Page 97 - 31 August 2012

To Stacy Pigott,Speedhorse Executive Editor:
Having read your article in the 8/3/12 edi- tion of Speedhorse, “What can owners do when it comes to drugs?” I feel strongly compelled
to respond. My wife and I have bred and raced horses for 30 years. I consider myself an experi- enced owner.
An owner can go to any racing form and quickly find a trainers win percentage. It’s a lot more difficult to find out how many violations
a trainer has had, what substances were found, and what the levels were. The websites that carry rule violations are sadly incomplete and in many jurisdictions far behind. The appeals process
in most cases allow a trainer with a bad test to continue to compete at the same track until the meet is over.
When an owner sends his horse to a profes- sional trainer, they give that person the responsi- bility for making decisions regarding the health and welfare of that animal. Trainers with clean reputations and good business practices can have long, successful careers. When an illegal sub- stance is found in one of the horses under their care it must be treated in a different manner than an overage of a therapeutic medication.
In your article you make some good points about the owners knowledge or lack of knowl- edge of their practices when they select a trainer
to make decisions in their horses care. When you commended the owners and the pledge to run Salix free, you confirmed my suspicion that your article would turn from illegal drugs to legal medications.
The drugs that you named, dermorphin, ractopamine and zilpaterol, are not approved
by the USDA for use in any horses and have no prescribed use in race horses. These illegal drugs can have harmful side effects including laminitis and death and should no way be coupled in any conversation with a therapeutic medication like Salix. This is another conversation that horse- men feel strongly about on both sides.
The racing jurisdictions have the power to enforce purse redistribution in those cases of il- legal drugs. Redistribution penalizes both owner and trainer of horses who had a prohibited substance in their system during the race. If the AQHA is to make any stand on drugs, it should be to support redistribution of purses in all ille- gal drug cases, regardless of how many violations the trainer has had.
Having a more unified posting of rule violations certainly would help owners make informed decisions selecting a trainer. Target testing is another way to deal with those trainers who have shown repeated drug violations and horses with previous bad tests. Horses with a bad test in a trial race should never receive any
portion of the final. This rule is written into most futurities and derbies, but it still happens.
I have respect for you as a journalist, but changing the conversation from illegal drugs to therapeutic medications will not help “us” in our effort to clean up the racing industry. You can either become part of the solution or continue to be part of the problem.
Thank you, Ralph Fales
Ed. Note—Thanks for the great comments
and suggestions, Ralph! It is unfortunate that the Thoroughbred owners I referred to were taking a stand on Salix. It was not at all my intention to support their stance on Salix, but rather to applaud their actions in simply getting involved. If they had advocated for the continued use of Salix, I would have written the same article, commending them for taking responsibility for their horses and getting involved. I believe it will take our entire industry working together—racing officials, track own-
ers, racing commissions, trainers, grooms, jockeys, breeders, pony riders, and owners—to bring about effective change in the face of some of the issues we face today, especially when it comes to illegal drugs. Racing Free is a new group that hopes to do just that. If you haven’t heard about Racing Free yet, take a look at page 16 in this issue. I think you’ll appreciate their efforts!
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SPEEDHORSE, August 31, 2012 95