ASK THE VET
Drugs in Racing

by DR. GREG FERRARO

Recent developments regarding the use of clenbuterol have, once again, demonstrated our industry's chronic problem with medication issues. In the last 10 years horse racing has seemingly drifted from one drug crisis to another, giving the general public a scandalized impression of the sport.

Horse racing is one of the most highly regulated sports there is, yet it seems to continually generate an aura of moral deprivation because of the continued controversy within the industry on the issue of medication. Perhaps we should undertake a serious review of our handling of these medication issues and

follow that with a comprehensive retooling of our approach to regulation. One would hope that we could find a way to control medication that would prevent these repeated public embarrassments and at the same time protect the integrity of the sport and the well being of the horse.

Under the controlled medication system that was initiated in horse racing some 25-30 years ago, a drug testing system was developed to both detect the presence of illegal drugs and monitor the administration of permitted medications. Over the course of time, regulatory bodies have

continually pressured their chemists to advance their techniques to prevent

any surreptitious use of drugs. The resulting continued refinement in forensic analysis has brought us to the point where extremely minute amounts of drugs (picogram or one-trillionth of a gram) can be detected within the urine and/or blood of horses. While this is seemingly ideal from the regulatory point of view, we have become painfully aware of the side effects of this policy.

When one has the ability to detect chemicals at picogram levels problems with environmental contaminants (scopolamine), inadvertent administration (caffeine) and insufficient withdrawal periods for therapeutic medication (clenbuterol) begin to inappropriately alarm the public as to the integrity of racing. The presence of any drug at these levels is not necessarily evidence for cause and effect of race altering performance. We have precious little knowledge of the levels needed to significantly alter normal athletic function with many of the drugs we commonly use and find through testing. We have reached the point where our system uses 19th century processes to administer a program based on 21st century chemistry.

Perhaps a system that relies totally on regulation and chemical testing as a means of directing drug policy is no longer effective. The knowledge of medical therapeutics in horses needs to catch up with the techniques of applied analytical chemistry. Horsemen need to be informed as to the action of each and every drug upon performance and what method and level of administration is necessary to achieve those effects. There is a marked lack of information on what drugs do to horses and how they do it. Horsemen are operating in most cases based on rumor and instinct when it comes to the selection of appropriate medical therapy in the racehorse. They undoubtedly spend huge sums of money on drugs that are either counter-productive or have no effect whatsoever. At the same time they are being constantly ensnared in the regulatory net of drug testing. Even those nefarious characters who would willfully cheat are not necessarily always effective in achieving enhanced performance.

Veterinary science has arrived at the point where the pharmacological action and effects of almost any agent can be determined if appropriate research activities are applied. The horse racing industry needs to step forward and make the financial commitment necessary to support a long-term comprehensive program of drug performance testing. Over the next 10 to 15 years such a program could lead us out of this morass of ignorance and sequential embarrassment. The effort could provide the scientific basis upon which a sensible and practical regulatory policy could be developed while, at the same time, educating the ordinary horseman as to the effective use of medication in the competitive horse. Additionally those pharmacological products which are ineffective would be identified thereby saving the horse owner the hundreds of thousands of dollars wasted yearly on these products.

These long-term medication investigations, combined with other research, may also provide information regarding the role medications play in the maintenance of soundness in the horse. The use of drugs has long been suspected of contributing to the lack of longevity in the racing Thoroughbred with the resulting short fields so detrimental to the financial success of many racetracks. A comprehensive investigative program could, once and for all, solve that mystery. The relationship of the overuse of drugs and breakdowns might also be finally exposed.

The time has come for horse owners, trainers, racetrack operators and regulators to organize together for the betterment of the sport and invest in an effective research and development program in the area of pharmacological policy. The industry as a single unit should engage the scientific community and request the design and development of a program that will provide the technical information necessary to make informed decisions in regulatory policy. Once that program is outlined, the industry must then make the long-term financial commitment necessary to complete the task. A continuing program to educate the average horse trainer and owner as to the optimum and safe use of medication should also be instituted.

Our new and ever-developing pharmacological arsenal can and should be a benefit, rather than a detriment, to both the horse and the racing industry. The successful use of medication and the resulting rewards can only be achieved, however, if people clearly understand the value of proper drug use. Regulation alone will never prevent abuse. The old adage, a little bit of knowledge is dangerous, was never more true than with the uninformed use of drugs in horse racing.