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I’m surprised that this forum’s BHA critics haven’t leapt upon the recent Mick Appleby prohibited substances report.
Appleby has been in superb form this all-weather season, having particular success at Southwell, especially with horses bought from other yards. The trainer has a knack of getting improvement from castoffs and turning them into sand warriors. Appleby was found guilty of applying a prohibited substance to his Bancnuanaheireann, which was later determined to be the muscle rub Voltarol – the same over-the-counter product used by humans on general aches and pains.
The horse produced a positive result after a routine test, after which Appleby waived his right to have the ‘B’ sample tested. The BHA visited his yard, where he explained his long history of treating horses with Voltarol. Given that Voltarol itself was not directly prohibited (only some of its ingredients) Appleby felt it was acceptable to use it on his horses. Despite Voltarol containing substances similar to bute, its application was not logged in the stable’s treatment book – only in the Head Lad’s diary.
The BHA weighed up Appleby’s explanation and took the view that he was indeed simply unaware of the rules and never intended to use prohibited substances on his horses. They gave him the ‘entry level’ fine of £1000 for the transgression and advised the trainer to phone BHA headquarters if ever unsure about products and treatments in the future.
Was this token punishment too light and were the BHA too trusting?
The main ingredient in Voltarol is diclofenac which is very potent and doctors prefer to prescribe it in topical form because it’s not the safest of anti inflammatories to give people. It’s also rather expensive and you should keep out of sunlight if it’s on your skin. I swear by the stuff, myself, but you’d need an awful lot of it to treat a horse. I thought it was very much against the law to treat and animal with any human medication [as I found when I asked the pharmacist for some Pepto Bismol to treat my dog]. I guess the BHA were a bit trusting about this but it is non steroid and non narcotic so, imo they were right to be tolerant. I’d love to know what used to be in horse linament years back?
In both humans and horses, inflammation and pain are protective devices to stop them from doing further damage to an injured body. Humans can decide not to go and dig the garden or move a ton of rubble. Horses can decide not to run a three mile race and jump twelve fences or gallop up a training hill and jump a few practice fences. Take away the inflammation and pain and the human person has enough sense to still stay away from the garden and the rubble; but the horse thinks its body is fine and will try to do its best to run the race and leap the fences without thought to the further damage that may be caused to its body. That is why the removal or blocking of pain to enable horses to train or race are not allowed by the BHA. It is why they banned Howard Johnson for four years.
As moehat says, it is not trying to cheat by using drugs to quicken up or slow down the horse. It is an animal welfare issue.
“Given that Voltarol itself was not directly prohibited (only some of its ingredients) Appleby felt it was acceptable to use it on his horses.” Try consoling errant sportsmen and women on multi-year bans that the product was not on the prohibited list, just the drug it contained. Anyone who lives in the world of horse racing or any other sport, or even just reads a newspaper, trying to advance that statement as any sort of mitigation does not deserve to hold a licence. It displays a level of brainlessness that is a danger to his staff and his equine charges.
“Despite Voltarol containing substances similar to bute, its application was not logged in the stable’s treatment book.” There go Rule 13, Rule 27 and Rule 28.
“The BHA weighed up Appleby’s explanation and took the view that he was indeed simply unaware of the rules and never intended to use prohibited substances on his horses.” Ignorance of the law is no defence, or mitigation. For the public at large it is impossible to keep track of the millions of laws which we ought to obey. For a racehorse trainer it would take just a few hours to read all the Rules of Racing (they are always available on the BHA webite), and an annual re-read would have an experienced trainer completely conversant with the lot. Since Rules about drugs and animal welfare can cost a trainer his career, it seems that “unaware of the rules” is a feeble excuse at best, and in reality, no excuse at all.
“The BHA visited his yard, where he explained his long history of treating horses with Voltarol.” How was Appleby not caught in the past? Are the BHA testing procedures so ineffective? The level of the penalty is woefully inadequate to engender any confidence in the BHA’s previous statements about animal welfare.
MV, your final point seems the key one. He’s won more than 230 races in the last 5 seasons for over a million in prize money. You’d have thought someone with a ‘long history’ of using this would have done so on more than 1 of those winners.
On a lighter note, it struck me that the ideal NH product would be called Vaultarol
Using Voltarol isn’t against the rules, but using it close enough to a race so that traces of the drug are still in the system is a breach. Appleby, I believe, said in his evidence that he normally left a five day gap between using Voltarol and running a horse. So the reason he hasn’t been ‘caught’ before, is probably that he hasn’t run horses with the prohibited ingredient of Voltarol in their system.
All drugs given to racehorses come with a guide on how long you need to wait after the treatment before it is safe to race again. In my own experience as an owner, I had one horse given an injection into a worn out out ankle and was told we’d need to wait three months for that drug to clear the system. A number of the failed tests that are reported each year result from the waiting period advised by the vet proving incorrect – remember the example of Binocular taken out of the Champion Hurdle because tests showed a drug had remained in his sytem for longer than expected.
For me, the biggest surprise in this case is that anyone would think an over the counter product would actually be of any use on racehorses at all. My own experience of Voltarol is that it was almost totally useless and certainly less effective than a bag of frozen peas or a hot water bottle!
Alan, if that is how Appleby worked, within the five day constraint, then his defence was false…he knew it was forbidden. Can’t have it both ways.
Have to disagree about that; of all the topical anti inflammatories Voltarol [imo] is by far the most effective, possibly because it works on several levels. What does puzzle me is how many tubes of the stuff you’d have to use on a horse [?].
Interesting. I was unaware of this story. Mick Appleby seems to be the darling of the Racing Media, probably because Chris Dixon (RUK) and Richard Hoiles (amongst others) are part of syndicates that have horses with him.
I have heard quite a few tips for his horses emanating from people who have friends that work in the racing media in recent weeks and more are losing than winning at present. One wonders if the dip in form is connected in anyway with this case?
Have to disagree about that; of all the topical anti inflammatories Voltarol [imo] is by far the most effective, possibly because it works on several levels. What does puzzle me is how many tubes of the stuff you’d have to use on a horse [?].
It’s a mistake to correlate the effect – and dose – a drug has on humans with that on other animals. For example, paracetamol is toxic/lethal if given to dogs, and particularly cats
So what drug and how much works on a horse, and what its effects/side effects/elimination half-life is compared to pro rata human dosage may be very different
Apologies for advertising The Da*l* m*i*
Apracing is of course right in his first sentence, “Using Voltarol isn’t against the rules, but using it close enough to a race so that traces of the drug are still in the system is a breach.” but that covers only the rules relating to the presence of drugs in the horse’s system. There are other rules relating to the health and welfare of horses that may be pertinent, Rule 22, Rule 27 and Rule 28 are examples.
Take Rule 28 – Veterinary treatment and medication
28.1 A Trainer must ensure that all treatments and medication administered to a horse under his care or control are given in the interests of its best health and welfare. (Mick Appleby’s website make no mention of his receiving any veterinary training, so I guess he is not a vet. If Mick is administering treatment to a horse himself, using a drug not designed for horses, then it possible that he has not consulted a vet about the root cause of the horse’s ailment, leading to a potential breach of this rule.)
28.2 Accordingly
28.2.1 every treatment must be fully justifiable by the medical condition of the horse receiving the treatment, (Were the horses involved ever assessed by someone who could identify what was causing the pain, and therefore what would be a fully justifiable treatment for it?)28.2.2 horses that are not trainable as a result of injury or disease must be given appropriate veterinary treatment before training is resumed, (Was a vet ever asked if these horses should not be trained whilst carrying the injury that causes the pain for which Voltarol was used?) and
28.2.3 the Trainer must obtain advice from the Veterinary Surgeon prescribing a treatment as to the appropriate level of training during the duration of the treatment. (Well, Mick Appleby is probably squeaky-clean on this one since it appears possible that no veterinary surgeon was involved in prescribing a treament, and therefore could not advise on the level of training. Is this rule not very smart?)
Surely if a horse is suffering pain it is not sufficient just to relieve the pain and carry on exercise or training just as normal, because that may lead to the horse causing further damage to itself. It is not clear why the BHA rules relating to welfare were not used on this occasion.
You’re right, MV, some definitions needed here.
Who decides what an ‘injury’ is? In humans, what some footballers would consider an injury would cause any NH jocley to p1ss himself laughing.
And what is the definition of ‘best health and welfare’? That too is subjective.
I have been using Voltarol under medical supervision recently myself for inflamed tendons in my ankles. I have to say it hasn’t been that effective for me, I certainly couldn’t run a race!
However I am surprised about two things, one being how much would need to be applied to the tendons of a racehorse, especially with the hair. Secondly that any trainer would use a drug to mask pain and inflammation and subject a horse to a race, which could cause a more serious career/life ending injury to occur. It can only be a short term measure and even in humans it is not a cure as such.
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