Page 32 - New Mexico Horse Breeder Summer 2018

Over the years, the illegal substances have killed a shameful number of horses, while simultaneously blackening racing’s eye of integrity until the sport is running almost blind.
Even with NUMP, which was intended to push uniformity along at a faster clip, a decade has passed without reaching the goal. There are some who insist the goal will never be achieved without the passage of the Horseracing Integrity Act of 2017 (H.R. 2651). They may be correct.
H.R. 2651 was originally introduced in 2015 by Rep. Andy Barr of Kentucky and Rep. Paul Tonko of New York. It was re-introduced in 2017 by the same sponsors in a slightly modified version.
Remember, each state has its own legislative process for the adoption of regulations. In other words, we’re herding cats.
Designer Drugs & Refined Testing
There is no denying that the development of new, performance-enhancing, designer drugs
is moving at a faster-than-ever pace – certainly faster than the movement toward uniformity. Designer drugs necessitate the constant refinement of testing techniques and it’s a “given” that these substances will fly under the test barn’s radar until those refinements are put into place.
Last year, a plastic baggie was found somewhere on a backstretch in Kentucky. In it were sugar cubes with slightly rounded edges. The ragged
but intact baggie was brought to the renowned veterinarian Rick Sams for analysis. The answer was etizolam, a substance used in some foreign countries to treat insomnia and panic attacks on a short-term basis. It is not approved in the United States. It’s a sedation medication, similar to the one known as “Carolina Gold.”
But how did it make its way from a foreign country to a Kentucky backstretch?
Sams began investigating and learned anyone with a credit card or on-line payment account (Hello, PayPal) could order etizolam, and other psychoactive substances, through on-line, illegal laboratories. That’s certainly not a shocker.
The substance is part of a group known as cannabinoids. Others are opioids, benzodiazepines, methamphetamines, cathinones. They are “street drugs” and there are hundreds of them.
Globally, law enforcement rounded up 34 tons of these psychoactive substances. 34 tons! Hard to imagine. It’s also damned scary. The UN Office of Drugs and Crimes has classified 644 new names. This, if nothing else, illustrates the magnitude of the problem and the reason it’s taking so long to get to where we want to go.
How do these drugs get through the door? According to Sams, most of them go through as “research chemicals” marked as “not for human consumption.” There are usually no dosing instructions but open on-line chats will tell you all you need to know. Sams made the comment that he was “blown away” by what his research uncovered. “The whole thing has been so eye- opening for me,” he said.
The etizolam arrives in small vials of concentrated powder. It’s put through a multi- step process and then dropped on to sugar cubes. Remember the old sugar cube polio vaccines? And, of course, most horses love sugar cubes. Human athletes have also developed a taste for the little treats. Just like letrozole, acting as an anabolic steroid for an Olympic martial arts fighter in 2016. The original use for letrozole was for the treatment of breast cancer. Nomifensine. JWH-250, a synthetic cannabinoid used as a human anti-depressant. Hundreds.
One of the most recent is aminorex, a stimulant developed for human weight loss. It was soon identified as a cause of pulmonary hypertension and was pulled from the market. Unfortunately, it had already leached into horseracing as a metabolite of levamisole,
which is a legitimate drug for equine EPM.
This is when an aminorex positive may not
be a positive. But wait...let’s throw in another monkey wrench. It’s been discovered that aminorex can be found in hay that contains wintercress and/or watercress. So, if a horse
does consume such hay and later be guilty of
a positive test, what happens? Some contend this would not invalidate the positive findings altogether. For instance, Dr. Mary Scollay (KY Horse Racing Commission Equine Medical Director) says, “Realizing that the way it got into the horse does not negate the fact that it was in the horse. How it got into the horse speaks directly to the trainer’s culpability or
lack thereof. The withdrawal of a finding is not warranted simply because the trainer had no role in the substance’s entry into the horse.”
What Does This Have To Do With Drug Testing At The Racetrack?
Simply, it makes it harder to determine if a positive is really a positive. The labs have known this ever since they discovered dermorphin (frog juice) could be chemically modified, thus escaping detection. Add to that the hundreds of street drugs and all the other points discussed. The final result
is a major headache of epic proportions. Four Ibuprophen will NOT work. And it’s seeming more
and more likely that internal industry organizations don’t stand a chance of achieving the desired results. But, you know what? There’s no shame in asking for back-up from a professional cat herder.
In the meantime, there are some racetracks that are going the extra miles. A strong example is the new owners (Stan Sigman, John Andreini, Johnny Trotter and Narciso “Chicho” Flores) of Ruidoso Downs, who are determined that the skirts of
the venerable dowager not be dragged through
the mud. There have been widely publicized
drug scandals at the track but, this year, track management and ownership have planted their feet and said “No more!” Their extra mile efforts even include the use of drug-sniffing dogs. One way or another, the intention is for Ruidoso to go clean and to become a model for all racing.
The four co-owners have, since the beginning, been adamant about their overriding goal to ensure the track’s integrity, and to thereby create
a level playing field for all participants. Efforts include state-of-the-art testing, both in and out of competition, and enhanced security measures, and enhanced security measures to deter and to defend against cheating. The New Mexico Racing Commission has pledged its dedicated support.
Lasix & “Bleeders”
Interestingly, the most internal industry upheaval is bubbling up from the proposed race-day ban on a substance that’s been legal since the beginning of the “permissive medication”
era. We’re talking, of course, about Lasix. And that’s how this article began – by asking if you remembered the first time you saw that vertical row of little “L’s” marching down a program page.
We all know about Lasix. It’s supposed to be used to control bleeding. And, according, to most opinions, it does control bleeding. But there are other concerns, other questions.
Does Lasix mask or camouflage illegal substances that may be present in the horse? Does it at least dilute those substances so
they’re more difficult to detect?
Does Lasix give the horse an edge when it
comes to speed?
And, truly, what is the definition of a bleeder? A “bleeder” is a horse that suffers from
ruptured blood vessels in the lungs during the physical stress of training or competing. Some horses bleed a lot. Other horses barely bleed, needing to be scoped in order to reveal the evidence. Studies indicate the majority of horses will bleed at some point in their careers, and 60% of sudden deaths at the track are due to bleeding.
The severity of bleeding is graded on a scale of 0 to four. Any horse determined as a four is in danger, with severely affected performance. In those cases, blood flows from one or both nostrils and/or blood covers the entire trachea. Fortunately, less than 1% are in this category.
Even a grade 2 bleeder can have his performance affected by as much as six-lengths.
Bleeding is definitely a nightmarish reality.
30 New Mexico Horse Breeder