Nothing surprises me anymore.
Attending the Polo Championships today in Wellington, Fla for the Semi-Final round.
The heavily favored Spanish Team took to the Turf only to find out their horses had gotten sick from potentially being drugged.
They used backup horses and still won. Kinda like NASCAR.
The Ky Derby AINT FREAKIN NASCAR. If major security is not put into place then a big accident is waiting to happen.
Like 10 horses dropping DEAD. Which is what happened here today.......
New York is getting tough. A week and a $2,500 fine for the Mullins\', needles and cough syrup bust. Wow. That should deter any others who might get any ideas about flouting the rules.
Question for the really old timers: is it getting worse or has it always been this bad?
I think it\'s the best it\'s ever been in the history of the sport, actually.
Look at the percentage of postives - very low, and mostly tiny overages of rather benign stuff. Kindergarten stuff that doesn\'t change a race. Is there some stuff you can\'t find via testing? Sure. But there isn\'t tons and tons of magical moveup secret drugs, with many horses on them, as many horseplayers think. If you think horse racing has been clean in the past - any time in the past - you\'re crazy. Horses ran on whatever the trainer wanted them to run on until it was outlawed. And most of that is in the past 30-40 years. There has never been more testing. Most of the stuff people use is common - milkshaking, NSAIDS & Bute and other drugs for pain, lidocaine and others to numb, etc. Heroin, cocaine, amphetamines, caffeine, cardiac drugs - that\'s stuff\'s all gone via testing.
QuoteTwo horses die at polo club in Wellington
U.S. Open match canceled
By Marc Freeman | SunSentinel.com
5:48 PM EDT, April 19, 2009
Two thoroughbred horses collapsed and died today at the International Polo Club Palm Beach in Wellington before a match in the U.S. Open Polo Championship, tournament officials said.
The polo horses from the Lechuza Caracas team were stricken by an unknown condition, said Polo Club spokesman Tim O\'Connor. Several other horses from the Venezuelan squad displayed symptoms of dizziness and lethargy at about 2:30 p.m. as the team prepared for a match against Black Watch in the International Stadium.
\"It looks to be a reaction to something,\" O\'Connor said. \"Something happened to Lechuza\'s horses. They were getting their horses ready for the game.\"
A necropsy will be performed to determine what killed the horses, likely 10 or 11 years about and valued at about $100,000 each, he said.
Club veterinarians treated the other horses that displayed symptoms. Palm Beach County Animal Care and Control and the Palm Beach County Sheriff\'s Office also responded to the Wellington club.
The match was canceled and an exhibition was held instead for spectators at the stadium.
No horses from other teams appear to have been affected, O\'Connor said.
The U.S. Open features some of the world\'s best players from an eight-team field. The championship has been played since 1904.
NYTimes.com
At Least 21 Polo Horses Are Dead, With Poison Suspected
By KAREN CROUSE and ANAHAD O'CONNOR
Published: April 20, 2009
WELLINGTON, Fla. — At least 21 horses collapsed and died on Sunday as they were about to take part in a polo match in Florida, and investigators said on Monday that poison was the most likely cause of their deaths.
The horses, from the Venezuelan-based Lechuza Caracas team, were being unloaded in preparation for the United States Open polo championships in Wellington, Fla., when several of the animals inexplicably began to stumble and collapse. Many of the horses died at the scene as veterinarians tried to save them and spectators looked on. Others died at vet clinics or while en route to a local clinic.
Veterinarians who examined the animals said that it appeared that they had died from heart failure caused by a toxin of some sort. But the precise reasons for their deaths were not expected to be determined until Friday, when autopsies are conducted, said Peter Rizzo, the executive director of the U.S. Polo Association.
"I cannot even process the horror from yesterday," said Mr. Rizzo, adding "I don't think anyone is prepared for anything like this. There's this scene of unrealness. If a couple of horses get sick or injured, you can kind of process it. As horses were starting to drop, you knew we had a much bigger problem."
On Monday, an investigative committee that included many of the veterinarians who were on the scene on Sunday met to discuss the possibility that the animals might have been exposed to contaminated hay or deliberately poisoned. The horses all came from the same stable but had various owners. Some belonged to the team's owner, Victor Vargas, an immensely wealthy Venezuelan banker. The remaining horses were owned by individual riders on the team, Mr. Rizzo said.
Mr. Vargas, who recently went through an acrimonious divorce in Palm Beach, became well known in the area last year when he purchased a $70 million home, one of the most expensive residential real estate deals in the country. He could not be reached for comment, but Mr. Rizzo described him as "in shock and mourning."
The next matches at the U.S. Open are scheduled to be played on Wednesday, after polo association officials said they had decided to go.