Posts Tagged ‘cobra venom’
Tuesday, July 28th, 2009
By Ray Paulick
There seems to be a belief among more than a few people in horse racing, including some trainers, that a state racing commission’s drug testing protocol goes something like this: Stewards call the testing lab and say, “The guy that won this race is a known cheater, and we don’t like him. Make sure you test his horse’s urine for everything under the sun.”
The sample subsequently arrives at the test laboratory with a big “cheater” sticker on it, and the lab technicians spend all of their waking hours testing it. Meanwhile, these same conspiracy theorists are convinced that some trainers never have their horses tested for drugs no matter how many races they win because they wear white hats and are given preferential treatment by stewards, racing commissions and chemists.
It reminds me of the old Smothers Brothers routine, “Mom Always Liked You Best.”
A number of trainers at Del Mar expressed the belief that former California Horse Racing Board executive director Ingrid Fermin has a bias against them and should not be allowed to judge races they are involved in from the steward’s stand. Others have said Fermin has a conflict of interest because her sister is married to trainer Bruce Headley.
We decided to ask a few questions about the protocol for drug testing in California to see just how easy it is to discriminate in the testing of post-race samples. Turns out these folks actually have a system to protect the integrity of the process.
Veterinarian Rick Arthur, equine medical director for the CHRB, told the Paulick Report: “We never alter the standard protocol for any test associated with a race sample. All samples are treated the same per the lab’s SOP. This is one of the advantages of having an accredited lab; all samples are treated the same and every step is documented to confirm that is the case. In rare instances we will go back on a sample if we have seen something suspicious in the lab or we have some intelligence, but that sample, once it has passed the SOP protocol, is considered cleared.
“Any special testing is done to improve the lab and testing protocol going forward,” Arthur said. “We have never filed a complaint on the rare sample that has received special attention after the sample has cleared. I doubt we ever would unless there were exceptional circumstances, i.e., the drug was something especially egregious–cobra or snail venom would be examples. Regardless, due to the documentation process required in accredited labs, any special attention to a sample is recorded and would be open to scrutiny if any regulatory action was taken.
“A few trainers who have had repeated problems with drug positives claim they have been targeted,” Arthur continued. “That is pure fantasy to deflect their personal responsibility for their drug violation records. Samples go into the lab as numbered samples and they are reported out by sample numbers. The sample custodian at CHRB headquarters in Sacramento has the paperwork that decodes the sample numbers to the horse and trainer. Only then does anyone know what sample is tied to what horse and trainer.
“Any trainer who thinks the system is corrupt overvalues their importance,” said Arthur. “Who is going to bother with a vast conspiracy involving multiple people at the CHRB and the University of California? Get real; no one cares. If someone is breaking the rules they will trip up sooner or later. We don’t need to go looking.”
Dr. Scott Stanley heads the Ken Maddy Equine Analytical Chemistry Laboratory at the University of California-Davis, the official lab for the CHRB. Stanley made a couple of additional points about California’s testing protocol.
“First, California also maintains a small portion of the original sample which can be used for retrospective testing,” said Stanley. “The retrospective samples are maintained for two years; while the lab still does not have the information on the horse or the trainer the CHRB can use these samples to identify new drugs or patterns for previously undetected drugs. Second, the testing scheme at UC Davis includes an extensive drug panel equal to or greater than most laboratory’s TOBA testing panel. All samples, from claiming races to graded stakes, receive the same test so there isn’t any one individual trainer or horse singled out or held to a different standard.”
Arthur said out-of-competition testing is somewhat different than post-race tests. “We will alter protocol depending on the circumstances, but again, all samples are treated the same. For example, we had intelligence of an andrenergic drug being used in Quarter horses. Besides testing for EPO in our out-of-competition samples we did additional testing for the rumored drug and other anabolic drugs. Usually we just concentrate on blood doping agents in our out-of-competition testing; the additional tests were a modification of protocol. FYI…the additional drugs we tested in the out-of-competition testing are covered in our standard race testing protocol.”
So, according to those most closely involved in California’s drug-testing procedures, there really isn’t the opportunity to discriminate. Not that the facts are ever going to change anyone’s mind.
By the way, I heard that the Smothers brothers’ mother didn’t play favorites, either.
Copyright © 2009, The Paulick Report
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Tags: bruce headley, California Horse Racing Board, CHRB, cobra venom, drug testing, ingrid fermin, ken maddy equine analytical chemistry laboratory, ken maddy lab, out of competition testing, Paulick Report, Ray Paulick, rick arthur, scott stanley, smothers brothers, snail venom
Posted in California, California Horse Racing Board, Medication, Regulatory Issues, drug testing | 11 Comments »
Wednesday, December 3rd, 2008
By Ray Paulick
Under questioning by an attorney representing Rodney Stewart, the veterinarian appealing a five-year suspension for his possession of cobra venom and other banned substances at Keeneland in June 2007, John Veitch, chief steward for the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission and a retired Hall of Fame trainer, admitted that his racing star Alydar was treated with cobra venom after suffering an injury in September of his 3-year-old season.Attorney Mike Meuser asked Veitch about the use of the now-banned substance during an appeal of Stewart’s suspension before racing commission hearing officer Bob Layton on Wednesday in Lexington, Ky. “Did Dr. Charles Allen give cobra venom to Alydar during the time you trained him?” Meuser asked.
“On one occasion,” Veitch confirmed, saying it came after Alydar had fractured the coffin bone in a foot while training up to the 1978 Marlboro Cup Handicap. “It wasn’t effective,” Veitch said. “We would not have run him again if it had worked. We treated him at the time. He was not in training. We experimented with Dr. Chuck Allen, who was an expert on venom. At the time, cobra venom was legal for use in the United States for treating Lou Gehrig’s disease (ALS). We tried it and it didn’t work. We didn’t use it as therapy so he could race, but only to see if we could relieve some pain.”
Technically, cobra venom, a powerful blocking agent, is not an illegal substance. It is not approved for use in humans or animals by the FDA and is prohibited in most racing jurisdictions, including Kentucky, which classifies it as a "Class A" drug, one that can be abused as an illegal performance enhancing substance.
Three vials of venom and other prohibited substances were found during a search of three barns on Keeneland property used by trainer Patrick Biancone and in a vehicle registered to Stewart. Most of the substances were found in a soft-sided cooler kept in a refrigerator in Barn 74, located in the barn area known as the Keeneland training center off Keeneland’s main property across Rice Road. Stewart admitted to officials the substances were his and that he was only using a refrigerator in Biancone’s barn because he and his wife were in the process of moving from Kentucky to New York. Stewart said his wife had packed the bag with medications usually kept in a refrigerator at their rented home, but that he had been living in temporary quarters. He said he wasn’t aware of everything that was in the bag. Biancone was suspended for six months and agreed not to seek reinstatement for another six months. Stewart received a five-year ban. As chief steward of the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission, Veitch was in charge of the investigation involving the banned substances and the hearing that led to the suspensions.
Bob Watt, an attorney representing the racing commission, called several witnesses in addition to Veitch, including one of the investigators who conducted the search, commission veterinarian Mary Scollay and Keeneland executive Harvie Wilkinson.
Scollay called cobra venom an "exceedingly dangerous" substance that could cause a loss of sensation in a horse’s foot and block pain. She said there is no known test to detect cobra venom in urine or blood.
During cross-examination of Wilkinson, who among other things oversees security at Keeneland, Meuser asked whether Keeneland officials ever sought approval from the racing commission to have the Rice Road training facility recognized as part of Keeneland’s racetrack grounds. Wilkinson said he was not aware that they had sought approval.
The purpose of that question came to light later in the day when Stewart himself was testifying and Meuser asked if he believed Barn 74 was part of the racetrack property. "I thought it was a private barn," Stewart replied.
"I thought it was Patrick’s private barn. He’d always referred to it that way."
Records showed that Stewart had purchased four vials of the cobra venom in July 2006 from BioToxins, a Saint Cloud, Fla., company. The veterinarian testified that he had used one of the vials on a former racehorse that had been rescued from a farm and was being used as a stable pony. The other vials remained in their shrinkwrap packaging. The vials contain a powder which is then mixed in a salilne solution before injection.
Among the other substances seized was a container of Carbidopa-Levodopa, a human medication used to treat Parkinson’s disease. Scollay testified that the drug could act as a stimulant and reduce fatigue in humans. In later testimony, Stewart said he did not use the drug on any horses but did not recall why he had it. Another bottle with an unknown honey-like substance inside was labeled "For Mythical Elmo," according to the testimony, but it was more likely meant for the Biancone-trained filly Mythical Echo. Its contents remain unknown.
Another bottle found was labeled with the lettering "R.T.H.." When asked about the "R.T.H." substance, Stewart said "a fellow from South Africa had given it to me. It was used there to treat bleeding." When pressed he said he had no idea what pharmacological agents were contained in the liquid. .Stewart said he has had his license to practice on "competition animals" (including horses, greyhounds and camels) suspended in Australia, where he earned his veterinary degree in 1997. He is banned from racetracks but is allowed to continue his veterinary practice in the United States.
The hearing will continue Dec. 9. Among the issues to be covered area the contents of Stewart’s personal computer, which has been sent to a business that conducts forensic searches on computer hard drives to extract any information related to his veterinary practice for a period of time prior to his suspension.
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Tags: als, alydar, biotoxins, bob watt, carbidopa-Levodopa, cobra venom, cobratoxin, dr. charles allen, dr. churck allen, drugs in racing, harvie wilkinson, john veitch, Keeneland, kentucky horse racing commission, lou gehrig's disease, Mary Scollay, mike meuser, mythical echo, mythical elmo, parkinson's, patrick biancone, Paulick Report, r.t.h., Ray Paulick, rodney stewart
Posted in Medication, Regulatory Issues | 14 Comments »
Wednesday, December 3rd, 2008
By Ray Paulick
Attorneys for Rodney Stewart, the veterinarian suspended for five years by Kentucky racing authorities in the 2007 “cobra venom” case that also implicated trainer Patrick Biancone, said in opening statements in an appellate hearing on Wednesday morning the suspension against their client was excessive and should be lifted.
Mike Meuser and Karen Murphy are representing Stewart, who received a four-year ban for possession of prohibited substances and a one-year suspension for failure to cooperate in the investigation. The appeal is being heard by Bob Layton, a hearing officer for the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission, which is represented by attorney Bob Watt.
Click here to see the original ruling.
In his opening statements, Meuser said Stewart had no intention of using the prohibited substances found in a refrigerator and packed in a soft-sided cooler in one of three barns Biancone occupied and that they had been packed by Stewart’s wife in preparation for the couple’s move to New York. In fact, Meuser contended, Stewart wasn’t even aware of the cooler’s contents, which the attorney said were placed in the refrigerator because it was a “hot June day.”
Meuser said, the three vials of prohibited cobra toxin found in the bag were still shrink-wrapped. Another prohibited substance found, Carbidopa-Levodopa (a human drug to treat Parkinson’s disease), was still in its original container, Meuser said, and its usage date had expired. “There is no evidence there was any attempted use of any of these substances,” said Meuser, who added that the cooler also contained rabies vaccines for dogs and cats.
Watt, in his statement, said the cobra venom, a powerful painkiller, had been purchased from BioToxins, a Florida-based company that specialized in snake venom. Watt referred to other substances discovered in the June 22, 2007, barn searches conducted by investigators with the racing commission (then known as the Kentucky Horse Racing Authority) and Keeneland security, including Ketoconazole, “something called Throat RX, and one injectable honey colored solution marked ‘For Mythical Elmo.’”
Meuser did not address the latter substances in his opening statement.
Watt said Stewart and his attorneys failed to properly respond to requests that were made to Stewart for billing and computer records, which resulted in the one-year suspension for failure to cooperate. Murphy countered that the ban should be lifted because the commission failed to give Stewart a hearing within 48 hours of a request for a stay of the suspension. She also complained that the request for a home computer was unreasonable and that the commission “was fishing for further violations,” even going so far, she said, as conducting tests in Hong Kong.
Biancone, who recently returned to training in California, was out of racing about one year, accepting a six-month suspension and agreeing not to apply for his trainer’s license for another six months.
A number of witnesses are being called in the case. Layton is expected to make a ruling within 60 days of the completion of the hearing.
To read about some of the testimony in the hearing, click here.
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Tags: biotoxins, bob layton, bob watt, carbidopa-Levodopa, cobra venom, karen murphy, Keeneland, kentucky horse racing authority, kentucky horse racing commission, ketokonazole, michael meuser, mike meuser, mythial elmo, mythical elmo, parkinson's, patrick biancone, Paulick Report, Ray Paulick, rodney stewart, snake venom, throat rx
Posted in Horse Welfare, Medication, Regulatory Issues | 5 Comments »
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