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Sunday, December 1, 2013
Frog Juice: Horse Racing’s New Doping Scandal--dermorphin found in Louisiana, Oklahoma, and New Mexicio race horses
By Eliana Dockterman June 21, 2012
More than 30 horses have now tested positive for an illegal performance-enhancing substance that makes even the grossest doping scandal of human athletes pale in comparison. Apparently, horse owners have been paying chemists to squeeze frogs in South America and send the slime that drips off the amphibians’ backs to trainers in the United States. According to a report in the New York Times Tuesday, traffic in dermomorphin, a drug obtained from the skin of the Phyllomedusa sauvagei, commonly known as the waxy monkey tree frog, has racing officials across four states concerned.
Dermorphin has the twofold benefit of both numbing the pain a horse might feel from an injury and simultaneously rendering the animal hyperactive. “For a racehorse, it would be beneficial,” Craig W. Stevens, a professor of pharmacology at Oklahoma State University, told the Times. “The animal wouldn’t feel pain, and it would have feelings of excitation and euphoria.” The effects of this painkiller are even more powerful than morphine.
(MORE: Murder on the Backside: The Unseen World of the Kentucky Derby)
Dermorphin is only one of many doping methods that have plagued racetracks over the years, though it’s definitely the most exotic — narrowly beating out cobra venom, which has been used as a pain suppressant. But doping in horse racing is a century-old tradition, going at least as far back as a case in England in the nineteenth century in which a man was executed for drugging a racehorse with arsenic. But in a sport in which fans are becoming increasingly concerned over animals’ welfare and the methods used to train them — not excluding this year’s triple crown favorite, I’ll Have Another, recently scratched from the Belmont Stakes — its a blow racing officials aren’t eager to take. “It couldn’t have come at a worse time,” said the executive director of the Louisiana Racing Commission, Charles A. Gardiner III. “We’re fighting back federal intervention. We’re under attack and losing our fan base.”
Labs have found dermorphin in Louisiana, Oklahoma, and New Mexico, and regulators suspect its use in Texas. Though frog juice rumors had been circulating for a long time, officials had been unable to identify the substance until a lab in Denver recently found the correct testing procedure. No trainers have been formally charged yet, though racing regulators say we can expect a crackdown soon.
However, don’t expect a crackdown to deter cheating. Edward J. Martin, president of Racing Commissioners International, bemoaned the fact that as soon as you crackdown on one drug, trainers move on to using another.
Read more: Frog Juice: Horse Racing’s New Doping Scandal | TIME.com http://newsfeed.time.com/2012/06/21/frog-juice-horse-racings-new-doping-scandal/#ixzz2mFrEUGxk
More than 30 horses have now tested positive for an illegal performance-enhancing substance that makes even the grossest doping scandal of human athletes pale in comparison. Apparently, horse owners have been paying chemists to squeeze frogs in South America and send the slime that drips off the amphibians’ backs to trainers in the United States. According to a report in the New York Times Tuesday, traffic in dermomorphin, a drug obtained from the skin of the Phyllomedusa sauvagei, commonly known as the waxy monkey tree frog, has racing officials across four states concerned.
Dermorphin has the twofold benefit of both numbing the pain a horse might feel from an injury and simultaneously rendering the animal hyperactive. “For a racehorse, it would be beneficial,” Craig W. Stevens, a professor of pharmacology at Oklahoma State University, told the Times. “The animal wouldn’t feel pain, and it would have feelings of excitation and euphoria.” The effects of this painkiller are even more powerful than morphine.
(MORE: Murder on the Backside: The Unseen World of the Kentucky Derby)
Dermorphin is only one of many doping methods that have plagued racetracks over the years, though it’s definitely the most exotic — narrowly beating out cobra venom, which has been used as a pain suppressant. But doping in horse racing is a century-old tradition, going at least as far back as a case in England in the nineteenth century in which a man was executed for drugging a racehorse with arsenic. But in a sport in which fans are becoming increasingly concerned over animals’ welfare and the methods used to train them — not excluding this year’s triple crown favorite, I’ll Have Another, recently scratched from the Belmont Stakes — its a blow racing officials aren’t eager to take. “It couldn’t have come at a worse time,” said the executive director of the Louisiana Racing Commission, Charles A. Gardiner III. “We’re fighting back federal intervention. We’re under attack and losing our fan base.”
Labs have found dermorphin in Louisiana, Oklahoma, and New Mexico, and regulators suspect its use in Texas. Though frog juice rumors had been circulating for a long time, officials had been unable to identify the substance until a lab in Denver recently found the correct testing procedure. No trainers have been formally charged yet, though racing regulators say we can expect a crackdown soon.
However, don’t expect a crackdown to deter cheating. Edward J. Martin, president of Racing Commissioners International, bemoaned the fact that as soon as you crackdown on one drug, trainers move on to using another.
Read more: Frog Juice: Horse Racing’s New Doping Scandal | TIME.com http://newsfeed.time.com/2012/06/21/frog-juice-horse-racings-new-doping-scandal/#ixzz2mFrEUGxk
FEI information on doping
The use of substances with the potential to affect equine performance, health or welfare and/or with a high potential for misuse are contrary to the integrity of equestrian sport and the welfare of the horses.
The FEI provides a list of substances prohibited for use in horses competing at FEI events – the FEI Equine Prohibited Substances List. This list consists of two groups of substances: banned and controlled medication. Banned substances are not permitted for use in horses competing. Controlled medications are acknowledged as substances with therapeutic veterinary benefits but are not permitted during FEI events because of the potential for their misuse.
Testing programmes and protocols are implemented to detect the presence of prohibited substances in horses competing. Urine and/or blood samples from horses tested are sent by courier to one of five FEI Laboratories.
Negative blood and urine analysis results within the programme are updated regularly on the website for Groups I and II only and can be accessed here.
Before giving any substance to a horse competing at FEI events, athletes and their support personnel should always check, if it is prohibited under the FEI Rules by using the FEI Prohibited Substances database. They should work with veterinary advisers to establish a safe withdrawal time before competing. Horses must never compete unless they are fit to do so. During events, the administration of treatments and supportive therapies must be authorised by the veterinary delegate or commission before administration, using the appropriate veterinary form. The veterinary forms are available by clicking here.
For the latest Equine Anti-Doping and Controlled Medication Regulations in place, please click here.
For medication control at FEI events, please refer to the Veterinary Regulations. We have added for your convenience the following educational documents: Athletes' Guide to Anti-Doping (pdf) and How Testing Works (pdf).Information on FEI Laboratories:
Other useful links:
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Scott Column: Congress looks at racing again
Anyone wondering why many people believe federal oversight is the only way horse racing can be effectively regulated — with uniform national standards regarding medication use, testing and enforcement — need look no further than comments made by Phil Hanrahan at last Thursday’s congressional subcommittee hearing on H.R. 2012, a bill better known as the Horse Racing Integrity and Safety Act of 2013.
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