EPO - Its devasting consequences

[DickHertz]

I’m not going to name names, but those who want to can research and connect the dots.

A guy I know, but wouldn’t call friends claimed a horse named DEEP IMPACT a few months back and the next day told me he claimed a super horse. Clean legged, not a pimple on him. Didn’t talk to him for 2-3 months and saw the horse ran often, but poorly. Talked to him the other day. “Horse died from Kidney Failure. Had EPO antibodies at levels that were so high the horse would not eat for weeks, kidneys shut down, and the horse died from a bevy of issues including the kidney.” This story will never make headlines, because it’s just a claimer eeking it out at the lower levels, but some horsesman (AKA butchers) are given 60 stalls at racetracks and generally reverered as “great trainers” when the real truth is the only thing they care about is the percentage next to their name in the Daily Racing Form.

[summerhorse]

Sad but true. Your friend should write the Blood HOrse or TB Times. They don’t have to name names except the horse, tell their story and provide the lab work and vet report. If they print it it will help bring attention to the cheats still cheating. But as long as people shrug their shoulders and go oh well nothing will be done. WE can bitch and moan all we want but until someone who has first hand knowledge and proof speaks out nothing will be done.

[Pat_Ness]

It needs to make headlines and it is unbelievable that EPO is not tested. Is this true everywhere at all the tracks?

[mht]

Standardbred or thoroughbred? EPO testing is very much in use in Ontario. I personally know two SB trainers who have lost their licenses for upwards of 10 years, and were given $40,000 fines on top of that.

The one horse tested using a frozen sample, after it had gone on to win around $400,000 in the meantime. All purse money is to be forfeited, but the owner and the trainer are challenging that ruling. I think I would as well, if it involved that much money!:eek:

[DickHertz]

[QUOTE=Pat Ness;3736533]
It needs to make headlines and it is unbelievable the EPO is not tested. Is this true everywhere at all the tracks?[/QUOTE]

I don’t think it’s as widespread as steroids was. Based on what I’ve observed, I would say that about 10% of horseman…err butchers… are using it. It is very expensive and some trainers actually care about their horse’s health past the next 90 day window.

[SleepyFox]

Can you not request an EPO test when you claim a horse where your friend races? In Louisiana, it’s an option in check box form right on the claim slip.

[QUOTE=DickHertz;3736706]
I don’t think it’s as widespread as steroids was. [/QUOTE]

Steroids were (are still in some places) legal, so that’s an apples to oranges comparison and one that leaves people with the impression steroids were some illicit drug.

Very sorry about your friend’s horse though.

[DickHertz]

You can have a drug test done, but they won’t test for EPO

[up-at-5]

What is EPO?

[DickHertz]

A blood builder which dramatically increases the number of red blood cells. More red blood cells results in a much greater amount of oxygen being processed which keeps muscles from being fatigued during a race. Muscles get tired because of a lack of cellular respiration in the muscles.

[Laurierace]

Not that I disagree with what you are saying, but the new trainer sounds like an asshat as well. In two to three months he ran the horse often even though he didn’t eat for weeks? I wouldn’t be so sure he didn’t give him the dose of EPO that broke the camels back.

[sk_pacer]

EPO/DPO and others in that class are tested for in Ontario (as entioned), a few other Canadian jurisdictions, New York, New Jersey, Kentucky, Indiana, Illinoes, California and that is all I can remember off the top of my head. I saw a list somewhere but it disappeared after a site hijacking and I dont know if they recovered ore recompiled said list.

EPO was originally developed for human patients with pernicious anaemia, and still is used in small animal practices for certain types of anaemia. EPO is the drug responsible for the blood doping scandal in international bicycle racing as well as several deaths in the same.

RE: the previously mentioned Ontario EPO charges… the whole mess is here http://www.standardbredcanada.ca/news/12-18-08/mcfaddens-suspended-dpo-found-in-horses.html

[FairWeather]

How did they know the EPO levels were so high? Am I incorrect in understanding it’s only testable within a certain timeframe?

[jennywho]

I’m curious as well. Although in no way do I discount the harmful effects of EPO, it was my understanding that it could only be tested for prior to a race (in the receiving barn?). If you tested for it after there would be no way to verify if the horse had been treated or not.

[summerhorse]

I don’t know much about it but apparently there is some post race test. (from a harness racing site) http://www.harnesslink.com/www/Article.cgi?ID=6775

I think unless the horse is at the very end of the time since dosing the levels will still be artificially high.

Besides the horrible things mentioned the horse’s blood can get too thick with RBC and turn to sludge essentially. It can then cause “heart attacks” when it is too thick to move through the vessels or clots or something.

Anyone using it should be banned IMO

[DickHertz]

[QUOTE=FairWeather;3738110]
How did they know the EPO levels were so high? Am I incorrect in understanding it’s only testable within a certain timeframe?[/QUOTE]

EPO antibodies can stay in a horse’s system for months or even a year. This is why Amy Albright got off scott free at Charles Town for her positive test. They claimed the previous connections could have given the drug and not them.

[DickHertz]

[QUOTE=jennywho;3738281]
I’m curious as well. Although in no way do I discount the harmful effects of EPO, it was my understanding that it could only be tested for prior to a race (in the receiving barn?). If you tested for it after there would be no way to verify if the horse had been treated or not.[/QUOTE]

You are thinking of sodium bicarbonate - milkshaking.

[DickHertz]

[QUOTE=Laurierace;3737581]
Not that I disagree with what you are saying, but the new trainer sounds like an asshat as well. In two to three months he ran the horse often even though he didn’t eat for weeks? I wouldn’t be so sure he didn’t give him the dose of EPO that broke the camels back.[/QUOTE]

He’s a good guy and doesn’t use the stuff. Honestly, he may have given the drug had he known right away what the issue was, he didn’t find out until he got the diagnosis from New Bolton. I don’t agree with how much he ran him either. He ran a lot when Penn was closed so he probably thought that was the best way to “train” the horse…don’t agree, but that’s probably what he was doing.

[gholem]

[QUOTE=DickHertz;3738553]
EPO antibodies can stay in a horse’s system for months or even a year. This is why Amy Albright got off scott free at Charles Town for her positive test. They claimed the previous connections could have given the drug and not them.[/QUOTE]

For the second point, it really does seem like if you’re running the horse, you should answer for it, end of story. If you claim it and think there’s a > 0% chance it might have something in its system, you test it yourself before it runs again. Whoever let her off and set such a precedent really messed up.

Do you really mean antibodies? EPO occurs naturally in the body, so even if extra is injected, it seems odd that the immune system would form antibodies for it.

And what/where/who has lead you to believe that EPO can be detected for such a long time after injection? Everything I’ve read suggests it is basically out of your system in less than a day and can be detected at trace levels for maybe a couple of weeks at absolute most.

The following source:

http://www.roadcycling.com/events/tdf2003/epo.shtml

(not exactly a journal article, I’m aware)

suggests that the half-life of EPO is very short.

Here’s a graph from an actual journal:

http://glycob.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/full/10/5/511/CWD056F6

Although it is for rabbits, the synthetic epo has almost completely dissappeared after 8 hours.

I would be curious if the behavior is quite different in horses, but I haven’t been able to find anything specifically about EPO in horses.

[jennywho]

thanks for the clarification and yes, I was thinking sodium bicarb not EPO.

You know I hear about a lot of OTTB’s with kidney and liver problems, I’ve always wondered what exactly was the culprit or if it was a combination of things.

One of the first trainers I worked for left the farm and horses behind in a hurry - long court involved story. I never knew what they were on (on a need to know basis he would tell me), but man did I see some weird reactions from the poor things in the year that followed.

There are so many good people in horse racing, but the bad ones, it’s amazing the crap they do and the broken horses that they make sound.

[Calamber]

re: do something

I find it horrific and agree with Summerhorse that shrugging the shoulders and just carrying on as if there is nothing to be done will perpetuate these horror. There is such a thing as the sin of omission and as far as I am concerned, is as bad as using the drug itself. Send the info to the Bloodhorse and the TB Times if you really care.