Posts Tagged ‘erythropoietin’
Thursday, October 2nd, 2008
By Ray Paulick
The Kentucky Horse Racing Commission, stung by the recent disclosure by its former chief veterinarian that no testing for TCO2 loading (also known as milkshakes) was conducted at the Ellis Park Thoroughbred meeting this summer, is facing another embarrassment involving its impotence over positive tests for blood-doping agents in four horses at the Red Mile harness track in Lexington, the Paulick Report has learned.
High-placed sources at the horse racing commission and Kentucky’s Equine Drug Research Council told the Paulick Report that out-of-competition testing on at least four horses detected a form of erythropoietin, which helps increase the production of red blood cells and has been used in both human and equine sports to illegally enhance performance. It is virtually impossible to detect in normal post-race tests because the drug is given up to two weeks before a race and can only be detected for about 48 hours thereafter. Cycling and other human sports rely on out-of-competition testing to catch blood-doping cheaters.
Because the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission has no rules on the book regulating the results of out-of-competition testing, it is unable to prosecute any of the positive tests or penalize those involved. Officials at the Red Mile, according to sources, have merely barred the horses from further competition at the current meeting, which ends on Saturday. Rules concerning out-of-competition testing at the Red Mile can be found here.
Red Mile president Joe Costa could not be reached for comment.
“The state does not have rules for out-of-competition testing,” said Jim Carroll, a communications officer for Kentucky’s Public Protection Cabinet. “I would refer you to the Red Mile. The track has authority.”
Carroll would not confirm whether the indefinite suspensions announced on Thursday of two veterinarians, Rick Mather and Rick Rothfuss of Columbus, Ohio, were related to the alleged positive blood-doping tests. A press release from the commission said two Kentucky Horse Racing Commission investigators searched two trucks owned by the veterinarians and seized records and unidentified substances, which are being sent to a laboratory for testing. Richard Williams, the commission’s presiding judge for Standardbred racing, imposed the suspension after reviewing the physical evidence. A hearing on the suspension is pending.
“It’s gotten ridiculous,” one prominent Standardbred horsemen told the Paulick Report. “We have more vets driving around on the backstretch than we have horses back there.”
One state that takes a harsher view of blood-doping positive tests and possession of illegal blood-doping agents is New Jersey, whose racing commission routinely conducts out-of-competition testing. The New Jersey Commission has issued bans of more than 15 years for horsemen and veterinarians caught in blood-doping schemes, and in one case criminal charges have been filed.
Copyright © 2008, The Paulick Report
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Tags: aranesp, bicarbondate loading, blood doping, blood-doping agents, drugs in racing, ellis park, epo, epogen, erythropoietin, horse doping, Horse Racing, jim carroll, joe costa, kentucky horse racing commission, Medication, milkshakes, new jersey racing commission, out of competition testing, Paulick Report, Ray Paulick, red mile, richard williams, rick mather, rick rothfuss, standardbred racing, tco2
Posted in Industry Reform, Medication, Regulatory Issues | Comments Off
Friday, July 4th, 2008
The recent out-of-competition blood-doping tests for horses trained by the red-hot Bruce Levine at Monmouth Park were not the first such inquiry in New Jersey and won’t be the last, promises Frank Zanzuccki, the veteran executive director of the New Jersey Racing Commission.
Levine’s horses tested clean for blood-doping agents, better known as erythropoietin, darbepoetin, epogen, or, simply EPO (brand names include Aranesp or Procrit). But Zanzuccki, the “EPO man,” is going to continue his mission to find cheaters in Thoroughbred and Standardbred racing in the Garden State and get rid of them.
Good for him.
Regulations allowing out-of-competition testing went into effect in 2007 prior to the Breeders’ Cup world championships coming to Monmouth Park. Zanzuccki said nearly half of the competitors had blood drawn by regulatory personnel at multiple jurisdictions around the world, with the samples sent to New Jersey and tested for a variety of blood-doping agents at the state laboratory, which is staffed by New Jersey State Police personnel, at the Meadowlands complex. “We have been using the State Police equine lab for the past 30 years,” Zanzuccki told the Paulick Report. That’s about how long Zanzuccki has been at the racing commission, the last 17 years as executive director.
All Breeders’ Cup horses tested, just like Levine’s, came up clean for illegal blood-doping agents, substances that have been especially prevalent in endurance sports like cycling. The blood-doping agents increase the flow of oxygen to the blood and reduce fatigue.
Zancuccki’s EPO stings have produced positive results. Several months ago, six blood samples taken from horses trained by harness horseman Ernest Adam and owned by veterinarian Stephen Slender tested positive for EPO. The horses, which raced at Meadowlands and other tracks in the region, were in training at an off-track site, and the racing commission took samples after acting on information from what Zanzuccki termed “reliable sources.”
“All six samples were confirmed by the University of Pennsylvania for the presence of EPO,” Zanzuccki said. “Those individuals (Adam and Slender), because of the circumstances, were suspended for a period of 15 ½ years, each was fined $56,000 and their licenses were revoked.”
This week, a New Jersey Superior Court denied a stay for emergency relief filed by attorneys for Slender, who hoped to continue to operate his racing stable while the case is on appeal. “Mr. Slender is out of business,” Zanzuccki said. At some point, an administrative officer will hear the appeal and make a recommendation to the racing commission.
A previous operation conducted by the New Jersey State Police raided a different off-site Standardbred training facility run by a leading owner in New Jersey. Vials of blood-doping agents were confiscated and criminal charges were filed. Those individuals are out of racing, too.
Testing of Levine’s horses was “random,” Zanzuccki said, even though Levine was winning at an unusually high percentage (almost 50%).
“We began this testing in October,” Zanzuccki said. “It had primarily been deployed in Standardbred racing because there had been no Thoroughbred racing in New Jersey until recently. There are other trainers on the list to be tested. Levine was a random selection.” Hundreds of samples have been tested so far from at least 15 different harness trainers.
Zanzuccki said the commission does not publicize who it tests and gets the results back quickly from the lab.
“We do not announce for obvious reasons,” he said. “We just show up and notify the trainer why we are there. We go about our business and acquire the sample. (The Levine case) sparked significant interest. I had on my desk the following day phone calls from three or four news organizations.”
Zanzuccki is not aware of any other American states conducting such tests, though the Ontario Racing Commission in Canada began out-of-competition testing in North America.
“This gives us a better opportunity to detect the illegal use of blood-doping agents in horses,” he said. “We’ve determined over a period of time that raceday testing for this type of substance is inadequate and we needed to look at this in a different way. We believe out-of-competition testing gives us the opportunity to better detect this type of substance.”
By Ray Paulick
Copyright ©2008, The Paulick Report
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Tags: aranesp, bruce levine, darbepoetin, epo, epogen, ernest adam, erythropoietin, frank zanzuccki, Horse Racing, monmouth park, new jersey racing commission, new jersey state police, ontario racing commission, out of competition testing, Paulick Report, procrit, Ray Paulick, stephen slender
Posted in Medication, Regulatory Issues | 5 Comments »
Sunday, June 29th, 2008
Two years ago, Deep Impact, a two-time Horse of the Year in Japan, traveled to Paris to take on the world’s best grass runners in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe. Thousands of Japanese fans followed the horse to France and bet with such confidence that Deep Impact was the odds-on favorite to win what is arguably Europe’s most prestigious race.
The son of Sunday Silence could do no better than third, however, a stinging loss that paled in comparison to the news that followed days later, when results of a post-race test showed the presence of the prohibited therapeutic medication Ipratropium, which Deep Impact was allowed to take during training in Japan to treat lung congestion. He had subsequently been treated with the drug in France prior to the Arc.
In a country where honor is in abundance, trainer Yasuo Ikee took the fall. He said he thought he was following the withdrawal time guidelines, but accepted full blame and responsibility for the error. There was no appeal. Ikee apologized to French authorities and to Japanese racing fans. He said he would do everything in his power to never make a similar mistake in the future.
A little over a month later, when Deep Impact scored an overpowering victory back home in the Japan Cup, Ikee was nearly moved to tears during a post-race press conference when asked about his experience in France. He continued to apologize for the medication positive, saying that it was by far the lowest point of his professional career. The Japan Cup win lightened the burden he felt over the Arc defeat and the humiliation of the post-race disqualification, but it was clear he continued to carry a large amount of shame and embarrassment over the incident.
I thought of Yasuo Ikee this past week when American racing’s bad boy, Rick Dutrow, reacted like a petulant child when asked about a positive test by one of his horses racing at Churchill Downs the day before he saddled Big Brown to win the Kentucky Derby. “It’s not my fault, though it’s my responsibility,” he was quoted as saying in a press conference that turned bizarre. Dutrow plans to appeal his 15-day suspension, not because he feels the ruling will be overturned but because the system allows him to delay any suspension through the appeals process, and he wants to put off any punishment as long as possible so he can be with his horses. How admirable.
Worse, however, Dutrow said, in effect, “Clenbuterol? It’s no big deal.” He not only refused to accept blame for the positive test, he then started suggesting other past and current trainers were bigger cheaters than he was.
If timing is everything, the news of Dutrow’s bad test couldn’t have come at a worse time for IEAH Stable, the majority owner of Big Brown. Only a few days earlier, the outfit pledged to race its horses drug free beginning Oct. 1. Until then, I guess, it’s “Katy, bar the door!” Dutrow’s clenbuterol positive wasn’t the only time medication was in the news this week. Steve Asmussen, this year’s leading trainer by money and wins and the conditioner of reigning Horse of the Year Curlin, was notified of a positive test for Lidocaine in one of his horses racing in Texas last month. His hearing is scheduled for July 18.
Consider this: the trainers of the 2007 Horse of the Year, the 2008 Kentucky Derby winner and the 2008 Kentucky Oaks winner (Larry Jones) are all facing positive drug tests for horses in their care. Anyone who thinks racing doesn’t have a problem is in serious denial.
Finally, in what could turn out to be the most significant medication story of the week, Monmouth Park’s leading trainer, Bruce Levine, had a surprise visitor on Tuesday when a veterinarian working for the New Jersey Racing Commission took “out-of-competition” blood samples from each of the 41 horses in his barn. The commission will run tests for the blood-doping agent erythropoietin, better known as EPO.No matter how the drug tests turn out (and there is no suggestion that Levine is doing anything illegal while winning at a near 50% clip), New Jersey officials should be commended for conducting out-of-competition testing. It’s the type of activity that could act as a deterrent to other trainers who may be using illegal, performance-enhancing medication.
In other headlines this week, Santa Anita announced its decision to replace the current synthetic surface that had major draining issues earlier this year with Pro-Ride, manufactured by an Australian company. The Paulick Report reported the findings of a California trainers’ survey and injury statistics supporting Santa Anita’s decision to stay with a synthetic surface.
Finally, we reported on the industry’s newest odd couple, Robert Clay of Three Chimneys Farm and the human connections of Big Brown. Clay has spent years crafting an image of integrity and excellence, but he was eager to recruit Big Brown to his stallion barn despite the baggage the colt brings in the form of a co-owner, Michael Iavarone, who greatly enhanced his Wall Street reputation while recruiting owners to the IEAH Stable he runs, and trainer Rick Dutrow, who needs no further introduction at this point.
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By Ray Paulick
Copyright ©2008, The Paulick Report
Tags: Big Brown, Brant Latta, bruce levine, clenbuterol, Curlin, deep impact, disqualification, epo, erythropoietin, horse of the year, Horse Racing, IEAH stable, kentucky derby, kentucky oaks, larry jones, lidocaine, Magna Entertainment, Michael Iavarone, new jersey racing commission, Paulick Report, prix de l'arc de triomphe, pro-ride, Ray Paulick, rick dutrow, Robert Clay, santa anita, steve asmussen, synthetic surface, yasuo ikee
Posted in Week in Review | 4 Comments »
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