San Diego Union-Tribune on Drug Use/Abuse in California Racing

[BitPlayer]

The San Diego Union Tribune ran a couple of articles on the front page of the sports section yesterday morning dealing with the role of drugs in California racing.  One article deals primarily with which trainers are the most aggressive (based on violation rate) and the other summarizes the drugs of choice and their functions.  The author, Brent Schrotenboer, has written previous investigative pieces on horse racing for the U-T.  There\'s nothing particularly surprising here, but it\'s nice to see the mainstream press addressing these issues.  The links are below:

http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20070716/news_lz1s16delmeds.html

http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20070716/news_lz1s16bute.html

[NoCarolinaTony]

It\'s about time. Good post.

I have a question for TGJB. Why did you guys use Cerin at all knowing his record and your position on the subject?

NC Tony

[miff]

...."There are guys dancing close to the fire as a way of doing business," said Rick Arthur, equine medical director for the state racing board. "They accept that risk, and we\'re not particularly sympathetic to them when they have problems. Our new penalty guidelines are going to make that problem too serious for them to ignore."


What Rick Arthur says is probably the case in NY also.

It\'s no secret that many of the most successful trainers in the country are playing the legal drug game close to the line because the reward is greater than the risk of getting positives.Much stiffer penalties would help reign in that group. Super testing would somewhat reign in the guys using the designer drugs(blood dope and super pain blockers) but enhanced testing monies are not being tossed around by the generally hypocritical racetrack operators.


Mike

[TGJB]

The only one in that article who knows what he is talking about is Rick Arthur, in the paragraph already quoted. He\'s talking about the alkalizing agents I have discussed here before, which several trainers are using while staying under an artificial threshold (37 in California). It\'s LEGAL use of performance enhancing drugs. I\'ve talked to Rick at length about this, trying to get them to publish the CO2 test results. So far I have not been successful.

Headley\'s comments on ethics are pretty funny, considering the news stories concerning him over the early months of this year. Abrams comments are clueless.

Cerin no longer trains for Graph Racing, for reasons having nothing to do with drugs. He does train for Parra, whose stable I manage-- but it\'s Ro\'s choice, not mine.

[fkach]

I made this comment a long time ago and still haven\'t heard anyone suggest why it would be a bad idea.

Instead of making a list of illegal medications, CO2 levels etc.... the industry should make a list of acceptable treatments. That way the default is \"anything not on the legal treatment list is illegal\" instead of \"anything not specified as illegal is either legal or in some grey area\".

In some cases, samples could be frozen etc...

As new drugs, therapies, treatments, herbs, vitamin supplements etc... are developed, they could always be reviewed and either approved and added to the list or disapproved.    

It boggles my mind that no one in the industry is strong enough to organize something like this on a national level. I\'m not on the inside, but the corruption and lack of sympathy for the animals must truly be mind boggling.

This is a non-issue for me as a horseplayer, but how could you even call yourself a vet or trainer and treat animals like this? Many of these people should be permanently tossed from the game for being scumbags even if they aren\'t currently breaking any laws.

[Dana666]

I\'ve followed California racing for many years. The most interesting aspect, left out of the articles entirely, is the pattern of certain super trainers. They\'ll go stone cold for months and suddenly catch fire, way beyond the normal ebbs and flows of a trainer\'s life. My question is and has always been, who do they pay off to look the other way during these red hot periods and then do they agreee, ok, we\'ll lay off for a while and someone else steps up? That to me is the real \"conspiracy\" rather than are they guys using \"stuff\".

[richiebee]

Since the conversation has once again turned to Racing and Drugs (and if I was a
California racing fan, I would be upset that the opening of Del Mar was marked
by an article chronicling the \"dark underbelly\" of Racing rather than something
more positive), I am kind of shocked that Biancone has gotten a free pass on the
TG board.

PB as already been \"excluded\" from racing in Hong Kong. His Keeneland barns and
his vet\'s vehicle were subjected to an extensive search, during which it is
alleged that prohibited pain meds (snake venom) were found. Because our
Constitution is a glorious document (I am not being facetious here), PB has been
permitted to continue to train and race pending the results of this
investigation.

Will be interested to see PB\'s \"last 90 day\" stats on October 1.

PB trains quality stock at the highest level. It is unfortunate that one must
approach handicapping a Grade 1 stake in 2007 the same way one used to approach
a 20K claimer in 1987 which featured runners from Ferriola and Moschera (not
sure if Oscar Barrera was still around in \'87). It demonstrates just how futile
Racing\'s \"war on drugs\" has been.

FKach-- if you are truly concerned about the humane treatment of animals in
general, get a list of National Football League sponsors and tell them you will
boycott their products if Michael Vick takes a single snap in 2007. In my
twisted mind, if the allegations against Vick are accurate, he faces \"trial by
pit bull\".

[fkach]

I agree on both PB and Vick.

[alm]

The cost of the type of testing needed to really clamp down is so high that you really can\'t expect every track or many tracks to afford it.  Moreover, it may not legally be their responsibility as much as it is a state\'s racing commission\'s responsibility.

Given the fantastic disparity between tracks and their financial abilities and given the disparities between racing commissions, the only practical way to achieve cutting edge testing is at the national level.

A Federal center doesn\'t have to catch every infraction or even make a majority of them stick.  A Center only has to EXIST in order to provide a chilling effect over the worst perps.  

I\'m not normally one who believes in Federal solutions to anything, but race betting is an interstate activity now and the Feds probably have to play a role, sooner or later.  I don\'t want some Texas drug freak cheating me out of a winning bet in New York or anywhere else....hint, hint.

[NoCarolinaTony]

Richie,

Mr Biancone,besides his blue blood stock from Tabor, he also gets Euro transplants from the lower levels of European Racing, and somehow gets them at least to G3 level in US. The usually fire right out of the box. I can\'t remember the name of this particular horse, but last year at \"old Kee\" he had a horse that just broke it\'s maiden at TUP, running in a black type stake. First flash it was 2-5 and went off 5-1. The horse is in the now more than famous TGJB study of 3 yo running Negative Numbers early. Horse has never been same. But I bet this little puppy he ran a Neg 2 I think, was never the same after that one race, may have been aided and abetted by Mr Biancones magic elixir.

What about Pomeroy at the SPA (prior to Wolfson).

Yes the donut eating frenchmen is getting a free pass here.

NC Tony

[Boscar Obarra]

Ferriola  Moschera & Oscar Barrera . More reminders of a misspent youth.

 I always had a pet theory that the folks with access to the actual  \'juice\' might be calling the shots from time to time, which might explain certain trainers getting hot and cold for extended periods.

 Maybe they want to move it around a bit, to get better prices at the window on someone not so \'hot\' at the time.

  6/5 gets old.