http://drf.com/news/article/95805.html
Lidocaine can only be used 96 hours out in New York State.
I\'m going to wait until this shakes out to comment further, but I have to say one thing now. Hegarty does some terrific reporting, but he on accasion has gone astray (as he did about rebates and certain other things in articles concerning me) when he injects his opinions into stories. Lidocaine and other anesthetics are certainly dangerous to the health of a horse if improperly used, but they are not preformance enhancers, any more than aspirin is a performance enhancer when you have a headache. Performance enhancers raise an athlete\'s maximum level of ability beyond what it would otherwise be-- EPO, bronchodilators like Clenbuterol, alkalyzing agents, those are performance enhancers. Painkillers allow an athlete to perform to his maximum natural ability, but don\'t expand it.
Well said Jerry!
Jerry, I am not trying to make a big point out of this question, but what type of medication is more likely to actually hurt a horse?
Drugs that mask a condition that pains a horse, thereby encouraging the animal to run at its full capacity (not advisable if it is hurting) or performance enhancers, at least some of which don\'t mask anything, but help it run better?
TGJB Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I\'m going to wait until this shakes out to comment
> further, but I have to say one thing now. Hegarty
> does some terrific reporting, but he on accasion
> has gone astray (as he did about rebates and
> certain other things in articles concerning me)
> when he injects his opinions into stories.
> Lidocaine and other anesthetics are certainly
> dangerous to the health of a horse if improperly
> used, but they are not preformance enhancers, any
> more than aspirin is a performance enhancer when
> you have a headache. Performance enhancers raise
> an athlete\'s maximum level of ability beyond what
> it would otherwise be-- EPO, bronchodilators like
> Clenbuterol, alkalyzing agents, those are
> performance enhancers. Painkillers allow an
> athlete to perform to his maximum natural ability,
> but don\'t expand it.
Jerry,
Are you still working with Steve Asmussen?
Do you know how many medication violations he has? I read it was 22 before the latest, but can not confirm it. Can you confirm that number?
I wasn\'t offering an opinion about that, and certainly I agree. I\'m just disputing Hegarty\'s characterization of anesthetics as performance enhancers.
Yes I am, and I don\'t know. I also can\'t tell if he is doing anything. Of all the horses I ever was responsible for purchasing that he has trained, I can only think of one (Rolling Sea) that ran significantly better after he got it. Which is less than normal, statistically.
One thing about stats like you quoted is that they are kind of misleading if you don\'t factor in how many starters the trainer has. Big numbers also increase the chances for a barn to screw up.
Steve probably has 5 times as many starts as Dutrow over the last 5 years, and much of the time assistant trainers are handling the horses at smaller tracks.
Right, I follow you. My question stems from what I believe is a misplaced emphasis and criticism of drugs as being a negative in the sport.
I don\'t see it that way.
To me, the uneven availability of drugs, which gives a clear advantage to those who have them, is the negative.
The drugs themselves should be classified as being helpful to the animal or detrimental. If they are helpful, they should be legalized and efforts should be made to make them widely available.
Maybe Bute would be classified, once again, as a dangerous drug, as would any drug that fools the horse into feeling good enough to make a maximum effort and, thereby, hurt itself.
TGJB Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I\'m going to wait until this shakes out to comment
> further, but I have to say one thing now. Hegarty
> does some terrific reporting, but he on accasion
> has gone astray (as he did about rebates and
> certain other things in articles concerning me)
> when he injects his opinions into stories.
> Lidocaine and other anesthetics are certainly
> dangerous to the health of a horse if improperly
> used, but they are not preformance enhancers, any
> more than aspirin is a performance enhancer when
> you have a headache. Performance enhancers raise
> an athlete\'s maximum level of ability beyond what
> it would otherwise be-- EPO, bronchodilators like
> Clenbuterol, alkalyzing agents, those are
> performance enhancers. Painkillers allow an
> athlete to perform to his maximum natural ability,
> but don\'t expand it.
thanks for the response to the Asmussen question ....
just quickly here -
when a horse runs 2 points faster than he should because of a medication violation, we lose. I don\'t care if the drug violation pushed the horse to a new level, or allowed the horse to return to a previous level. we lose both ways.
Michael-- there is a LOT going on right now on this, and I myself am spending a fair amount of time on it (just got off the phone with a reporter). More to follow, hopefully by the time I see you in Saratoga.
Right now it looks like I will be up there the first 2 weekends and the last one. The Jockey Club Round Table at saratoga should produce activity on the drug front.
TGJB -
I don\'t think Hegarty is expressing his own opinion. He is paraphrasing the definition of a Class 2 substance under the ARCI rules: drugs \"that have a high potential for affecting the outcome of a race.\"
http://www.ua-rtip.org/industry/modelrules_pdfs/chapter11.pdf
The article is crystal clear about how lidocaine is used and how it can affect performance. Anyone who read the whole article would understand what he means by \"performance enhancing\" and know that lidocaine is not \"performance enhancing\" as you define that phrase,
Hegarty also talked with Asmussen\'s attorney and laid out her concerns. In my mind, it would be hard to characterize the story as unfair in any way.
TGJB -
Looks like it wasn\'t even Hegarty\'s story. The byline is now Marty McGee.
I didn\'t say it was unfair. I said lidocaine was not a performance enhancer. Lots of drugs (lasix comes to mind) can affect the outcome of a race by allowing a horse to run to it\'s innate ability.
Again, I am not suggesting it\'s okay to run a horse on painkillers. But this is a whole different ballgame from the move-ups we have discussed here at length.
Then apologies to Hegarty, and my comments (mild as they were) apply to McGee.
TGJB Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I\'m going to wait until this shakes out to comment
> further, but I have to say one thing now. Hegarty
> does some terrific reporting, but he on accasion
> has gone astray (as he did about rebates and
> certain other things in articles concerning me)
> when he injects his opinions into stories.
> Lidocaine and other anesthetics are certainly
> dangerous to the health of a horse if improperly
> used, but they are not preformance enhancers, any
> more than aspirin is a performance enhancer when
> you have a headache. Performance enhancers raise
> an athlete\'s maximum level of ability beyond what
> it would otherwise be-- EPO, bronchodilators like
> Clenbuterol, alkalyzing agents, those are
> performance enhancers. Painkillers allow an
> athlete to perform to his maximum natural ability,
> but don\'t expand it.
Hegarty\'s right. Lidocaine\'s a Class 2 drug:
Class 2: Drugs that have a high potential to affect performance, but less of a potential than drugs in Class 1. These drugs are 1) not generally accepted as therapeutic agents in racing horses, or 2) they are therapeutic agents that have a high potential for abuse. Drugs in this class include: psychotropic drugs, certain nervous system and cardiovascular system stimulants, depressants, and
neuromuscular blocking agents. Injectable local anesthetics are included in this class because of their high potential for abuse as nerve blocking agents.
Clen, on the other hand, is a Class 3 drug, with LESS potential to affect performance:
Class 3: Drugs that may or may not have generally accepted medical use in the racing horse, but the pharmacology of which suggests less potential to affect performance than drugs in Class 2. Drugs in this class include bronchodilators and other drugs with primary effects on the autonomic nervous system, procaine, antihistamines with sedative properties and the high-ceiling diuretics.
TGJB Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Michael-- there is a LOT going on right now on
> this, and I myself am spending a fair amount of
> time on it (just got off the phone with a
> reporter). More to follow, hopefully by the time I
> see you in Saratoga.
For a dude who spends so much time talking to reporters, you sure aren\'t quoted much.
How long does it take you to puff out your chest each morning, or do your dreams of self-importance during the night make it so that you wake up with your chest puffed?
Why won\'t the Texas Racing Commission release it\'s findings as to quantity of lidocaine found? It\'s got to come out in the legal proceedings.If it\'s a nano or trace, then they too are caught in the current hysterics.
Mike
July 18 hearing set for Asmussen
By MARTY McGEE
Steve Asmussen was assigned a July 18 date by the Texas Racing Commission on Thursday for a stewards\' hearing concerning a positive lidocaine test for one of his horses at Lone Star Park.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Trainer Steve Asmussen was assigned a July 18 date by the Texas Racing Commission on Thursday for a stewards\' hearing concerning a positive lidocaine test for one of his horses at Lone Star Park in Grand Prairie, Texas.
Karen Murphy, the New York-based attorney representing Asmussen, said that she might request a postponement, adding that she will \"vigorously defend\" the trainer\'s innocence.
The case concerns Timber Trick, the winner of a maiden special weight race on May 10. A 3-year-old filly owned by Gainesway Stable, Timber Trick tested positive for lidocaine, a local anesthetic agent with a high potential to enhance performance. The recommended penalty for the trainer in such cases is a six-month suspension.
Murphy said Thursday she was in the process of \"making a third written request for the science,\" including the amount of lidocaine found, after twice having been denied those particulars. She said she made the previous requests to Wanda Fritsche, an attorney representing the Texas commission.
Texas has a zero-tolerance policy for performance-enhancing drugs and other medications. Murphy said she suspects the amount of lidocaine detected was extremely small, and that \"environmental contamination\" is most likely to blame.
Jean Cook, a public information officer with the Texas Racing Commission, did not return phone calls Thursday.
\"This whole system really doesn\'t work,\" said Murphy. \"There is a huge misunderstanding about what is involved here, and part of the frustration is the feeding frenzy that ensues whenever a so-called \'positive\' is made public.\"
Murphy said that after Asmussen was initially notified of the positive test, she asked to have a split sample sent to an independent laboratory at Louisiana State University but was denied. Instead, Texas officials sent the split sample to Industrial Laboratories in Colorado, Murphy said, adding that she was provided with a limited list of testing labs serving as alternatives to the commission\'s contracted service at the Texas Veterinary Medical Diagnostic Laboratory, which is affiliated with Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas.
Snake-- whoever you are, stick around. You might learn something.
Trainer Rick Dutrow Jr. addressed the media at his own request June 27 outside his Aqueduct barn to set the record straight on his 15-day ban in Kentucky for an overage of the bronchial dilator, clenbuterol, in Salute the Count, the runner-up of the Aegon Turf Sprint (gr.III) at Churchill Downs May 2.
Dutrow was joined by Salute the Count's owner, Michael Dubb, who fully stands behind his trainer. Dutrow has appealed the 15-day suspension because he said he cannot afford to take the days at this time of the year with his stable full-swing in stakes.
"In my humble estimation, there are two reasons people use medication for horses," said Dubb, who has about two dozen horses with Dutrow. "One is because they firmly believe it helps the horses, and is good for the horses. The other reason is because they want to cheat or think it gives the horse some kind of edge. Rick Dutrow does not cheat. Rick Dutrow is all about his horses. He cares for his horses immensely.
"Apparently, what happened with Salute the Count, Rick administered a legal, and I reiterate legal, medication too close to race day. It was during Big Brown mania. No doubt an honest mistake. Rick never does anything that isn't in the best interest of the horse. Rick is a tremendous horseman, but a poor administrator, and this is how (the clenbuterol overage) occurred."
Dutrow called the press conference because he has become weary of the flood of phone calls he has received, particularly after the clenbuterol overage was reported earlier this week. He said he was also tired of the negative press the incident has generated. Dutrow has been on the hot seat for several weeks. First he came under fire for telling the media he injected his horses monthly, including Big Brown, with the anabolic steroid, Winstrol, which is legal in each of the three states the Triple Crown races are run. After Big Brown was pulled up in the Belmont Stakes (gr.I) and lost his bid to win the Triple Crown, Dutrow was second-guessed about everything from his reported discontinuation of the use of Winstrol with Big Brown since April, and running Big Brown with the quarter crack he sustained about a week after winning the Preakness Stakes (gr.I).
Dutrow also came under fire for not attending the congressional hearings earlier this month in Washington D.C., concerning the use of medication in racing. Dutrow, who was asked to attend the hearings, did provide written testimony.
The clenbuterol overage came on the heels of Big Brown's co-owner, Michael Iavarone of IEAH Stable, proclaiming all of his horses will no longer race with medication, with the exception of Lasix, beginning Oct. 1.
"I'm just getting flooded with everybody calling me all the time about negative stuff," Dutrow said. "I would really wish that would stop. I don't know the last time I had a clenbuterol overage, six or seven years ago. I can't imagine that it hasn't happened before because I'm just not concentrating on those kind of things like I should be. So it's a miracle to me it hasn't happened before Salute the Count. I can see it happening, even though I was there all week long with (assistant trainer and exercise rider) Michelle (Nevin), and I know I had told the proper people to take him off on time. But it is just a mistake in the barn. I don't have any issues with my help because I'm in trouble over it; it's my responsibility, but it's not my fault. I do know that I take my horses off clenbuterol when it is time to race, so it is just a mistake that happened. To me it is just not as big a deal as everyone is trying to make it. The last time I got a clenbuterol (positive) on some filly, nobody cared, nobody asked me. It's not a big deal for a horse to come up with an overage for clenbuterol."
Dutrow said clenbuterol "clears out (a horse's) system. It helps them in a lot of different ways. I like clenbuterol. I've been using it for a number of top horses. And it was just a mistake that it happened. It happened at a bad time; just like everything with me."
In the June 27 editions of the New York Post, Iavarone aired his displeasure about Dutrow's clenbuterol overage, and having to find out through media reports.
\"We had serious thoughts of taking all the horses out of the barn,\" Iavarone told the New York Post. \"But IEAH has won over 400 races since its inception and Rick has won over 200 of them. Plus, we have only had one positive test in our career, A One Rocket with trainer Greg Martin in 2003.
\"We never had a positive with Rick as our trainer.\"
Dutrow responded to Iavarone's comments by saying: "Mike is kind of upset because he came out with a thing the other day that his horses as of Oct. 1 (wouldn't run on medication). I should have said something then because I knew the clenbuterol penalty was coming. When he called me and told me he was going to make an announcement, I should have said something, but I'm just not up on things like that. I'm just not smart enough to say, "Hey, Mike, I've got a clenbuterol coming up. If it was one of his horses, I would have said something to him. I don't think I even told (Dubb). He heard it from (someone else).
"I talked to Mike Iavarone (June 26), and it seemed like everything was beautiful, and I talked to him this morning, and it seems like everything is beautiful. I'm sorry I didn't say anything to him when he was making this announcement, and that is what I think he is mostly upset about. The conversations we had yesterday and today, (Iavarone) is behind me one-million percent."
Dutrow said Big Brown would return to galloping, for the first time since before the Belmont, this weekend, and have his shoes put back on June 30. He indicated Big Brown possibly could work next week.
"Once we gallop him, I'll be feeling very good, if Michelle (Nevin) tells me he is great," Dutrow said. "Once we breeze him, I will be feeling very good if (Michelle) says he is the same horse. He still has these tests to pass. I don't see an issue with the horse. Until he gallops and breezes, I won't know for definite (how he is)."
The target remains the Haskell (gr. I) at Monmouth Park Aug. 3, and Dutrow remarked he would like to also target the Travers (gr. I) at Saratoga Aug. 23.
"In a perfect world, I would like to see him win the Haskell and Travers," he said. "That's a perfect world, but especially my world, it's not perfect.\"
For now, Dutrow would just like for the media to give him a break.
"I think I did an unbelievable job with Big Brown," Dutrow said of getting the relatively unseasoned Big Brown to win the Kentucky Derby and Preakness. "But everybody is, 'What about the clenbuterol? What about the Winstrol?' It got nothing to do with what we have done with Big Brown. Nobody is saying anything about the good things. They are just pounding on the Winstrol and clenbuterol: just the things that look like they might be bad. I've done a great job with this horse, you all, and you guys should be thinking about that, and writing about that."
Dutrow never fails to enforce my low opinion of him. He is so
unrepentant at one of his horses having twice the allowable limit of
clenbuterol that he cannot understand why people would make such a fuss. Maybe because it\'s happened for the umpteenth time with him, at a time that
racing faces government intervention precisely because of people
like him. If he\'s really tired of the bad press maybe he should stop doing what he does to generate it.
I cannot believe that he is going to appeal just to put off his
suspension when he has already admitted to the offense. True, many
jockeys and trainers appeal just to get a delay of suspension, but
this is allowed to prevent someone who is truly innocent from being
punished unfairly. If he has already admitted to the violation, he
should not be allowed to make a mockery of the appeals process just
to suite his convenience.
How can this jerk who takes zero moral responsibility for all his misdeeds be allowed to continue in racing?
Bob
Dutrow, who admits that he is not that smart to keep track of his vet injections, and record keeping, why does he NOT hire on his staff a person who can keep things straight and keep his butt out of trouble.
From a PR standpoint, now that IEAH has been publicly embarrased by this episode, they should discuss with Dutrow the possibility of placing a 2nd in command at Ricks barn to monitor, assist or whatever you want to call it...a person to start to correct the wrongs in his barn.
This person could computerize all the workouts of all his stables, MONITOR and RECORD all medications being dispensed by the vets, making sure they comply to all state legislation\'s, do payroll, order barn supplies, horse transportation ect. Let Rick deal with all the ON TRACK issues of training and equine health care.
It seems from reading reports that many of his issues being fined both big and small are administrative issues that a good 2nd in command would do. Does a big time trainer like Pletcher or Kiran really worry himself about the silks of owners being in the jockey room pre race? Or \"failure to have foal papers on file\". Yes other trainers in other barns get it done correctly, but obviously Rick needs assistance in the administrative area. IMO it seems like Rick, like him or not, for better or worse, tries to handle EVERYTHING in his barn and it\'s way too much for one person to do. I\'m sure when he started out, he was a one man operation with few horses and he could control these issues. But as his operations have multiplied and success has bred a national presence in racing with horses being run at multiple tracks on the same day, administrative stuff also gets multiplied and he has not kept up, still trying to run it all by himself and maybe one female asst trainer. And I\'m sure time management of administrative tasks is not one of his favorite tasks daily either.
Drug issues aside, both personal and equine, he would be, as would IEAH if they stay with him, let his operation become more business orientated and improve his operations. I wonder how many assistants Pletcher or Kiran have at their main barns to handle all these side, but important, daily tasks of training. What would it take 50-75 grand to manage his operation for him? That\'s only one trainer purse of a grade 1 a year to break even on this idea.