PA DRUG TESTING: AN INSIDER’S VIEW
The commentary by Pincus was in response to an earlier article published in the Paulick Report concerning a flurry of positive tests in Pennsylvania for lobeline, a medication found in nicotine patches that are used to help people quit smoking. There have been more than 50 positive tests in Pennsylvania for Lobeline, which many believe has resulted from feed contaminated by the lobelia inflate plant that grows wild in many parts of the Midwest and Northeast.
Among those who wrote with a counterpoint to Pincus is Rick Abbott, a former longtime member and chairman of the Pennsylvania State Horse Racing Commission. Abbott is also a horseman who operates Charlton Bloodstock in Chester County, Pa., with his wife, Dixie. — Ray Paulick
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________ I recently retired from the Pennsylvania State Horse Racing Commission (PAHRC) after 13 years as a commissioner and several as chairman. Throughout that time I had many occasions to interact with attorney Alan Pincus, as he is the unofficial house attorney for both the Pennsylvania Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association and the Pennsylvania HBPA when it comes to the defense of drug positives. During my term I cannot recall attorney Pincus winning one case on appeal from a ruling by the Stewards nor, I believe, did he win one of his appeals to Commonwealth Court or the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. He did, however, collect considerable fees in the process.In the case of clenbuterol, Pennsylvania experienced a rash of positives when the Pennsylvania Equine Testing and Research Laboratory (PETRL) began testing for the drug in plasma in addition to urine. It turned out the drug was being administered at “bridle time” so that it would not have been in the horse long enough to be found in the urine when post race samples were taken. There were over 50 positives for clenbuterol in the week that plasma testing began and, miraculously, none in the week after the positives were called. The positives stopped overnight. All of the cases were adjudicated in favor of the racing commission, even those appealed to Commonwealth Court.
Aminorex presented a thornier problem. The first cases appeared in Canada and then showed up in Ohio. From there they migrated east, first to the Meadows, a harness track near Pittsburgh, and then to Penn National and Philadelphia Park. The problem for the racing commission was that the drug (a powerful stimulant) had not been commercially available for over 20 years and there was no research on its pharmacological effect on the horse. We knew aminorex was a strong “upper” but had no data as to the level at which it would effect a horse’s performance. In fact, the first few trainers who had positives took their days and paid their fines.
After the lab confirmed 30 positives the racing commission met with representatives of the horsemen and asked them to provide samples of any feed supplements they were using in the hope that we could identify the source of the positives. Some provided those samples but the lab was unable to find a source. After another meeting with the horsemen, including attorney Pincus, the racing commission agreed to ask Dr. Lawrence Soma at New Bolton Center to try to determine the level at which aminorex would affect performance.
Originally, Dr. Soma’s attempts to conduct this research were stymied by his inability to obtain the drug so that he could do administration studies. Eventually he was able to obtain some of the drug from the University of Georgia and the studies were performed. The results of those studies showed that the drug was very short acting and would have to have been administered in the post parade to have had a performance enhancing effect. The racing commission was never able to identify the source of the drug.
All of the aminorex cases were dropped and the trainers who had taken their punishment were made whole (including lost purse money). This was done in cooperation with the horsemen, and second-place horses that would have been moved up were awarded first money out of a sense of fairness.
Interestingly, aminorex, while still tested, has disappeared from racing.
Pennsylvania’s testing integrity has never been questioned by anyone but attorney Pincus in his representation of horsemen with positive tests. Commonwealth Court and the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania have consistently upheld the testing and due process procedures of the Pennsylvania State Horse Racing Commission.
I am sure that the current Commissioners will handle this new rash of positives for lobeline with sensitivity to the rights of the individuals involved, including the rights of the horsemen whose horses finished behind the horses that tested positive. I’m also sure that lobeline will stop appearing in the tests of horses racing in Pennsylvania.
UPDATE: We received the following response from Alan Pincus to the above editorial.
I read the comments by Commissioner Abbott and I think they are illustrative of the problems with supersensitive testing. I’m sure he is a fine man and is loved by his family. However, he is intellectually dishonest in these matters. When it comes to the testing of various drugs including aminorex and lobeline there are only two possible answers. Either a huge number of trainers (30+ aminorex, 50+ lobeline) are purposely or negligently giving the substance to their horses or because of testing to such minute levels some type of innocent environmental contamination is showing up in the samples and the trainers are actually innocent. Commissioner Abbott will not state which one of these choices is the true answer. I challenge Mr. Abbott to state whether these trainers are guilty or innocent.
Let’s look at aminorex for a moment. The trainers all had a confirmed amount of a class 1 drug in their horses. This would call for a suspension from 3 months to a year. The only thing that stopped those suspensions from happening was the sheer volume of positives. Even Mr. Abbott had to admit that punishing these people would be wrong but he will not admit that the problem was caused by his lab and not the trainers. His lack of sensitivity is shown by his statement that the trainers were made whole. Yes, they were not suspended and their owners eventually got their purse money back but they were forced to endure a year with class 1 positives hanging over their heads and the anxiety that comes with it. I assure you, Mr. Abbott, that horsemen are human beings with human feelings.
Abbott states, "Interestingly, aminorex, while still tested, has disappeared from racing." His implication is the trainers have stopped giving it to their horses. The real reason is the lab stopped calling positives for aminorex at such low levels. You will see lobeline positives disappear from racing when they stop calling positives at current low levels also. It will all be done in secret and no admissions will ever be made by the Commission. So, Mr. Abbott, you again have the opportunity to state whether the aminorex trainers were guilty or innocent. Let’s hear your answer.
Tags: alan pincus, aminorex, Charlton Bloodstock, clenbuterol, Dixie Abbott, drug testing, equine drug testing, lawrence soma, lobeline, Paulick Report, Pennsylvania Equine Testing and Research Laboratory, pennsylvania horse racing commission, PETRL, Ray Paulick, Richard Abbott, Rick Abbott
October 14th, 2009 at 11:25 pm
Dr. Alex Harthill, who knew a little something about the subject, one told me that most people would be surprised to learn how little of some substances could be used effectively to alter a horse’s performance. That is one of the problems with entire issue of trace amounts.
October 14th, 2009 at 11:32 pm
Very good information.Isn’t it funny how that excuse of environmental contamination disappears once bad tests start showing up.
Hmmm…………………..perhaps it should be called environmental assistance by human hands.Also ironic how it travels from track to track but still disappears at each one in succession.
October 15th, 2009 at 2:29 am
It must be in the air to travel - in the one drug case - from Canada to Ohio to Pennsylvania! Only a complete idiot would believe that an equine athlete needs to glow in the dark from large amounts of junk to reap an illegal edge. This is a sordid science - comparable to that of the Communist East German “amateur” sports machine in the 1970s and 1980s - of the ultimate quest to find the most miniscule “Holy Grail” of a drug - or cocktail - that will skirt all testing procedures.
October 15th, 2009 at 4:59 am
Horseman have to understand, that, with the slot backed enhanced purses, the Pennsylvania Racing Commission has little sympathy for trainers and owners with horses testing positive banned substances. The drug tests now are too sophisticated for horseman to be pharmaceutically attempting to influence the outcome of the race - they do so at the peril of hefty fines and sanctions. However, the fact is, horseman will continue to scour the internet in search of the next drug analog that will improve performance and avoid the banned drug list.
It is understandable that horseman are looking for every advantage to win purse money. Ask the trainers at Thistledown how it feels to be racing for $1,500 purses and don’t tell me he is not tempted to amp up the performance of his horses with a medicine that, if caught will cost him financially and put a mark against his license.
Pennsylvania wants the “race fixers” out of the picture so the betting public gets a fair shake. The bottom line is if you come to PA to race you better do it clean because “the man” will nail you if given the opportunity.
October 15th, 2009 at 7:24 am
Thank you former Commissioner Abbott. A horse industry insider that is not “afraid” to speak the truth. Investigative agencies need to plant more “moles” within the trainer-vet populations in order to determine who the “ring leaders” are when a new way of making a horse run faster/furrther is discovered and then exploited. This tact, in conjunction with a lab like PA is using, should at least take care of horse doping isues. It’s easy to figure out what the culprits are doing to gain illegal advantages, now let’s just act on the information and put them out of business. A much smaller, less needy, horse industry will remain, but we then may be able to reconstitute the sport with the bad guys kicked out the door giving us a chance to gain back the betting public’s confidence.
October 15th, 2009 at 7:48 am
Thank you Mr. Abbott for once establishing why we need to have zero tolerance. There are two other major items that need to be addressed by the racing commissions. One is that certain racetracks with high percentage trainers and large stables protect these trainers. At one major track, it is well known by security and back stretch personnel that security is not allowed to step foot into barns across one road. Thus the track and racing office should be implicated for unknowingly/knowingly allowing complete privacy in these barns.
The second is that security guards who are appointed to watch?horses can’t tell one bay/chestnut horse from another. It is not unusual for trainers to switch halters on a horse in to race. Then, the “in” horse eill be out walking, get his feet washed, etc. while several bay/chestnut horses are out walking. The in horse will be put into a stall on the other side of the barn and the vet will come and treat that horse. Subsequently the horse joins the merry go round of walkers, goes back into his stall, and no one but the walker is any wiser. In So. CA, horses in graded stakes are monitored by guards with video cameras. This works relatively well except that the guards come at 6am and the horse can be treated before that. Random or earlier times would alleviate this opportunity.
The third important part of the puzzle is the lack of punishment. Unlike the standardbred track, I would estimate 95% of illegal drugs are administered by track veterinarians. Get rid of the source and you eliminate part of the problem. Detention barns are not the answer either. They cause some horses to become nervous and upset prior to a race which affects performance and fairness for the bettors. In addition many security guards receive low wages and it is not unheard of for a guard to be passed $50-$100 and given a tip to bet this horse. All th guard has to do is be busy or turn a blind eye.
October 15th, 2009 at 9:10 am
Isn’t it amazing that contamnination to the environment seems to be cleaned up when a commission calls positives? Well done Rick.
October 15th, 2009 at 9:50 am
Among Pincus’ former clients are Burton Sipp (who has amassed an astounding number of rulings against him and was the subject of a Bill Finley article in the New York Daily News when Pincus was able to get him reinstated in the mid-1990s) and Jayne Vaders, former leading trainer at Philly Park who has now been barred indefinitely because of a multitude of positives. He goes to bat for those who break the rules. I discount his views about drug testing in Pa. entirely, whereas I hold Mr. Abbott’s opinions in high regard.
October 15th, 2009 at 10:00 am
Agree with equine about vets on the backstretch. Get the vets back to diagnosing and treating ILLNESS and INJURY. Period. Illegal raceday drugs are just the tip of racing’s drug problem.
October 15th, 2009 at 11:01 am
I think the Obama Administration should hire Abbott to work in the Cabinet to clean up our nation’s environment!
October 15th, 2009 at 11:02 am
John Merriweather, you neglected to precede the reference to Burton Sipp with the world “legendary”
October 15th, 2009 at 11:33 am
The only solution to cleaning up the sport is to ban repeat offenders, sort of a “three strike rule”. First infraction, a warning. Second, a meaningful suspension. Third, banned for life. The penalties can be debated, but by threatening someone’s livelihood, I guarantee the racing will cleanup quickly. To my knowledge, training race horses is a privilege and not a right.
By placing the burden on horsemen to ensure that their horses are free of banned substances, racing commissions will not have to chase these guys around the country. Right now, a false positive proves little. Just because you haven’t been caught doesn’t mean you aren’t cheating. But with the right penalty structure in place, more trainers will have a hard time crossing lines.
I understand not targeting owners, because in the end they do foot the bills. But at some level, they have to be held accountable for hiring questionable trainers. As a business owner, hiring the right employees is crucial. How many applicants get denied employment because of failed drug tests? Why should horse racing be any different from any other business?
October 15th, 2009 at 11:46 am
Great comments.
If Mr. Pincus defended Burton Sipp, his words are as dirty as what Sipp does to his horses. Racing is very sick.
A 15% win percentage and up, especially when sudden, should automatically bring 24/7 surveillance, 100% super-testing and random testing especially for the hard to catch growth hormones. Win and ITM stats along with horse inventory, injury and death records, should be kept to flag sudden chemical strokes of genius, the administration of dangerous chemicals and punish abusers.
A special thank you to Ray for its cutting-edge reporting and to leaders such as Rick Abbott, Ed Martin, Joe Gorajec, John Sabini, Dr. Rick Arthur, Dr. Tom David and others for their hard work against doping, and with it the rampant abuse of race horses against the greed and moral decay of too many and the lack of tough rules and funds to investigate, test and punish the dopers and abusers of horses.
They and leaders like them will eventually prevail, hopefully not because racing has hit bottom and faces a permanent ban following a huge tragedy, criminal trial and incarceration of those who colluded to race infirm and/or doped horses. Such leaders will save horse racing despite its intoxicated horsemen and vets who conceal their business (which has very little to do with healing horses) behind their self-erected privacy shields. These leaders will prevail despite the drug gang of Foreman, Barker, Tobin & Stirling who preach to the HBPA choir. Warped pro-drug characters will continue to destroy horses and racing with them.
Integrity is expensive but a sound investment and the only choice. Racing needs to find the will to face initial disruption and shrinkage to save itself.
The industry needs to form a central authority so its 38 racing jurisdictions can consolidate their efforts and expenses, including legal expenses, under one roof and conduct racing under fair but tough, uniform rules. Consolidation would reduce conflicts of interest between state officials and owners, trainers, vets and track owners. It would stop the cannibalism of horses and racing dates. Quality, safety and integrity would shrink the size of racing as it must to make it special and anticipated.
Without drugs to train and race, with mandated rest and retirement and less horses to repair, rehab, trash to slaughter and euthanize, costs to horsemen would be far less, training and racing far more enjoyable.
Racing operates above the law. A central authority could have better luck then state racing commissions with the FBI. And perhaps racing needs to hire the US Anti-Doping Agency. Its CEO Travis Tygart said in front of Congress that a sport cannot police itself and he is correct.
October 15th, 2009 at 11:51 am
Mike, water seeks its own level. That applies to owners and their choice of trainers.
October 15th, 2009 at 12:35 pm
Great comments Ghostzapper and others and kudos to Ray Paulick for giving us a forum to try and change the game for the better.
Unfortunately, it will take more Rick Abbotts than we have available to clean up this sport and send the habitual wrong-doers packing.
I just can’t see any way for us to go forward now without a powerful central governing authority. One would think that is so apparent and so vital that the NTRA, Jockey Club, Breeders Cup, RCI, AHC etc., each claiming to have the best interests of the industry at heart , would approach someone like Sen. Mitch McConnell and ask for Federal Authority under an amendment to a statute such as the Interstate Horseracing Act of 1978 to establish a strong central league office with anti-trust exemption a la major league baseball etc. It is needed for so many challenges facing the industry, not the least of which is this almost daily re-run on doping and cheating and the impact it is having on the welfare and health of the animals and on the related issue of our ability to attract and keep racing fans and bettors.
We have to get drugs out of the industry one way or another. The only way I can see that happening is to ban race-day medication completely. But to enforce that ban and ensure uniformity in testing and penalties across 38 racing jurisdictions, we need the power and legal standing to accomplish that and I cannot see any of the major players having the wherewithal to do that at this time.
October 16th, 2009 at 12:12 am
Mr Abbott - you appear to think that the aminorex mystery was never solved. Perhaps the Pennsylvania racing commission never figured it out, but Ohio did and so did the US National Institutes of Health. Here is the US government web site that details the findings:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19298880
In a nutshell, it says aminorex is a metabolite of levamisole in the horse. Levamisole is a legal wormer that can be used for cattle, horses, swine, sheep, etc. So horses that were given this perfectly legal wormer tested positive for an illegal drug. In other words the aminorex positives were basically false positives.
Please note that the US government article says It has been “established unequivocally” that the use of this legal wormer in horses can lead to the presence of aminorex and other illegal drugs in urine and blood samples. Illegal drugs that were NEVER administered to the horse.
It’s bad enough that you’re apparently ignorant of this widely published data, but in addition your statement “Interestingly, aminorex, while still tested, has disappeared from racing” wreaks with innuendo. The reason aminorex “disappeared from racing” was because the testing labs figured out how to avoid the false positives caused by a legal wormer.
I have to ask myself if you are also ignorant of other scientific data regarding false positives and other drug testing problems. And is a person so ignorant of important data truly qualified to address the picogram testing level currently used in your state, which very likely produces false positives?
October 16th, 2009 at 2:02 am
Aminorex sounds awfully similar to this Lobeline mystery. I hear Lobeline would also have to be administered 15 minutes before the race for it to have any effect. Looks to me this will end up going away. Hopefully they give these horseman due diligence. It does’t look like these positives are going away. They have been coming in steadily since April I believe. When they do find this was something beyond the trainers control most of you are going to look like conspiracy theory IDIOTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
October 16th, 2009 at 6:57 am
PL Lewis, you hear or you know? Could you cite the studies done on the use of lobeline in horses. That would be most helpful.
October 16th, 2009 at 8:38 am
Horse doping crooks are very shrewd folks. They love to use substances that can be found in nature, or something that may have been on the hands of the horse handlers. Caffeine and cocaine, just blame the groom. Remember when the trainers in Pennsylvania were apparently shooting vodka into the horses, a practice that was confirmed by plenty in the know.? Creative minds then detrmined that it could possibly be a chemical reaction caused when bigeloil(sp?) came into contact with DMSO based linaments. How about the old trick of multiple positives and positivies coming from folks that have never had a problem as being certain excuses for some sort of contamination. The old defense from the Aminorex positives was “why would anyone in their right mind use something if another guy had already been caught with it?” The more the merrier in terms of making it look accidental or environmental. I bet lobeline, as I understand it some sort of “weed” is indeed found naturally in the hay or straw, and those horsemen that may have actually used a mixed up concontion of full strength lobeline per the user’s recipe guide, cry out “see, it’s the sophisticated equipment’s fault for finding it in my straw.”
Fast acting substances that pass through the horse’s system rapidly virtually undetectable are in vogue. State law enforecment officials can help the Racing Commissions by getting involved. Horse doping to gain an ilegal advantage is a crime, not just an “I got you this time, your turn’s coming.”
October 16th, 2009 at 10:39 am
Final word is not out yet. The state is currently testing. I wouldn’t say I know anything for sure without the correct information. I only wish the rest of you would do the same. It makes some of you sound like idiots. I wonder how many of you actually have anything to do with racing. It is laughable how everyone is finding these trainers guilty before the testing comes back. I hope all of you apologize when they find these trainers innocent. But then again I’m sure you all will say the state is covering it up. From a quote I read: Don’t get in a fight with an idiot, they bring you down and beat you with experience. Thank you Daniel Carrington for your blog. It gives me great hope there are some common sense people trying to make the rest of you understand.
October 16th, 2009 at 10:40 am
What a freakin’ mess.
Drugs need to go especially on race day. Only healthy horses capable to train and run without chemicals should be in race training, be loaded in the starting gates and bet on.
All therapeutic drugs should be sold in therapeutic doses only at on-track drug stores and given to horses only to cure them and in front of officials.
Trainers, vets and all along with barns should be searched often. Rewards should be offered to whistle blowers. Surveillance cams should be installed in all barns. Trainers should drug-test the stable help regularly. Drug-sniffing dogs should be used in stable areas.
Adequate funding should be dedicated to soundness monitoring, random physical exams and drug tests, electronic equine medical record keeping and reviewing, more tests and super tests.
Transparency should be offered to jockeys, buyers, horseplayers, horse fans and the public, including equine physical condition and medical records, the fate of injured horses after 24 and 48 hours, one week, one month and six months. Necropsy results should be released to the public.
Cheaters need to be banned. Honest owners would buy their horses and more good people would decide to become owners. Honest trainers would stop going out of business if they don’t drug and push their horses hard and would get horses from cheating trainers.
Horses would last much longer.
October 16th, 2009 at 7:39 pm
PLLEWIS, thank you for reassuring the rest of us that the “crooks” have just made a mistake. Backside vigilance and law enforcement will tell the ultimate tale.
October 17th, 2009 at 11:58 am
Once the testing is complete there will be no need for law enforcement. I do believe there should be more surprise searches in trainers barns to keep everyone honest, but not all trainers are cheaters, please.
October 18th, 2009 at 1:06 pm
The quotes below show why drugs which allow infirm and sick horses to appear sound enough to run on race day (not the day before but no one is watching, no one cares and/or the code of silence shuts everyone up) need to be banned.
Drugs are not used to heal horses at the track but to exploit them without loss of time which results in gross abuse and death since there is no adequate safety net for horses and jockeys are refusing to demand change even to save their own lives.
The claiming game is very abusive, dangerous and lethal. That is where all the good horses that are not wanted for breeding purposes end up when they become exhausted or lame. There are not enough rules to protect claiming horses, including limiting by how much and how fast horses can plunge by since that is what they do when they become lame and their owners are scum. They are drugged, blocked and sent to run. Owners who dump lame horses in claiming races and get them claimed will get a check whether their horses are DEAD or ALIVE.
The lives of horses and jockeys are knowingly put at risk by owners, trainers, vets, officials and track management, all who amazingly operate above liability, animal cruelty and criminal laws. Lame horses are drugged, pass the pre-race exams then race.
As the quotes below prove once again, these exams, when performed at all, are at best inadequate if not corrupted in order to fill too many races with too few surviving lame horses. Drugs are used to dump horses and get a check.
This is the major reason why race horses are killed every day at race tracks around the country or as a result of training and racing injuries somewhere else. If any racing insiders including racing secretaries claim to have no idea as per why so many horses die, they are lying. When even a dead horse can still be paid to its abusive owner! Such rules were made in equine hell and have attracted evil-doers who make everyday racing impossible to market.
Abusing and cheating go together.
Quotes from “Voiding Claims possible under CHRB Proposal”
from The Blood Horse
“Dr. Rick Arthur, the CHRB’s equine medical director, told the board — which met in the ballroom of chairman John Harris’ inn and restaurant off Interstate 5 in Coalinga, Calif. — that the rule would “take the incentive away” for trainers to drop unsound horses to far below their claiming level ability in order to rid themselves of an unsound animal.
He cited one instance of a trainer and owner at Hollywood Park last fall “high-fiving” in front of the horse ambulance after a horse that had been claimed from them broke down in a race.”
Questions:
Were these two “high-fiving” monsters reported to the police for animal cruelty and endangering the life of jockeys and horses?
Were they banned from racing nationwide forever?
Are lame horses still allowed to race in CA every day in particular in claiming races?
Is anyone monitoring horses taking the plunge?
Are they double-standards for accident/abuse/drug prevention between horses racing on national TV and in claiming races?
Are the accident/abuse/drug prevention sloppier and abuse (the racing of lame horses) increasingly permissive as the racing level drops?
Assuming that every racing insider knows why horses become claimers then take the plunge in claiming value. Is there anything done to limit the size and time between substantial drop in claiming value to protect horses and jockeys from accident and death?
I don’t mean to pick on the CHRB which is more transparent and pro-active than most racing juridictions.
October 19th, 2009 at 10:29 am
Can you provide more information on this?