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Come on lads- almost every horse in training has some small problem and trainers do what they can to keep niggly things at bay with substances that are within the rules. The finding of this harmless substance (it was reported as homeopathic, which means it is 99.9% nothing anyway) is nothing more than carelessness and is a million miles away from any attempt to dope or cheat.
CH – my concern is that trainers seem have no fear of the authorities when it comes to drugs..
In the Henderson case, he even said something along the lines of "if I’d realised it was detectable then I wouldn’t have been using it"
In other sports the regulators come down like a ton of bricks on anyone who breaches or even appears to breach drug regulations (Christine Ohorugu and Rio Ferdinand for example). In racing you get a slap on the wrist and then carry on as normal.
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The BHA need to sit down and look at the whole picture again.
My stand on this is if homeopathic paste is a banned substance he should get the same sentence as Nicky Henderson got. Why should the BHA accept his word on this?
I really wish the BHA would get with the times though. If things like this do directly make a horse go faster why an them. Nicky’s crime was to treat a hose to stop him bleeding during a race……..Simplified like that it makes the BHA look like a joke.
Now someone else was clearly treating horses with a banned substance, turns round and says "Oh that was an old tube from last week" and walks
That just makes them look like an even bgger joke
EDIT: got my wires crossed here. First it was a syringe, then a piece a tubing, not it’s homoplus.
I really wish the BHA would get with the times though. If things like this do directly make a horse go faster why an them. Nicky’s crime was to treat a hose to stop him bleeding during a race……..Simplified like that it makes the BHA look like a joke.
Fist, one of the problems any sporting Authority face when drawing up rules for the use of drugs is not only must they assess the effect of an individual drug itself but also whether that drug if made legal has the effect of masking other illegal drugs.
This is why it sometimes the rules appear to go against common-sense or as you put it ‘look like a joke’
Not the first time we have seen a relative slap on the wrist for these "odd" veterinary items appearing in stables – there were 2 similar incidents at the Cesarewitch last year…
It is quite possible that this was an honest mistake from Dascombe, but the appearance of tubes in racecourse stables is surely totally unacceptable – and if the BHA want to be seen to be tough on regulating drug abuse in the sport, then we need to see tougher penalties than this.
This hardly inspires confidence after the Henderson debacle….
TDK – I see you’ve edited your original post that referenced milkshaking but it’s a tube as in a toothpaste type tube, as opposed to a rubber tube as you oringally thought. Details of the substance itself can be found here:
http://www.peak.ie/productinfo.cfm?id=5&name=HOMOPLUS
I edited my original post as the story I had initially read was edited, Paul. Initially it mentioned a "tube" being found, later a "tube of paste".
(To be clear – in my original post I wasn’t suggesting Dascombe had any link with "milkshaking" – just that milkshakes were administered through a tube)
Out of interest, how widespread do you believe the problem of performance enhancing drugs is in this country? Personally, I think it is a major issue….
TDK – looking at our figures and the intelligence we receive, I woudo not believe that we have a major with performance enhancing drugs in racing.
The figures for the last 5 years are below:
2004 2005 2006 2007 2008Number of Runners
92761 94659 94610 93719 98014
Samples Analysed
8816 8758 9086 9035 9631
Positives confirmed
11 9 21 7 15
So that’s over 45,000 tests with just 63 positives, which doesn’t paint a picture of there being a major issue, paticularly when you consider that the huge majority of these were where the source of the positive was through contamination or the substance given legitimately but still in the horse’s system come raceday.
Silvoir – but that relies on the tests picking up banned substances.
Let’s just look at this one product in question
HOMOPLUS – is a herbal mixture that works naturally with the horse’s system to produce an
optimum diuretic effect
..
Does a diuretic effect have an impact on how easy it is to detect other , possibly banned, substances in a racehorse?
TDK.
This stuff is herbal (not homeopathic as reported) and contains no banned drug. Neither would it act as any kind of a masking agent. There is no issue with it being used on horses in training unlike the Henderson situation. The only issue is it being found in the groom’s kit on a raceday, hence the fine reflects what is a small rules violation but not an intent to contravene the rules regarding drugs.Fair enough CH
Still, I’m interested in who decides which substances are banned and which aren’t – are the authorities keeping up with those who potentially want to mask their use of performance enhancing drugs?
(BTW – full marks to Paul Struthers for coming on here and responding to questions on this type of issue – would never have happened in the past)
TDK – our rules on what are prohibited substances can be found on our new Rules Website:
http://rules.britishhorseracing.com/Orders-and-rules&staticID=126284&depth=3
Additionally, on the day of the race no substance other than normal food and water can be given to the horse. This means that substances like Homoplus are prohibited substances if given on raceday.
You are right that diuretics can act as masking agents for other drugs, as they can speed up the process by which other substances are ‘expelled’ from the system.
I’m not saying that I don’t believe some malpractice occasionally goes on – it’d be pretty naive to think that there isn’t anyone out there trying to get an unfair edge and we do get occasional intelligence reports to that effect – but I do not agree that it is a major problem.
Paul – we’re all set for Friday. Will James Haycock’s badge be left at Owners/Trainers/Desks entrance?
David
Maybe one for someone at BHA or perhaps Adrian…
Are the tests for performance enhancing drugs in racehorses essentially the same in different countries?
Presumably there are new drugs/masking agents etc being developed all the time and the authorities have to try to keep pace with this in their testing and raceday procedures.
Is this information shared by the various racing authorities and are the same tests for the same substances applied at Royal Ascot, as say the Breeders Cup or the Dubai World Cup meeting?
the Hon Gentleman is referred to Article 6 and Appendix 4 immediately following it:
http://www.horseracingintfed.com/racing … tion=10#a6
seems the USA and others don’t accept all of it.
J
Are the tests for performance enhancing drugs in racehorses essentially the same in different countries?
Generally yes (further details also available at http://www.ehslc.com) as well as IFHA link above) , although there is I believe some difference in some countries’ ability to detect amounts at lower concentrations common, and a major difference in North America (http://www.rmtcnet.com) where as well as being allowed to run on substances banned elsewhere, much higher concentrations are also permitted.
Presumably there are new drugs/masking agents etc being developed all the time and the authorities have to try to keep pace with this in their testing and raceday procedures.
Yes, there is a lot of research, and cooperation between Authorities, like the following conference earlier this year: http://www.icrav2010.com
Is this information shared by the various racing authorities and are the same tests for the same substances applied at Royal Ascot, as say the Breeders Cup or the Dubai World Cup meeting?
Information is shared, in many case by formal agreements (see IFHA and EHSLC websites above). Given differences in permitted concentrations, detection abilities it’s not identical the world over (esp again the US).
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