Positive doping tests at 2024 Olympics

[Blugal]

I just read the reason for Belgian rider Tine Magnus’s positive doping test at the Paris Olympics: a calming supplement was recommended and given to her horse by the team vet. That vet was part of an Equine practice which was associated with a supplement company, and they sold the supplement to the National federation. Although it was marketed as doping-free, it actually contained trazodone, an anti-depressant. (And used in humans as a sleep aid).

While Tine normally was extremely careful about anti-doping, in this case she followed her federation and team vet’s advice, and administered the supplement twice, while the vet himself administered it additionally without her knowledge.

I find so much of this shocking. I can’t believe how dumb it is. I also can’t imagine how awful this is for her, for her teammates who lost their 4th place team finish, and anyone else affected.

Domien Michiels (dressage) of Belgium also has a case listed for human anti-doping at Paris, but no suspension. It was found that he had been doped by putting his dog’s eye drops in without using gloves.

[colorfan]

@Blugal

administered it additionally without her knowledge.

I work hard just to get to an indoor arena, can not imagine working so hard to get to the Olympics to have a VET mess up my chance.

[DMK]

I feel for them, I really do, especially the dog medication (there has already been a previous positive for a dog peeing on the horse’s hay, the dog was on a heart medication… ) But given what we know about positive tests both incidents were recognizable and preventable… I’m only in my third year showing FEI, and I recognize both of those incidents as potential hazards. Especially at the Olympic level, where your federation specifically takes tests both before arriving and during your time on the Olympic grounds. If you introduce anything after those baseline tests, I don’t care who tells you what, introducing anything new is at your own peril. And I can’t I can’t help but think that if I knew the story about the positive associated with the dog, then somebody at the Olympic level should have also reasonably seen that issue. I have come to the point that I will not use voltaren on myself. And yes I could apply it with gloves but I am so leery of accidental contamination since what I want to apply it to is my hand so all the gloves in the world aren’t going to prevent the fact that 5 minutes/hours later I’m going to be handling the horse with said hand, and of course the FEI won’t even give you a guideline saying that if you used it on yourself x days in in advance of an event that any accidental contamination would clear. They just leave it up to you to guess or be wealthy enough to test yourself. You just have to be so vigilant all. the. time.

And the reason why is because people are assholes and cheat. Which is way sadder than these 2 incidents

[Mardi1]

The article said the supplement was a calming supplement and it contained trazodone, an anti-depressant. I don’t understand how it can be calming, and an anti-depressant at the same time.
Anyone familiar with this ? How does it work ?

[Blugal]

Some drugs have multiple uses, including when they are ingested at different doses. I personally use trazodone as a sleep aid, as prescribed by my doctor. So I definitely feel concern if horses are ingesting something that may have a sleepiness effect on them. But… that’s pretty much my feeling about most “calming” “supplements”. It always astonishes me that some professionals are in ads for these products.

[MsM]

We used trazadone for my horse as a calmer when he was laid up with an injury. Reserpine didnt work for him/

[AlternatePlan]

@Mardi1

The article said the supplement was a calming supplement and it contained trazodone, an anti-depressant. I don’t understand how it can be calming, and an anti-depressant at the same time.
Anyone familiar with this ? How does it work ?

By class, Trazodone is an antidepressant…but it’s primarily used in humans these days for insomnia. It’s an “atypical antidepressant” and is used at higher doses (up to 400mg/day) for depression and lower doses for insomnia. It’s really not used these days as a first-line treatment for depression as we have many other options that are often more effective with less side effects…

Trazodone has been used for its calming effect in dogs, horses, etc. for a while. Personally I’ve used it for my dog around fireworks-related-holidays to manage her anxiety/reactivity to fireworks…and for horses on extended stall rest, as it tends to help them be quiet without being ataxic.

[hoofbeat]

Interesting detail, this particular rider is sponsored by a competitor manufacturer of supplements to the ones [allegedly] distributed without the rider’s knowledge during the Olympics…

[hoofbeat]

Trazodone is not an ingredient in the product! If it was, the product wouldn’t be sold and or marketed as doping safe, which means it must have been contaminated along the way.

[Peggy]

Shades of Chromatic, albeit with far less tragic results.

https://www.chronofhorse.com/article/usef-announces-welfare-initiatives-in-response-to-chromatic-bfs-death/

[Blugal]

Yes, Chromatic was an absolute travesty. RIP

[punchy]

@hoofbeat

Trazodone is not an ingredient in the product! If it was, the product wouldn’t be sold and or marketed as doping safe, which means it must have been contaminated along the way.

Not necessarily. It could have been an ingredient, or a part of it was an ingredient. Not everything shows up on the label, and not every item on a label is the word we recognize.

Any lay person knows not to believe marketing, and anyone competing in a testing sport knows not to rely on a claim on a label. Obviously the Belgian rider did not rely on the label, she relied on the team vet. Glad she was able to clear her name.

[quietann]

Trazodone in smaller doses helps with sleep, and with “agitated depression.” In larger doses, it’s quite sedating.

[hoofbeat]

And again, Trazodone is not a standard part of the product, if it was it would not make it doping safe according to FEI rules and regulations.

Or do you suggest the Belgian team vet, as well as his world renowned veterinarian partners, and the owners of the company intentionally have mislead, and misguided, their clients and customers by marketing this, and other products as doping safe?

[DMK]

Not intentionally, no. But that does not mean it didn’t happen unintentionally and it wouldn’t be the first time.

The great reserpine scandal in the mid 90s was quite similar. There was a liquid calming supplement that came originally out of the UK and labeled as BHS and FEI safe. Needless to say, it wasn’t just a hit in the EU, it was very popular over here. And I know trainers who had tested it before using it, nothing illegal found. So everyone was quite shocked when the reserpine positives came up. Oops, turned out there were 2 different formulations, one with a substance that as I recall wasn’t reserpine specifically, but tested with metabolites of reserpine and one without. So either the wrong stuff was shipped with incorrect labels or the labeling wasn’t clear, or something. But it wasn’t an intentional by any means.

But here’s the thing. I could type up a label saying FEI SAFE COMPETITION LEGAL GUARANTEED and slap it on a bottle of distilled water that I infused with strong calming vibes by Vulcan mind meld OR I could make a big oops and slap that label on the wrong bottle, The one with Vulcan mind melt AND reserpine (that version is usually sold to the non competition set). Unless it’s a regulated drug manufacturer, you probably have zero recourse with the FEI, etc. Even with the regulated manufacturer you are still getting your placing revoked, because your horse was drugged. But the record will reflect that it was entirely not your fault

[punchy]

Supplements are big business. No, I don’t think the company would straight-up add trazodone knowing it would test. But one could play with the drug to modify it in the hopes that the modified version would have the benefits without showing up on a test. Not in an intentionally deceptive way; like I said, supplements are big business and people are always looking for a legal edge.

Years ago there was a popular ‘all natural’ supplement advertised as testing safe, but it turned out that some leaf or root it contained was the natural version of a banned drug. It was a long time ago and I don’t remember the supplement or the drug. But a few racehorse trainers at my track got bad tests before someone figured out the connection.

[hoopoe]

its ironic that a medication that is WADA approved for the rider is prohibited for the horse. When I read your post I said wait, I know Diclofenac is ok for me… I had to get a TUE for a medication I was on. You might look in to seeing if having a TUE for your use would shield your horse if they were to get a cross contamination.

Sure does put riders at a bit of a disadvantage. I use it on my hand as well, I know how well it can work.

[DMK]

I have a TUE for my meds, but there’s nothing about a TUE that would extend to a different species. There’s already so many examples of people getting suspensions for being on a drug and accidentally contaminating the horse because they took a bathroom break in the stall. I feel like this pretty much settled with FEI. I think generally those penalties aren’t as harsh if you can truly prove accidental contamination, but nevertheless they have a zero tolerance policy so you still get stripped of any rankings or results related to that particular event.