If I had a horse with dermatitis, and was applying a topical - if I didn’t see results in ~14 days I would switch to something different.
Am I just dumb? Or is 30 days of the same ointment with the problem still ongoing the norm?
20 Likes
Uh, that was at a time where not only was there out of competition testing, there was so much of it that riders were using private jets to escape to locations that the (normal people) testers couldn’t get to, like private islands.
Regulations then, as now, required riders to report their every move to testing agencies and make themselves available anytime, anywhere.
Lance got caught multiple times. He had help from the top to get away with it because he was good publicity for the sport of cycling. Sounds familiar?
3 Likes
He’s had a few but the one who comes to my mind who more resembles Baffert is Pete Miller. He’s just not high profile enough nationally to really get the blood pumping and the critics squawking.
5 Likes
I described myself recently to a horse racing friend as a Lance Armstrong obsessive because I have both watched and read everything I can about him since his rise and fall is positively Shakespearean. He was Icarus on a racing bike. Ironically Lance got tripped up when he thought he was bigger than the sport he dominated. Finally, one of his team mates he wronged, Floyd Landis, rolled on him and USADA used that to crush him. When the end came, it came in a day and a night.
I don’t know if we are watching history repeat itself but smart people should take lessons from it. I also don’t know what Baffert did or didn’t do but never underestimate the ruthlessness of a Federal agency that owes no allegiance to the sport it is going after and smells blood in the water. I think racing as a whole can come out better on the other side but only if it doesn’t try to circle the wagons and protect one guy.
6 Likes
When I watch the Preakness on Saturday, I’ll be holding my breath a little more than usual…God forbid Medina Spirit breaks down because racing might not recover from that.
(As a horse lover I don’t want any of them to break down, of course).
9 Likes
Maybe what is needed is more and more thorough out of competition testing. Do I understand correctly that MS was tested on April 18th but not for betamethasone?
Human athletes are tested a lot now. Some may still slip through the cracks, but at least it is harder.
Christian Coleman, the 100 meter world champion, will not be allowed to compete in the Tokyo Olympics (assuming they take place), not because he failed a drug test but because he missed an out of competition test. Was not at home when testers arrived.
Easier to find a horse “at home”.
3 Likes
I believe what the poster means is that many of the bettors do not have much horse racing knowledge. Therefore they place their bet on a trainer or hockey that is known to them. It doesn’t matter which horse that trainer / jockey is associated with, the betting public is simply aware of the famed trainer / jockey. A couple people I know at my dressage barn only bet on the triple crown races, and they look for well known names of people, not the horses. If it’s Valasquez then the barn owner is betting on the horse he is riding. Hence ‘I’ve got $2 on Johnny V’. They’ll be shouting “come on #7, come on Johnny”, they don’t even remember the horses name.
4 Likes
The Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act (HISA) was passed last year. It will create one independent authority to oversee anti-doping in horse racing. It is a good step toward making testing uniform. Unfortunately, it does not take effect until next year. Will this help racing clean up its act?
2 Likes
“likely DQ’d” won’t hold up. Horse can’t be DQd until split tests positive. Then the appeals begin.
This isn’t a court of law but many of the same principles apply. If first test is positive, owner or trainer can request a test of the split sample.
IMO, Medina Spirit and Concert Tour should both be allowed to race in the Preakness. Medina Spirit has not yet been DQd from the KD.
What needs to happen is too quit kissing some trainer’s behind.
Saw this morning that at least one of Spendthrift’s horses not owned in partnership with MRH have also been pulled from BB’s barn.
Yes, I do see the similarities between Mr Armstrong and Mr Baffert. Stuff keeps sliding off until one day it doesn’t (Mr Armstrong). I sure hope some day soon it also applies to Mr Baffert.
6 Likes
He pissed off the wrong person, but that person had an ace in the hole - the team was sponsored by a federal agency. Thus a fraud on his part would constitute a fraud against the federal government - and insulate the whistleblower with a cool $1m. Without the financial incentive and some clever legal wrangling Floyd’s case might have gotten all the attention that the Tyler Hamiltons, etc of the world got - vindicated much later, but considered to be self serving slime at the time.
In the end, the similarities are there. What is the value of having a recognizable superstar figure like Baffert in such an opaque industry? The $1000 claimer story is the kind of thing that brings the “little people” and their $5 bets to the industry.
1 Like
You’re assuming that Baffert’s telling the truth 
Cynic that I am, I say that this horse had a joint injection of betamethazone, they either figured they had enough time to clear it or that the horse wouldn’t win & get tested, and this story about the dermatitis is just a scramble to find something–anything!–benign to blame the hot test on.
Everyone knows the dermatitis story is garbage but it’s just plausible enough to get an “aw shucks” and with a wink and a nod, gets swept under the rug.
19 Likes
This author seems to agree with you:
12 Likes
Just when I think the whole story can’t get any stupider…he cant find a competent vet any closer than 2500 miles?? https://www.bloodhorse.com/horse-racing/articles/250083/hores-advisory-role-for-baffert-did-not-materialize?utm_source=BHTW&utm_medium=social
4 Likes
Unscrupulous racing practices 101:
-Retain a respected absentee vet who is ok having his/her name attached to scripts and procedures from afar and is happy to turn a blind eye.
-Have a full time “fall guy” vet on the payroll to actually do the veterinary work OR just start doing it all yourself. Often it’s a combination of both. Conveniently forget to inform the absentee vet about most of the work happening on site.
Medicate the sh*t out of your horses at a fraction of the price. Take advantage of every legal pharmaceutical, using them both on and off label, so your horses are feeling no pain (literally and figuratively). Horses look great, you win like crazy, owners are none the wiser because their vet bills don’t look all that much different than they would in any other stable. None of the medications are illegal to train on, so it’s not like you are doing anything “wrong” that would warrant serious penalty.
Occasionally you mess up timing or a horse doesn’t metabolize a medication as expected. You get a bad test. Absentee vet vouches for you and produces records that makes everything look like it is on the up and up. You accept your minor penalty and it’s business as usual.
Covid provided an extra layer of excuses. Lucky them.
23 Likes
Would they be able to determine this based on the amount that was found in the sample? Seems like the amount would be higher for an injection, but maybe it depends on when it was given. Everything is pretty murky and maybe that’s on purpose.
1 Like
Nah, just depends on when it was given. Say that (I am making up these numbers) most horses metabolize this drug down to 0 by four weeks following injection. So they tapped this horse 5 weeks ago and figured everything would be peachy, but this guy is a slow metabolizer for whatever reason, and still has this trace.
You’d think that if you’re going to play this game, you’d drug test the horse yourself so as not to get caught out, but Baffert’s skated on this stuff before, so, meh–feign shock, make up some lame excuse, and get your slap on the wrist. Maybe fire a groom to make it look convincing.
5 Likes
Dr. Mary Scollay "“Can I tell you what 21 picograms does? No,” she said. “But I can tell you it is consistent with an administration into the joint at less than three days prior to a race. Philosophically, as a regulator, that would be unacceptable.”
26 Likes
My big takeaway: Don’t hold your breath if a horse with the initials “MS” crosses the Derby finish line first.
I’m also happy about the MRH move from BB. I know I was, personally, not considering the few horses they had that were planning to go to BB. Not a trainer I care to support with my 15 cents.
2 Likes
5 Likes
Good lord, 3 days? The gall.
(Although as someone who’s had a load of steroid joint injections, I’m awfully surprised they’d inject so close to a race. That steroid inflammatory flare is NO JOKE. With how long acting betamethasone is, I would have thought they’d want more time to get through that flare period and let it kick in.)
2 Likes
