \"Legal here, Illegal there....how do I keep track?..I\'ll wear the black hat.\"
Dr Barker is no doubt a fine fellow, but as these things go, his credentials are nothing special, & you might want to be careful about relying on how a group which appears to have a radical agenda is interpreting testimony Barker gave 13 yrs ago, without reading the testimony or knowing the context in which it was given. You also might want to review some of the research which has been published in the last decade, & read Hegarty\'s article in today\'s drf, before you make up your mind.
The title does not refer to Hegarty\'s piece, but rather to Dave Tuley\'s excellent \"Giving back to the game-literally.\" Many who have or can get their hands on today\'s form will probably want to cut out, laminate, & frame the article, but for those who can\'t, all you need to do is click on racing news on the bottom of the drf home page, & then scroll down about 60% of the way on the next page to access the story. It appears that Diogenes\' search is finally over.
Pursuant to conversations elsewhere, I would have to have gotten extensive documentation before I gave back the money.
Incidentally, the guy Gupta \"tied\" with-- the guy they overpaid-- was another of our guys. He and Kent Meyer (last year\'s NTRA champ) go to the tournaments together.
But I have to say-- giving money back to a casino is like giving money back to a bookie. Tough to have sympathy when they screw up. Gupta, as Leno said to Hugh Grant-- what were you thinking?
Whats going on here? Last week I have to look up Shakespeare and Henry V and longbows to figure out whats going on. This week I have to get into Socrates and Antisthenes and Diogenes. Socrates a Mr. Prospector of sorts and Antisthenes say Fappiano and Diogenes then Unbridled.
Theres good men out there. They just don\'t participate in politics or run corporations. Is TGraph an ,Inc.?
\"Stand out of my sunshine\"
lol
http://www.drf.com/news/article/62707.html
http://www.racingnsw.com.au/page.asp?parm=vet.main
Check out the following topics in the column on the left:
Bicarbonate Warning
Drug Testing
EPO Warning
Wouldn\'t it be nice to have such a complete description of the medication testing - including references to other possible sources of obtaining the prohibited substance such as feed contamination (wild poppies and morphine) and alkalinising substances (TCO2 concentration) - on the New York, California and Florida racetrack websites.
Just trying to find out the current status of what is being tested and the prohibited levels at California racetracks is not an easy task, let alone the other 32 racing jusisdictions in this country. I still can\'t believe that the Drug and Racing Consortium or the Jockey Club did not put one out as part of their research - but they claim not to have a compendium...at least available to the public!
I am not hanging my hat on Dr. Barker - and I did read the case history and testimony to insure that he was not someone who would throw fruit and paint at fur coats. I have also researched national and international veterinary findings and opinions regarding EPO, milkshakes and other substances.
I am also familiar with the continuing work being done at UCLA (from the Olympics testing group)on both human and animal effects of substances that do not even have names yet - let alone ways to detect them.
That is why I am so disillusioned with the state of racing in America - and our failure to adequately monitor and grow the sport. It\'s one thing to have discussions and various opinions about speed, pace and \"wide\" trips...quite another to have sliding scales for drug positives...or not scale at all.
The fact that other entities (Australia, Hong Kong and even France to some extent) have made the leap of faith gives me hope for us - but losing people like Barry Schwartz to Frank Stronach or Tim Smith is not a good thing.
Deb,
Thanks for the great link.
I thought this announcement (see link) should probably now be sent to the backside at SA, Aqu and GP (was issued down under over 2 years ago):
http://www.racingnsw.com.au/newsitem.asp?parm=1095
Also, looks like the Aussies have figured out how to do \"out of competition\" testing for all sorts of drugs including EPO (an idea I floated out on this board a few weeks ago). This was also announced over 2 years ago.
http://www.racingnsw.com.au/newsitem.asp?parm=1094
It also looks like they prohibit all race-day administration of drugs - nothing allowed but hay and oats:
\"AR.189A effectively prohibits all treatment of horses with drugs and other substances by injection, stomach tubing, oral syringe, topical application, inhalation or other means on race day prior to their racing engagement. This includes treatment with those substances listed in AR.178C(2). Essentially, only normal feeding and drinking will be permitted pre-race on the day of the race.\"
Very interesting.
Chris
Chris:
Maybe someone in CA is actually listening to us....
http://news.bloodhorse.com/viewstory.asp?id=26742
Kafwain tested positive for clenbuturol after running second in the La Derby. In California, where he shipped from, the allowable threshold is 5 nanograms. In Louisiana, the allowable threshold is 10 nanograms. Kafwain tested for 17 nanograms of clenbuturol after the La Derby and was eventually disqualified from all purse money. At the time, he was on most pundits\' top three Derby contenders lists. I went on OTB TV in Albany and said that if he can\'t win the La Derby with 17 nanograms of clenbuturol in his system, he sure ain\'t going to win the Ky Derby.
I seem to recall that the funny part of this was Bob Baffert\'s pretty lame excuse. He said that the violation was due to a mixup caused by confusion over the difference in the allowable limits between racing jurisdictions (CA and Louisiana).
What he failed to mention (or understand or both) was that the limit was HIGHER in Louisiana (where Kafwain tested positive) than it was in CA (his home base where Kafwain had been running prior to the positive test) and that Kafwain was over both limits regardless (as Dick Powell pionts out). So it was pretty hard to see how such confusion could have had anything to do with the positive test but maybe I am just too cynical when it comes to drugs in racing...
Chris
Chris, I don\'t remember the story, but the defense sounds similar to the Shuman defense. However, lets assume his vet knew he could give Kafwain more of the substance in Louisiana and did give him more. A difference in dissipation rates with more substance administered could explain the mixup and that on its face seems consistent with what Baffert said.
I was never high on Kafwain for the Derby. drugs or no drugs. He looked sprinty to me from the beginning and I don\'t think 50 nanograms of go go juice was going to get him the Derby. Which is not to say 7 nanograms over a threshold is permissible. Its an edge. It puts a trainer in a better position than other trainers without the betting public being congnizant of it. That is unacceptable. The penalties in these \"threshold\" cases are graduated. They are graduated of course, because the substance is permissible within certain parameters. Baffert undoubtedly paid a fine and justifiably had his purse forfeited. The La Derby was an expensive lesson for him and thats the way it should be.
If I had my way. Horses would race on Hay and Oats. No permissible limits of anything. You can still treat them, but if you do they don\'t race until its all out of their system. I think if they got \"back\" to that, you\'d see breeding focus on the animal and not the conditions.
Ctc
Post Edited (02-17-05 11:19)
Deb, the part where Rick Arthur says, FOR PUBLICATION, that Canani \"assured us it was a mistake and that there will be no further problems from his barn\" is a laugh riot. Or not.
Well, just so long as he assured you.