http://www.drf.com/news/article/65198.html
Giacomo and Closing Argument, the first two finishers in the Kentucky Derby, and Roses in May, who captured the Dubai World Cup, are using a new veterinary product designed to cut down on the number of times horses need injections to their joints for lubrication.
According to Dr. Steve Allday, who designed the product, Lubrisyn, with biotechnologist Harry Leneau, it is an oral form of hyaluronic acid, which, in theory, \"maintains joint integrity longer, so less injections are needed,\" Allday said.
\"It\'s cost-effective,\" Allday said. \"You can\'t give a horse a shot every two days. This is a daily feed supplement. Ankle injections can cost from $150 to $200 per joint.\"
In addition to Shirreffs and Kiaran McLaughlin, who is the trainer of Closing Argument, Todd Pletcher is one of the primary proponents of Lubrisyn. He wears a hat plugging the product that says \"Get Sound.\"
Items to be made illegal:
-Lubrisyn
-injections to joints
-Steve Allday
-Todd Pletcher
Thanks for posting this, Delmar Deb.
This makes me curious how tightly controlled racing jurisdictions handle matters such as feed supplements that can have the effect of drugs (although we never got the joint injection information anyway). Two jurisdictions that come to mind are Hong Kong and Australia. Does anybody know how stuff like this is handled there?
It seems to me that just as bettors are informed about Bute, Lasix, Gelding, Shoes, etc, we should also get good information on whether the horses we bet on are getting injections (or injection substitutes). In baseball, the whole world finds out every time a player is getting an injection in lieu of surgery. Desi Relaford is an obscure player that comes to mind -- he is playing this year with injections instead of having surgery on his cartilage. Isn\'t it strange that I know this and I do not bet baseball, while I do bet horses and I know nothing about the injection history of the horses I bet? Makes me feel like a chump.
Baseball is a sport that asiduously avoids any connection with gambling, yet it provides this kind of information to its patrons. Horseracing depends on gambling for its existence, yet it keeps the source of its life support (us) in the dark on basic matters. Isn\'t something wrong here?
I think I recall somebody once telling me that in Hong Kong, they inform the public of all injuries to horses and how the injury is being treated (maybe this is wishful thinking). It just seems to me embarrasing that I bet so much when I am actually in the dark about some potentially very important information.
socal,
google hyaluronic acid. a fascinating topic. personally, i would like to know if a horse is getting a giant dose of this every morning.
Michael,Socal,Deb,
Thanks for an interesting article and discussion. I excerpted this from a UCONN site, with an address too long to repeat, taken from a google search(in quotes at the end of this post).
As I\'m sure you all know better than I, \"shooting the joints\" has been around a long time and usually used with reference to older \"cripply\" horses being dropped in price. I guess this is the stuff(hyaluronic acid) they\'ve been using.
I appreciate Socal\'s reference to the player being \"injected last\" with appropriate info. After a long struggle with a \"hijacked browser\" and malware, a friend finally got my computer \" cleaned\" of it over the weekend. I asked him if the \"geniuses\" who design this garbage ever get caught? He told me that nothing they do is against the law. I\'m sure that\'s true, but it seems crazy that their uninvited intrusion onto my equipment isn\'t accompanied by an announcement of some sort.
The substances Allday, Pletcher, Dutrow et al, are using may not be technically prohibited, but as Socal suggests, we are at least as entitled to know about them as baseball fans are, if not moreso. For whatever reason, the personal ethics of these guys seem to keep them from deliberately \"stiffing\" or sedating their horses, which is to their credit. That can\'t be said of all trainers. raz
\"The backbone of the joint lubrication fluid is known as hyaluronic acid. Hyaluronic acid itself is not absorbed when taken orally and therefore its use at this point is limited to an injectable form. There is no current evidence that hyaluronic acid is effective for the treatment osteoarthritis when given orally. The only proven and approved method of administration is by injection into the joint. Hyaluronic acid is injected directly into the knee in a series of three to five injections approximately one week apart. As it is injected into the knee, its onset of action is often immediate, however several studies have found that some individuals do not benefit from the injections until after the final injection.
Hyaluronic acid has been approved by the FDA. It can be administered only by a qualified provider in a series of injections as mentioned above. Most insurance companies are currently paying for these injections, after traditional and conservative measures have been attempted.\"
from a piece i found: \"a key component of hyaluronic cartilage is hyaluronic acid. hyaline cartilage is the most predominant form of cartilage in the body. it lends strength and flexibility to the body.\" i might put some of this stuff in my feed before i workout tonight.
That stuff, in injectable form, has been around for over 20 years. It\'s basically synthetic joint fluid, and is a much better long term approach to dealing with joint problems than tapping and injecting cortisone, which over time eats away at bone. Having said that, while it certainly can make horses with problems more comfortable, it is tough to believe it can make horses run faster.
SoCal\'s earlier points are well taken. When the news came out that the rules were different for the Preakness than the Derby, I went ranting to Bill Finley, among others, trying to get him to write something for ESPN.com, and saying I would be willing to supply all the incendiary quotes he needed. One thing I was going to mention was exactly the point SoCal made-- the NFL, which is rabidly anti-gambling, publishes injury reports with player status so there isn\'t even the hint of impropriety. 100 million was bet on the Derby and almost as much on the Preakness, and they can\'t even make clear what rules the game is being played under?
There needs to be much more transparency, and it won\'t happen until the tracks stop seeing us as fans, and start realizing we are PLAYERS. Right now they think we are a bunch of dummies who are supposed to lose, and like it.
SoCal-- the proposal I made in the letter I wrote to the DRF dealt in spirit with the questions you raise, but the feed additives etc. are certainly some additional points to deal with.
On a more positive note, I have heard that some interesting things might be coming in California over the next few months. We\'ll see.
For all you sports fans, don\'t think for a NY minute that you are told about all the injections pro athletes are given!
I have and still do work with pro/college athletes and 90% of the medicine is NOT REPORTED nor does it need to be. Ever hear of the HIPPA rules of medical privacy which protects the medical information of all of us, just not athletes? There is nothing in the NFL, MLB, NHL or NBA or NCAA which mandates when a player receives medication that it be reported to the media or the public.
If an athlete him/herself wants to give out that info, they can, but teams ARE NOT ALLOWED to disclosed medical info except their playing status!
And you guys are talking about the many injections they take. How about all the other meds that we legally dispense to them orally and through physical modality machines such as phono and iontophoresis?
If you only knew.....why do you think it\'s ILLEGAL for us in the pro/college field to bet on games????? even in Vegas?
What\'s next? your gonna want to know if and what jockey injuries are and if they are on medication??? This stuff will NEVER END!!!
Post Edited (05-23-05 18:41)
SJU-- I\'m going to e-mail you some time in the next couple of days to take you up on your earlier offer to help. There are a couple of people I would like to put in contact with you.
http://www.racingnsw.com.au/page.asp?parm=vet.main
I posted this link once before - but can\'t remember under what topic/title. This is the Vet section of the Australian Racing Site and it is what every jurisdiction\'s should be!
As for Hong Kong, the below link from the Racing and Consortium group here is interesting in both the manner of how the subject investigation was convened (an anonymous group of complainers go to the racing heads to complain about a trainer winning too much)and the fact that they waited until Silent Witness lost to even post the results!
http://www.rmtcnet.com/showpage.asp?story=71
Lastly - for Jerry - when I read in the Racing Form (I believe it was Hegarty because he is the one who never connects the dots) that Maryland planned to do post-race samples rather than pre-race because they had so much \"experience\" in doing post race testing...I could not believe what I was reading.
Because of their vast experience in determining from a post race sample whether there was anything illegal present, they became the experts. Seems to me the paucity of their results should have told you something about the relative success of their efforts!
So I assumed that the Allday horses would be \"up to speed\". Not so...High Limit only ran fast for a little while and then quit; Ashado made a move but it wasn\'t enough. What I always noted in the past was that the horses seemed to run at fast as they were able but for a prolonged period of time.
Haven\'t seen this in the TC races - but it appears live and well again in a certain barn in Kentucky.