From: ce423@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Josh Lackey III)
Newsgroups: rec.equestrian
Subject: Re: Drugs in racing?
Date: 22 Dec 1992 04:01:43 GMT
Organization: Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH (USA)
Reply-To: ce423@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Josh Lackey III)
NNTP-Posting-Host: hela.ins.cwru.edu


In a previous article, Stovall@f88.n106.z1.fidonet.org (Stovall) says:

  JLI>I went to my first horse race a couple years ago and was
  JLI>amazed how prevalent the use of drugs was on the horses, i.e.
  JLI>stimulants and pain killers, etc.


>Where exactly was this horse race? Did you see a horse given a
>stimulant. Or did some railbird tell you something like, "Hoosis
>flipped in the gate 'cause they had his mixture too rich"; or, "You
>can't outrun old Bobo when they go to his head". Unless you actually
>saw a horse given a drug that you know was a CNS stimulant, you
>don't have the slightest idea what you are talking about. If some
>desperate individual thought he'd figured out a way to beat the
>test barn, I don't think that he would invite you to watch him hop
>his horse. In short: I question your veracity.
>Some racing jurisdictions allow the use of mild pain killers, commonly
>"bute" and asprin. No state racing commission allows the use of any
>strong pain killers such as morphine-like drugs. No state racing
>commission allows the use of ANY stimulant. The penalties for using
>drugs are quite severe: most racing commissions will rule off a trainer
>and anyone else involved in drugging an animal for a period of months
>or years...even life. Most jurisdictions will penalize a trainer or
>anyone else for having a syringe or a container of any kind of
>injectable in their possession. You see Josh, the racing commissions
>are
>pretty serious about protecting the integrity of horse racing; in fact,
>they don't even allow spectators like you in the stable area.
>
>Were you at the race track or a match race in someone's pasture?
...

>You don't know what horse racing is like, with or without stimulants.
>
>Tom Stovall
>AFA Journeyman Farrier
>
>___
> X SLMR 2.1a X A closed mouth gathers no feet.
>
>

  Without mentioning names, I'll just say it was the big racetrack
in Minneapolis.
  
  I cant argue with you on what the "mild stimulants" were because
neither do I remember, norwould I know what they were if I did. The 
program guides for that particular day of racing used abbreviations or
codes for the different "mild stimulants" each horse was using, and was
published for each race, so its not like it was a restricted practice.
It was in plain english, all be it "coded plain english", and of course
it only was published as an aid to oddsmaking for the betting...etc. I 
dont consider the practice cruel and inhumane, neither do I consider
it benign....  somewhere in between, I guess. 

  I enjoyed the day at the races, and about broke even for the day,
and I would go again, so dont think I'm trying to indict the horse
racing industry.  I mearly have posed the question here for 
discussion, and am trying to learn something myself from the standpoint
of an "outsider", so to speak...

  

-- 
Josh Lackey III      Internet E-Mail:     ce423@cleveland.freenet.edu 
                                          lackey@eglin.af.mil