Some progress on the drug front

[derby1592]

I think they are on the right track.

See link: http://news.bloodhorse.com/viewstory.asp?id=15463

Cheers.

Chris

[bdhsheets]

I wish the Ky Attorney General would announce five hours before the draw that all horses entered would be tested for EPO and names published of offenders. How many horses would suddenly come down with mysterious ailments, LOL.

[Tabitha]

I\'m not sure its EPO. Heck how would I know, the State pari mutual divisions can\'t isolate an issue...lol  But I\'ve believed its blood packing in some form and if I understand EPO correctly it pertains to blood packing.  The sources say EPO can be dangerous to T-breds and that they can drop dead from it. (But maybe thats said to dissuade use kinda like the Pentagon saying if an Iraqi soldier follows orders and fires gas at our troops he will be prosecuted for war crimes) Haven\'t seen top Stakes horses just dropping dead in the Frankel or Lukas barn to fire EPO suspicions.

Use to be a very successful trainer at Hallandale named Frank Passero. He would come down from Canada with his own horses claim others and they would all run like Grade I winners. He led the meet in wins a year or two. They caught one of his grooms rubbing pepper vasoline into his horses genitals. I don\'t know why the horse would tolerate that all the way to the starting gate and then run like a deer fly was biting him but since that revelation Mr. Passero has not gotten close to his previous success at Hallandale.  I guess I point this little anecdote out to demonstrate when money is at stake people become clever in chasing it. Maybe it is EPO, maybe it isn\'t.

Tabi



Post Edited (04-30-03 09:59)

[alm]

Well, it\'s all speculation, isn\'t it?  Who knows?

As for the claim that horses can be killed by it, I think that that could be true, but like everything else, it probably depends upon the continuity of use.

It would be time consuming, but interesting to study a given trainer\'s pattern of racing horses off layoffs.  If they wanted to use a drug like EPO for a series of races and then discontinue it, for safety\'s sake, there would be some kind of pattern.

I admit that I only understand the basics about this drug, but why would it affect horses any more than it affects humans?  All of those European bicycle racers used it for years until they got hammered, and they had side effects, but they didn\'t die.

[Phalaris]

Human EPO is bad for horses in a way that isn\'t bad for humans because it is a foreign substance to which they build antibodies, which can in turn attack their natural production of red blood cells. It can cause anemia and worse.

In horses or people, excess levels of red blood cells can inhibit, not improve, performance because all the oxygen-carrying capacity in the world won\'t do you any good if it can\'t circulate effectively. A too-high percentage of red blood cells causes blood to be sludgy and not circulate well. It can cause sudden death due to blood clots in the brain and heart. There have been many sudden deaths in athletes thought to have been caused by EPO use.

Horses are very different than people in that they store massive amounts of red blood cells in their spleens and dump varying amounts into circulation to meet the needs of exercise. A horse can go from 40 to 60 percent red blood cells in its blood in moments due to this factor. Giving a healthy horse EPO is thought by many equine specialists to be pretty stupid, since it has documented, potentially deadly, side effects and horses already have what is considered to be an excess of red blood cells on hand naturally.

[alm]

Interesting...many thanks for the insight.