Posts Tagged ‘lobeline’
Monday, November 23rd, 2009
By Ray Paulick
Medication news is in the Paulick Report pipeline today from Kentucky and Pennsylvania.
First to Kentucky, where trainer Kiaran McLaughlin has allegedly had three horses test positive for ipratropium bromide, a short-acting bronchodilator classified by the Association of Racing Commissioners International as a Class 3 drug. The positive test allegations, conducted at the University of Florida testing laboratory, have not been confirmed in split-sample tests.
According to sources, the positive tests were for horses that ran during the fall Keeneland meeting and include a Grade 3 stakes winner. The Kentucky Racing Commission could not confirm any positive tests until after a split sample is returned and stewards have conducted a hearing and ruled on the matter, but a source close to the cases said McLaughlin is cooperating with investigators. The source said the low-level positive was called based on urine screening, and McLaughlin has requested that a sample of plasma from the horses also be tested.
No official ruling or purse distributions have yet been ordered, pending confirmatory testing and a stewards hearing.
Now to Pennsylvania, where there is good news for the dozens of owners and trainers charged with having a horse test positive for lobeline, a drug used in nicotine patches to help humans quit smoking but also found in the lobelia inflata plant that is indigenous to the Midwest and Eastern United States. (The Paulick Report first reported on the rash of positive tests for lobeline Sept. 23. Click here to read the original article.)
According to sources, the Pennsylvania State Horse Racing Commission is going to dismiss all of the lobeline positives, called at infinitesimal levels in both Thoroughbred and Standardbred horses. It isn’t clear yet whether purses for the races in question will be affected in any way.
Racing commission staff visited one of the farms where one of the horses that tested positive for lobeline had been turned out, the source said, and lobelia inflata was clearly evident in pastures. Additionally, what may have led to the dismissals was testing conducted at the University of Pennsylvania by Dr. Larry Soma that yielded a positive result after a horse ingested a dried version of the weed.
Of course, there will likely be no financial reimbursement to trainers and owners who were forced to pay for split samples and hire legal counsel to defend them against the accusations for lobeline positives.
In the end, at least, it looks as though the commission made the right decision.
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Tags: ipratroprium bromide, kentucky racing commission, kiaran mclaughlin, larry soma, lobelia inflata, lobeline, Paulick Report, pennsylvania state horse racing commission, Ray Paulick
Posted in Kentucky, Medication, Pennsylvania | 39 Comments »
Wednesday, October 14th, 2009
The Paulick Report heard from several officials involved in the regulation of horse racing and drug testing following Monday’s publication of a commentary by attorney Alan Pincus regarding the state of Pennsylvania’s zero-tolerance medication policy. Pincus asserted that ultra-sensitive testing is picking up trace elements of prohibited substances that are so small they are caused by environmental contamination or have no influence on the racing performance of a horse.
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
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By Rick Abbott
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
Posted in Medication, Pennsylvania, drug testing | 25 Comments »
Sunday, October 11th, 2009
Three weeks ago, the Paulick Report broke the news of a drug-testing mystery in Pennsylvania involving dozens of positive tests in Thoroughbreds and Standardbreds for a Class 2 prohibited substance called lobeline, used in nicotine patches to help people quit smoking but which traces from the lobelia inflata plant that is indigenous to the northeastern United States. The hearings for trainers who received many of these positive tests—most of which uncovered extremely minute levels of the drug–have been postponed by stewards while Dr. Lawrence Soma researches how lobeline may have found its way into the system of so many horses across the state.
Since then, the Paulick Report has heard of a cluster of positive tests in Pennsylvania for another human drug, the prohibited Class 3 medication bitolterol, which is used in asthma inhalers. These tests also have allegedly been called on quantities in the picogram (one trillionth of a gram) level.
Alan Pincus, an attorney in Pennsylvania, is familiar with Pennsylvania’s equine drug testing laboratory, having represented a dozen trainers who were implicated in a case involving aminorex, a prohibited Class 1 drug. The aminorex charges were eventually dropped by the Pennsylvania Horse Racing Commission. Pincus has also been contacted by several of the trainers involved in the current lobeline positives.
Pincus wrote the following commentary concerning zero-tolerance regulations, which were written years ago when drug tests were not nearly as sensitive as they are today. — Ray Paulick
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By Alan Pincus
Over the years many people have been injured by the testing procedures of the Pennsylvania Horse Racing Commission. The problem stems from the way the regulations were written 20 to 30 years ago. In Pennsylvania, the regulations state that no foreign substance shall appear in a post-race test. This is what they call zero tolerance and is true for all but a few drugs (phenylbutazone, etc.), which do have tolerance levels.
At the time the regulations were written the testing was at the nanogram (one partical per billion) level. Any horse found to have an illegal substance most likely had a performance affecting level in its system. Also, the chances were high that the trainer was responsible. Now, they have testing to the picogram level (one partical per trillion). There are 1,000 picograms in a nanogram, so you can conclude that testing today is 1,000 times more sensitive than when the regulations were written.
Over the years as testing became more sensitive, anomalies started to occur as trace levels of drugs were found in horses even though trainers were withdrawing the horses from the drugs per the recommended guidelines. Many people were punished for procaine, isoxsuprine or clenbuterol for no other reason than the fact the withdrawal guidelines did not anticipate testing at such low levels. Also, testing at such low levels started to find positives which were the result of environmental contamination. Almost all cocaine positives are the result of environmental contamination. Many innocent trainers have been punished.
It reached its peak with aminorex, where scores of trainers were subjected to great stress and positive tests of a Class 1 drug. In Canada, the initial penalties for aminorex were three-year suspensions. In Ohio, they were one year.
This scenario is playing out again with lobeline (see the Paulick Report article on the lobeline positives in Pennsylania by clicking here).It is the Pennsylvania Horse Racing Commission’s failure to admit the trainers are innocent that allows the problem to continue to the next drug.
The testing lab must justify itself. They get newer equipment that tests at lower levels and they find positive tests, which they believe are catching cheaters. They congratulate themselves and leave the trainers to suffer. Only if a large amount of trainers have positives for the same drug do the trainers have any chance at all. Think of what would happen if there were only two or three lobeline positives (there are at least 30). The trainers would already be doing their days.
Making things worse is the fact the trainers of the second- and third-place horses want the winners disqualified and thus the horsemen are not united. In the aminorex cases, the eventual dismissals were only made after Dr. Lawrence Soma agreed that the levels were not performance enhancing. I believe that calling a positive for 7 picograms of any substance is irresponsible as it is inconceivable that it could affect performance. In the modern era of testing, there should be a level for every drug and it should be at the level that affects performance.
If you look at the Class 1 drug positives in Pennsylvania over the last 10 years (notably aminorex and cocaine), you’ll find that over 90% were the result of environmental contamination and the trainers were totally innocent. The commission, which always presumes the trainers were negligent or cheaters, has no concern about the grief trainers go through when they receive a positive test. This is true even when the trainers are eventually cleared.
One thing you can count on no matter how the lobeline issue is resolved is the fact that the Commission will never say they were wrong.
Tags: alan pincus, aminorex, bitolertol, drug testing, drugs in horse racing, equine drug testing, Horse Racing, lobelia inflata, lobeline, nicotine patches, Paulick Report, pennsylvania horse racing commission, Ray Paulick
Posted in Medication, Pennsylvania, drug testing | 37 Comments »
Wednesday, September 23rd, 2009
By Ray Paulick
Three years ago it was a rash of positive tests for the Class 1 drug aminorex that had regulators and horsemen in Pennsylvania and several other jurisdictions scratching their collective heads. Today, it’s a Class 2 drug called lobeline that is showing up in trace amounts in dozens of tests at the University of Pennsylvania laboratory, and Pennsylvania horsemen are insisting it’s a case of contamination.
The tests have led to purses being frozen in as many as 30 races, according to Todd Mostoller, executive director of the Pennsylvania Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association. A number of trainers and owners are paying for split samples and hiring attorneys to fight pending charges. Winning horses have had their victories put on hold, and horses that finished second behind first-place finishers that tested positive are considered winners, though their owners haven’t received the applicable purse money.
Stewards, meanwhile, have temporarily postponed hearings in some of the cases while Dr. Lawrence Soma at the University of Pennsylvania lab is said to be researching how lobeline–a drug used in nicotine patches to help people quit smoking–is finding its way into blood and urine tests of racehorses.
“I am 100% sure that nobody is treating their horse with lobeline,†Mostoller told the Paulick Report. “We have horsemen I have absolute confidence in that have done nothing wrong, and they’ve had horses test positive. And there are a lot of horsemen out of state who now are scared to death to come here and race.â€
Mostoller and others said they’d heard the Pennsylvania Horse Racing Commission apparently had received a tip or some undercover evidence suggesting lobeline was being purchased in a powdery form, mixed with water, and then injected in horses to create a respiratory stimulant effect that is very short-lived. One equine medication expert told the Paulick Report lobeline clears the body very quickly and would affect a horse for less than 15 minutes. “You’d almost have to give it in the starting gate,†he said. “It elevates the heart rate for 60 to 90 seconds,†Mostoller said. “It has absolutely no pharmacological effect.
“If that’s what their intelligence is telling them, I’m sure Dr. Soma can get (lobeline powder), duplicate it and see if the results of those tests mirror what the test results have been,†said Mostoller.
Calls to Joseph Mushalko, director of operations for the Pennsylvania Horse Racing Commission, were not returned, nor was an email to Dr. Soma at the University of Pennsylvania lab. (UPDATE: SEE END OF STORY FOR COMMENT FROM PENNSYLVANIA HORSE RACING COMMISSION.)
The positive tests for lobeline began this spring with standardbred horses and have picked up through the summer with both standardbreds and Thoroughbreds. Most of the tests are measuring between 1.5 and 6 picograms, the Paulick Report was told (a picogram is one-thousandth of a nanogram or one trillionth of a gram), although some have been as high as 100 picograms. There is no threshold level for lobeline in Pennsylvania.
“They are very proud of their instrumentation at the lab and are able to go after extremely low levels of a drug,†the Paulick Report was told by a source familiar with the Pennsylvania lab. “To my knowledge, these cases represent the first time lobeline has been called as a positive anywhere in the U.S.â€
Many horsemen feel lobelia inflata, a plant indigenous to the northeastern United States, has found its way into feed or supplements and is causing the positive drug tests for lobeline. Lobelia inflata, also known as puke weed or Indian tobacco, has been used as an herbal remedy to induce vomiting or treat asthma or other respiratory ailments in humans. But Soma is said to have administered lobelia plants to horses and has been unable to duplicate the test results.
The lobeline positives in Pennsylvania are reminiscent of scopolamine prosecutions in California 15 years ago against Hall of Fame trainers Richard Mandella and Ron McAnally, the late Willard Proctor and Mark Hennig. In those cases, there was strong evidence that hay or straw—even potentially in the state test barn—was contaminated with jimsonweed, which can contain scopolamine. The trainers were eventually absolved of any wrongdoing (after spending thousands of dollars in legal fees), but the owners of the horses that tested positive lost their purse money.
Pennsylvania regulators may not be rushing to prosecute the lobelia cases because of what happened with the positive tests in 2006 for aminorex, a weight-loss stimulant drug that hadn’t been manufactured for nearly 20 years because of dangerous side effects. Positive tests for a metabolite of that drug were found in Ontario, Canada, Ohio, Pennsylvania and even Hong Kong, but the cases were dropped when scientific research determined it may not have been aminorex but a substance found in a deworming product.
“Reputable horsemen were involved then,†Mostoller said. “It’s a very similar situation to what we have now. At first the racing commission was very reluctant to do any research on (lobeline), but reputable horsemen with not even a parking ticket on their records started getting positives. With aminorex, all the trainers were exonerated and the purses were reissued to the original horses.â€
“Everybody should want to know the truth here,†Mostoller said. “Dr. Soma at all times is interested in finding out what is going on, but he was shut down by not being able to send any samples to the Pennsylvania Equine Toxicology Lab to do his research. You would think that as a veterinarian Dr. (Corinne) Sweeney (chairman of the Pennsylvania Horse Racing Commission) would want to know the truth, too. But they are still calling positives and are still scheduling stewards’ hearings. People are still hiring attorneys, paying for split samples, and having purses held.â€
The Paulick Report will update this story if and when we hear back from the Pennsylvania Horse Racing Commission or University of Pennsylvania testing laboratory.
UPDATE (9:00 A.M., Wednesday, Sept. 23): Joseph Mushalko of the Pennsylvania Horse Racing Commission returned a phone call Wednesday morning after this story was published, but could not provide details about the number of cases, from which tracks the positive tests came, or what research is being conducted because all of the cases “are still under investigation.” Mushalko said one case had been adjudicated but is under appeal and that the trainer has received a stay from a 90-day suspension and $1,000 fine. He also confimed that the aminorex cases from 2006 were all dismissed.
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Tags: aminorex, corinne sweeney, joe mushalko, lawrence soma, lobeline, Paulick Report, pennsylvania equine toxicology laboratory, pennsylvania horse racing commission, pennsylvania horsemen's benevolent and protective association, Ray Paulick, todd mostoller, university of pennsylvania drug testing laboratory
Posted in Medication, Pennsylvania, drug testing | 14 Comments »
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