NYT: Drugs & I Want Revenge

[Buckpasser]

October 6, 2009

Lawsuit Sheds Light on Use of Legal Medications in Horses
By JOE DRAPE

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/06/sports/06horse.html

Five months after the Kentucky Derby favorite I Want Revenge was scratched the morning of the race with a bad ankle, his owners are embroiled in a lawsuit that has exposed the fault lines of administering legal drugs to America’s thoroughbreds.

IEAH Stables, which bought 50 percent of the horse in March, asserts that I Want Revenge was ailing as early as April 7 and that the co-owner David Lanzman, who managed the colt’s racing activities, failed to disclose the injuries to IEAH. Lawyers for Lanzman deny the charge and say an injury to a ligament in I Want Revenge’s right front ankle was discovered for the first time on the day of the Derby.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/06/sp...r=1&ref=sports

[Kasept]

Originally Posted by Joe Drape

• There is a growing concern within the veterinary community that overmedication — with drugs like corticosteroids, anti-inflammatories that can have dangerous consequences — and lax oversight are part of the reason the United States has the world’s worst mortality rate for thoroughbreds.
  
  
• In America, racehorse fatalities have occurred at the rate of 1.47 per 1,000 starts for synthetic surfaces, and 2.03 per 1,000 starts for dirt tracks, said Mary Scollay, the equine medical director for the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission, who conducts research for the Jockey Club.
  
  
• In England, the average risk of fatality is much lower, from 0.8 to 0.9 per 1,000 starts. In Victoria, Australia, studies have reported the risk of fatality from 1989 to 2004 at 0.44 per 1,000 starts.

Interesting piece.. Pretty irresponsible and disingenuous of Drape to include these statistics and assert that the U.S. has the "worst mortality rate" without explaining to a largely ignorant readership that the majority of American (main track) racing is very different than European and Australian (turf) racing.

[randallscott35]

Nice mug on Lanzman, would that face lie?

No lasix. Bleeders out.

[GenuineRisk]

Originally Posted by Kasept

Interesting piece.. Pretty irresponsible and disingenuous of Drape to include these statistics and assert that the U.S. has the "worst mortality rate" without explaining to a largely ignorant readership that the majority of American (main track) racing is very different than European and Australian (turf) racing.

Thank you for bringing that up- that was the first thing I thought when I read the statistics- that he was clear to distinguish between synthetic and dirt fatality statistics in the US, but then lumped everything in Europe into one statistic.

Are turf fatality statistics for US tracks compiled and released anywhere?

Though I did find it very interesting that Northrop felt the owners deserved more transparency about treatments and medication an animal is getting, but the betting public doesn't. As the lolcats would say, dood, srsly?

[VOL JACK]

IEAH, Lanzman, Jeff Mullett, and Dicky Dutrow......what a great team.

[gamblin4ever]

I don't know much about the inner workings of horse racing (ownership,training). But,it sounds as if IEAH made a bad investment, purchased in March and horse starts ailing in April. The vets make it sound like a normal day leading up to the race with the work that was done on him.
Rules should be in place for horses running clean on race day. No meds in the horses system at all. If found in system fines,penalties and/or suspensions enforced. Please advise if i'm missing something.

[Cannon Shell]

Originally Posted by Kasept

Interesting piece.. Pretty irresponsible and disingenuous of Drape to include these statistics and assert that the U.S. has the "worst mortality rate" without explaining to a largely ignorant readership that the majority of American (main track) racing is very different than European and Australian (turf) racing.

If you didnt know the stats, would you think 1 horse out of 1000 is a "much lower" rate than 2 out of 1000?

But in his defense it is the NY Times so the standards of writing are relatively low.

[Cannon Shell]

Originally Posted by GenuineRisk

Thank you for bringing that up- that was the first thing I thought when I read the statistics- that he was clear to distinguish between synthetic and dirt fatality statistics in the US, but then lumped everything in Europe into one statistic.

Are turf fatality statistics for US tracks compiled and released anywhere?

Though I did find it very interesting that Northrop felt the owners deserved more transparency about treatments and medication an animal is getting, but the betting public doesn't. As the lolcats would say, dood, srsly?

I doubt the betting public would have any clue what to do with the information or how you would control the validity of the information in the first place? Wouldnt the ability to further abuse the system be greater by allowing trainers/owners/vets to create a shadow of a doubt on claiming horses by taking a bunch of xrays and injecting a bunch of things before a horse dropping in class runs, even if wasnt done or needed? How would you police the vets to insure that they were indeed doing the work on the horse listed?

[Cannon Shell]

Originally Posted by gamblin4ever

I don't know much about the inner workings of horse racing (ownership,training). But,it sounds as if IEAH made a bad investment, purchased in March and horse starts ailing in April. The vets make it sound like a normal day leading up to the race with the work that was done on him.
Rules should be in place for horses running clean on race day. No meds in the horses system at all. If found in system fines,penalties and/or suspensions enforced. Please advise if i'm missing something.

Define clean. No meds in a horses system? Define no meds. What levels? What limits? It just isnt that simple.

[gamblin4ever]

Originally Posted by Cannon Shell

Define clean. No meds in a horses system? Define no meds. What levels? What limits? It just isnt that simple.

No lasix,Bute or anything. No drugs at all. Like in my 1st post i dont know if these are truly needed,how do they help a horse or anything the like. But it seems to me that a horse that bleeds should not run until the problem is fixed instead of given Lasix as example. Couldn't we have rules like Europe no drugs in system on race day. I admit i don't know much about that stuff but horses racing w/o drugs seems best to me. Thanks for your input Chuck as you know a heck of alot more than me on the subject.

[Kasept]

Originally Posted by Cannon Shell

If you didnt know the stats, would you think 1 horse out of 1000 is a "much lower" rate than 2 out of 1000?

But in his defense it is the NY Times so the standards of writing are relatively low.

And to boot, he was using numbers that have been rendered moot anyway! Those stats were refuted 48 hours after they were originally released. As Lenny Shulman suggested to me early this morning, Drape has turned into something of a bombthrower and firestarter on drug, rescue and surface issues.

[Cannon Shell]

Originally Posted by gamblin4ever

No lasix,Bute or anything. No drugs at all. Like in my 1st post i dont know if these are truly needed,how do they help a horse or anything the like. But it seems to me that a horse that bleeds should not run until the problem is fixed instead of given Lasix as example. Couldn't we have rules like Europe no drugs in system on race day. I admit i don't know much about that stuff but horses racing w/o drugs seems best to me. Thanks for your input Chuck as you know a heck of alot more than me on the subject.

The problem is that you need to have some baselines, guidelines, etc. The tests now are sophisticated enough to pick up minute doses of just about anything if they are looking for it. The problem with the rules is that in many cases finding something in a horses system and its ability to actual affect performance are totally different animals. What we are doing now is simply detecting the presence of a substance with no regard to its effectiveness. Which is not only a huge waste of time and resources but gives off the false impression that every horse is pumped full of drugs every time there is a positive. I am NOT saying that some arent or that certain trainers and/or vets arent going over the line. But all this nonsense about eliminating Lasix is so far off base that I cant believe we continue to even debate it. Lasix is an effective treatment for the deficiency of bleeding in horses. There is no one reason why horses bleed. There really is no prevention. And to want to ban its use, especially when it finally has a university test that proves what we already knew, it works, is spiteful and damaging for the horses. The idea that bleeding is some how bred into or can be bred out of horses is stupid.

I also dont believe that European racing and especially Australian racing is all that clean either. The majority of "hops" that have been used over the years were developed and first used outside of the US. The only place that probably has as close to totally clean racing (in terms of medication) as any place is Hong Kong. And there is virtually no way to duplicate their set up.

[randallscott35]

Horses do just fine without lasix in Europe Chuck.

[Cannon Shell]

Originally Posted by Kasept

And to boot, he was using numbers that have been rendered moot anyway! Those stats were refuted 48 hours after they were originally released. As Lenny Shulman suggested to me early this morning, Drape has turned into something of a bombthrower and firestarter on drug, rescue and surface issues.

He does work for the NY Times!

All issues that are either improperly explained, been greatly expanded or completely jumped the shark.

[Cannon Shell]

Originally Posted by randallscott35

Horses do just fine without lasix in Europe Chuck.

Well then lets just have all racing in Europe! And why do so many horses improve when they come here and use Lasix? Maybe because they were bleeding?

[randallscott35]

Originally Posted by Cannon Shell

Well then lets just have all racing in Europe! And why do so many horses improve when they come here and use Lasix? Maybe because they were bleeding?

What's your point? Lasix isn't natural. If we went to hay and oats and no lasix I wouldn't care if a ton of horses couldn't run. We need a healthy breed. Not the best bleeders around....And the bigger isssue is lasix is a masking agent.

[Cannon Shell]

Originally Posted by randallscott35

What's your point? Lasix isn't natural. If we went to hay and oats and no lasix I wouldn't care if a ton of horses couldn't run. We need a healthy breed. Not the best bleeders around....And the bigger isssue is lasix is a masking agent.

Lasix cant mask anything anymore. That is patently false. And since when has racing become organic? Natural?

If we went to hay, oats and water (which has never been, there was lots being done back in the day that simply wasnt detectable ) then you would have more horses bleeding, more things tried to make them stop bleeding, more inconsistent form and form reversals, and less healthy horses. Perhaps you missed the part where bleeding isnt caused by Lasix and its elimination wont lead to less bleeding or bleeders.

[Linny]

Originally Posted by randallscott35

Horses do just fine without lasix in Europe Chuck.

There they run a tiny fraction of the number of race held here and the ones that bleed get sent to the US. The one's who's owners can't afford to send them here send them to France to be processed into spam. One ugly secret is that a far higher percentage of European TB's end up on dinner plates and dog bowls than here in the US.

[the_fat_man]

Originally Posted by Kasept

Interesting piece.. Pretty irresponsible and disingenuous of Drape to include these statistics and assert that the U.S. has the "worst mortality rate" without explaining to a largely ignorant readership that the majority of American (main track) racing is very different than European and Australian (turf) racing.

Isn't NYRA's ace in the hole, when it comes to taking all those races off the turf, that the course is just NOT SAFE (for horse and jock)? Your point seems to be that heavy European turf courses are safer than dirt. I would agree with you.

[citycat]

These "Rainbow Blossom" people kill me.......