Racing’s biggest problem, according to the racers themselves, is the perception of a pervasive drug culture. They fret on this for good reason: The New York Times says (10/31/13), “Nearly four in five bettors — 79 percent — factored in…
With the Lasix ban for juveniles ending with this past weekend’s Breeders’ Cup and a trend toward keeping the drug raceday legal in the U.S., I thought it appropriate to revisit these words written by equine veterinarian Sid Gustafson in…
Meet Todd Pletcher, Thoroughbred trainer. 5-time Eclipse winner, 10-time top guy at Saratoga, 7-time highest American earner (over $250 million lifetime), Mr. Pletcher also owns a Kentucky Derby and a pair of Belmont Stakes trophies. Raised around tracks and tutored…
“There is a frog in South America whose venom is a cure For all the suffering that mankind must endure More powerful than morphine and soothing as the rain A frog in South America has the antidote for pain” (Paul…
Furosemide, or Lasix, is used, ostensibly, to control pulmonary bleeding in rapidly moving racehorses. But it is also a powerful diuretic that causes the horse to shed water weight (and helps flush the system) prior to the race. To the…
On January 27th of this year, Dr. Orlando Paraliticci, a private vet working for trainer Jane Cibelli, was caught injecting a nerve block, called “P Bloc,” into the Cibelli-trained horse Raven Train. Raven Train was scheduled to run that day…
A recent Daily Racing Form article (9/20/13) suggests that the pervasive doping in horseracing has a silver lining. Well, sort of. First, the bad news: trainers, of course, are dumping illegal junk into their horses, and because labs are always…
Zilpaterol, marketed as Zilmax, is a feed additive given to close-to-slaughter cattle that according to its maker, Merck, “improves cattle’s natural ability to convert feed into more lean beef.” Pumps them up. In any event, it was never intended for…
In a recent Irish Independent article (9/8/13), sportswriter John O’Brien takes American racing to task for promulgating the notion that Lasix is a humane application of medicine. He writes: “To any rational mind or to those who love racing, though…
This from California’s Del Mar on August 24th: “Shortly after the third race was run the Stewards received notification from Safety Steward Luis Jauregui that when he was pulling up in front of the Receiving Barn he noticed an individual…
