By Ryan Goldberg

It takes a lot to shock a regulatory
veterinarian of 25 years. But
that’s how Dr. Mary Scollay felt last
October after Kentucky switchedfrom private vets to state-employed
ones for the administration of Lasix
on race day. Scollay, the equine
medical director of the BluegrassState, said she soon learned thatsomething as simple as giving aroutine shot with the authorized
dosage had been regularly abusedby trainers and their vets.
After
the
change,theconcentration of Lasix in postracesamples
dropped30
SHUFHQW ± D VLJQL¿FDQW GLIIHUHQFH
Scollay said. This meant that private
vets had been giving Lasix “darnnear an hour closer to the race”
previously, she said. “The rule was not
being consistently followed.” And
these were the tests of winners– knowing that Lasix moves up a
horse,
hadtheygainedanextra
advantage?
The samples
were not the
only evidenceofdeeplyr o o t e dmisconduct
Scollay said
she found. On
their rounds,
state
vets
received otherillegitimate requests. “We’d havetrainers ask if we could give it in themuscle,” said Scollay, even thoughadministration is only allowed
jugular. “We’d also have trainers
ask for other drugs. That is not
permitted.”“It raised questions as to what
degree of compliance there had
been with the rules prior to state
regulation,” she concluded. “It
opened my eyes.”

Horsephotos

Dr. Mary Scollay

Besides the volume of Lasix,
murkier drugs largely disappeared
from post-race tests. Scollay said
she had seen evidence that a drug
called GABA, short for gammaaminobutyric
acid,
was
commonplacein Kentucky.
The
amino
acid, which ispresent in the
supplement“Carolina
G o l d , ”
is endogenoustohorsesas well as
h u m a n s
–
it’s
the
predominant receptor blocker in thecentral nervous system. It has a painmitigating and calming effect thatcan conserve a horse’s energy prior
to a race. However, because it’snaturally occurring and leaves ahorse’s system within three to fourKRXUV ¿QGLQJ VXVSLFLRXV OHYHOV LQ
SRVWUDFHWHVWVLVGLI¿FXOWIts use in Kentucky wasapparently curtailed once regulatory
vets came in. The “noise” in post-

Many in the industry
believe the path to acleaner sport begins here:
getting private-practicing
vets out of the stalls on
race day.

race samples all but departed. Lasix
is administered within four hours ofa race; private vets were apparently
giving GABA at the same time.
There was no trace. GABA doesn’t
VSHFL¿FDOO\ DSSHDU LQ WKH 8QLIRUP&ODVVL¿FDWLRQ*XLGHOLQHV
IRU
Foreign substances, which means
that, under RCI guidelines, it shouldbe treated as a Class 1 violation
unless otherwise advised.
Kentucky horsemen had bitterly
contested the change to state
regulation. It only came into practice

Carolina Goldwww.eurodressage.com
June 22, 2013 | 1

after an overriding votefrom Governor Steve
Beshear. Scollay now
believes the reasons for
WKH¿JKWDUHFOHDU³,WUHDOO\wasn’t about Lasix,” but
all this other stuff,” shesaid. (The president of the
Kentucky HBPA did not
return several messages
seeking comment.)
Many in the industry believe thepath to a cleaner sport begins here:
getting private-practicing vets outof the stalls on race day. “Whenyou look at it honestly, it’s a bit of
an indictment of the veterinary
profession,” said Dr. Ken Quirk,
the equine medical director of the
Texas Racing Commission.
New York and Delaware also
have state administration of Lasix;
0LQQHVRWD KDV D VWDWH RI¿FLDO
supervise, Penn National has an
association veterinarian administer
it, and Monmouth Park recently
hired a private company to do so.
California and Maryland are in theprocess of joining them. The restof the country lags, according to a...a win-at-all-costs mentality hasturned this exquisite animal into
something like a breathing
Petri dish atop four brittle legs.
survey of state racing commissions.
That trainers and vets were eager
to get ever more substances into ahorse hours prior to a race counters
the idea that permissive medication
is intended to provide therapy to ahorse. It only reinforces the belief
that a win-at-all-costs mentality hasturned this exquisite animal into
something like a breathing Petri
dish atop four brittle legs.
“It’s what the game has become,”says Jerry Brown, the founder ofThoro-Graph, echoing a familiar
sentiment.
%URZQ¶V YLHZ LV D TXDOL¿HG
one; in making his trademarked
handicapping sheets over theyears, he has monitored dramatic
improvements in the performances

Kentucky horsemen had bitterly contested the change to state regulationof horses and trainers
and seen telltale signs of
performance-enhancing
drug use. After a lifetime
handicapping countlessraces, he surmises few
otherexplanations.
Thoro-Graph’s website
also hosts a message
board where tipsters
offer leads for Brown’s

pursuits.
So where does racing go from
KHUH" 7KH ¿UVW VWHS \RX PLJKW
say, is acknowledging the problem.
Knowing these stories, how can
UDFLQJ RI¿FLDOV WHOO WKH SXEOLF WKDWtheirs is a clean sport? Or, as
Kent Stirling of the National HBPA
WROG WKH 86 6HQDWH &RPPLWWHH
on Commerce, Science andTransportation last year, that racing“should be the envy of every othersport that tests for drugs, like
professional football, baseball,cycling...”
The reality is that those insideand out racing see it as beguiled
by drugs and suffering dearly for
it. Among those surveyed in The

Horsephotos
June 22, 2013 | 2

Jockey Club-commissioned 2011
McKinsey study, only 22 percent
have a positive impression of horse
racing. In three out of every four
stakeholder interviews, medication
was highlighted as an issue
adversely affecting racing.
Many believe even a casual lookat state-by-state regulations showsa sport profoundly dependent
on drugs, legal and otherwise.
Reformshouldincludeanumber of policies, but thewhole approach to testing andenforcement
andmedication
policy must change, rather thanthe piecemeal moves offered up
in response. What’s needed goesbeyond slightly adjusting thresholdlevels and withdrawal times. An
inexorable tide has washed moredrugs onto the backstretch and withpenalties the way they are – even for
obvious doping – the incentives arealigned to encourage wrongdoing.
One place to start concerns
the calculus for private vets, who
SUR¿W IURP WKH YROXPH RI GUXJVBarry Irwin with Captain Bodget“If these horses are acutely unwell and in needof drug therapy, then on this basis alone, theyshould not be allowed to race, and if they are
not unwell, they cannot be given medication
under the law which regulates my profession.
Race horse is not a diagnosis.”– Dr. Sheila Lyons
they prescribe. As has been well
documented, most vets see theirroles as answering to the trainers,
not the horses. Several generationsof trainers, too, have only practiced
their trade in an age of permissive
medication. “Because of this,” Team
9DORUSUHVLGHQW%DUU\,UZLQWHVWL¿HGto that Senate committee, “trainers
to a much greater extent than at
any time in the history of the sport
rely on veterinarians.”
With this dependence, vets have

Horsephotos

trouble saying no, but they can.
“If these horses are acutely unwelland in need of drug therapy, thenon this basis alone, they should not
be allowed to race,” said Dr. Sheila
Lyons at the same hearing. “Andif they are not unwell, they cannot
be given medication under the law
which regulates my profession.
Race horse is not a diagnosis.”
Even if there has been
support for reform in the last four
decades, which is questionable, thelogjam of state racing commissions
and various representative groups
makes action all but impossible.
8QLIRUPLW\ KDV ORQJ EHHQ KHOG XS
like a panacea, but this only touches
XSRQWKHP\ULDGLVVXHV³8QLIRUPLW\is a complex issue,” Scollay said.
³8QLIRUPLW\ PHDQV XQLIRUP WHVWLQJ
regulation and enforcement.”
There is nothing remotely close tothat now: one state allows a 24-hour
free-for-all of permissible drugs andanother acts more conservatively;
one state uses outdated testing
equipment and another state-ofWKHDUW WHFKQRORJ\ RQH VWDWH ¿QHV
a trainer a few hundred bucks fora clenbuterol positive and another
VWDWH ¿YHWKRXVDQG RQH UDFHWUDFN
uses its private-property rights to
exclude a known cheater, next door
he’s welcomed.
Yes, regulation has made strides
in recent years; in March, eightstates agreed to participate in the
0LG$WODQWLF 8QLIRUP 0HGLFDWLRQ
June 22, 2013 | 3

Program, which has agreed on 24
controlled therapeutic medications.
Other states, like California, havesignaled they’ll join. But clearly
WKHPRVWVLJQL¿FDQWSURSRVDOLVWKH
Horseracing Integrity and Safety
Act of 2013, a bill introduced
UHFHQWO\E\866HQDWRU7RP8GDOO
and four House of Representatives
members, which would grant
RYHUVLJKW WR WKH 86 $QWL'RSLQJ$JHQF\ 86$'$ The racing industry has longheld onto its grip to regulate
itself. But at what cost? In 1973,
a House committee considered
recommendinganational
commissioner for racing, but
decided to leave it to the states.
In 1980, the Corrupt Horseracing
Practices Act, which called forregulation by the Drug Enforcement
Administration, was defeated. Twoyears later, August Belmont IV told
Congress that states could handle
racing’s problems and urged “thatthe industry be accorded more timeto get its house in order…”
Similar arguments still circulate.
An industry based on interstate
wagering and interstate movementof horses and stables only widens
the cracks in this fractured system.
Change is glacial. For example, of
the 16 laboratories which handle
the nation’s drug testing, just days
DJR WKH ¿UVW WZR HDUQHG 507&
accreditation after all these years– the HFL Sport Science lab in
Lexington and the Kenneth L. Maddy
Equine Analytical Laboratory at
WKH 8& 'DYLV 6FKRRO RI 9HWHULQDU\Medicine in California.
What happens at those labs isalso part of the path forward.
“Transparency is the single mostimportant thing,” Brown said. “Thisinformation needs to be madepublic: who is tested, what they
were tested for, what type of test
was used, and what was the resultof that test – not just pass/fail.”In the process of writing thisseries, we came upon regulators

2UEZKR¿QLVKHGWKLUGLQWKH%HOPRQW6ZDVRQHRIRQO\WZRKRUVHVZKRGLGQRWJHWPHGLFDWLRQ
DWKRXUVEHIRUHWKHUDFH Horsephotos

which barns get spectacular form
reversals. Do they know that Florida
uses Thin-Layer Chromatography(TLC) for its testing, a method seen
as outdated since the 1980s? Orthat New York uses only one step up– Enzyme-linked immunosorbent
assay (ELISA) – a practice that,when used for general screening,has also been eclipsed by newer
methods? Does a state test for
clenbuterol in blood or urine, thelatter being the most effective?
Brown offered two examples. In
2005, Pennsylvania announced it
would begin testing for total carbon
dioxide (TCO2), the byproduct of– Jerry Brown
PLONVKDNLQJ )RU ¿YH \HDUV EHWWRUVoperated on this assertion. Then in
who didn’t know what the rules WKHVWDWH¿QDOO\VWDUWHGWHVWLQJ
without acknowledging its earlier
in their own states were, Brown
claim. The same goes for Kentucky.
pointed out.
In 1999, it came out that TCO2
“Everybody has an opinion on was not illegal and guys could do it
this subject, but nobody has the ULJKWLQWKHSDGGRFN6WDWHRI¿FLDOVIDFWV 8QWLO \RX JHW WKH IDFWV RXW VDLG WKH\¶G ¿[ LW LQ WZR ZHHNVWKHUHWKHUHLVQREDVLVIRU¿JXULQJ “Six years later, they made a big
out what needs to be changed.”announcement that they were now
Vets, trainers and regulators going to test for TCO2,” Brown said.
know, but the betting public exists “Six years later. That is insane.”
Making medication records publicin the dark, other than recognizing“This informationneeds to be madepublic: who is tested,
what they were tested
for, what type of test
was used, and what was
the result of that test –not just pass/fail.”

June 22, 2013 | 4

is not such a longshot. The New
York Racing Association released
them for this year’s Belmont Stakes
entrants. (Only Orb and GiantFinish didn’t get medication in
the 72 hours before the Belmont,
Lasix
notwithstanding.)
Suchtransparency could stop in its tracks
excessive drug use. In Louisiana, forinstance, where every medication
FODVVL¿HG DV WKHUDSHXWLF WKH VWDWH
doesn’t elaborate) is allowed within
24 hours of a race, how would
the public, not to mention animalwelfare groups, react to seeing thisinformation?
Still, must every handicapper
then get a degree in chemistry?
To answer this gives a convincing
argument for rolling back permissive
medication. Brown, for his part,sees regulators as “unwilling to dowhat’s necessary to protect theircustomers. There are weapons thatcan be used here which are notbeing used.”
For decades, state racing
commissions have mostly rested on
post-race tests alone. These are nolonger the Great Wall of deterrence.
Particularly when the nature ofsophisticated doping, as evidenced
by GABA or Erythropoietin (EPO),
has changed in both horses andhumans – from a substance thatleaves a residue to one that mimics
endogenous functions, switching
on a gene, hormone or amino acidand then turning it off.
These are the weapons that
Brown believes are collecting dust:
out-of-competition testing and 24hour surveillance of barns andchecking treatment records. The
latter is commonplace in GreatBritain and France and is whatcaught Godolphin trainer Mahmood
Al Zarooni. Al Zarooni told regulatorsthat he believed the steroids heused – their presence was detectedfrom out-of-competition testing– were legal. Why then, he was
asked, did he not log the treatments
in his record books?

1HZ0H[LFRZDVWKHIRFXVRIVHYHUDORIWKHNew York Times’s series on drug problems in horse racing.

Stateside, it’s clear that wanton
cheating still exists; the presenceof painkillers derived from SouthAmerican frogs and sea snails
illustrate this. Demorphin, theformer, was found in a half-dozen
states. At last year’s Senate
hearings, all eight industry panelists
said the use of demorphin, which
has no purpose other than to dopea horse, should merit a lifetime ban.
Except that didn’t happen. In
most cases, the suspensions
PHWHG RXW ZHUH ¿YH \HDUV DQGWKH ¿QHV QRW ODUJHU WKDQ 
States were legally powerless to
go beyond that level. Nearly allof the accused trainers appealed

their suspensions, but racetracks in
Oklahoma, California, New Mexicoand Texas wielded their privateproperty rights to exclude them.
Loopholes still existed, however, forthe trainers to move their horses toassistants. Louisiana tracks Delta
Downs and Evangeline Downs,
which Boyd Gaming owns, allowed
the trainers to continue racing as
they appealed.
On April 11, Jess C. Meche, a21-year-old exercise rider at Delta
Downs, died in a training accident
aboard a Quarter horse named
Czech Revolution. The horse wasconditioned by M. Heath Taylor, aleading Quarter horse trainer who,
June 22, 2013 | 5

Presently, the tracks and racingin September, received a five-year
suspension and $10,000 fine for a commission are harmonized indemorphin positive. Delta Downs New Mexico, which is not the case
officials said they would name a everywhere. Urged by the racing
commission, in April the staterace on May 18 in Meche’s honor.
In New Mexico, the racetracks legislature removed the cap ofand racing commission set out $10,000 on a Class 1 fine, setting
to make sure a similar situation a new ceiling at $100,000. In awouldn’t occur there. No state separate bill, the governor signed
suffered a harsher glare from The into law a nearly four-fold increase
New York Times investigation of in the testing budget, accompanied
out-of-competition
testing
racing’s runaway medication and by
breakdowns problems. In response and a more aggressive necropsy
to the demorphin positives, all five program. New Mexico transferred
New Mexico tracks – Downs of its testing to the UC Davis lab, theAlbuquerque, Ruidoso, Zia Park, most advanced in the U.S. “We are
Sunray Park and Sunland Park – bound by law now to make sure ourdecided to denystalls or entries to
any Class 1 or 2
violators. Letterswere sent aroundthe country.
“They
knew
that the racing
commission was
limited as far as
what we could
do,” said Vince
Mares, a former
police chief who
was named its
executive director
in January 2012.
The
demorphintrainers,
forinstance,had
the right of due
process to see
out their appeals.
Meadowlands owner Jeff Gural pioneered the use of house rules“The
tracksstepped up andsaid we don’t want you here. I have labs stay up to par,” Mares said.
The best example of using privateto commend them.”
Several years ago, New Mexico property rights to clean up the track
was not even associated with the comes from harness racing and
RCI, said Ed Martin, its current Jeff Gural, the principal owner ofpresident. “They couldn’t pay the the Meadowlands and upstate New
dues and so they couldn’t see who York’s Tioga and Vernon Downs.
was suspended in other states.” Gural, the straight-talking chairman
A trainer could be suspended in of commercial real-estate company
Oklahoma and show up in New Newmark Grubb Knight Frank, calls
Mexico to race without the state or this their “number one weapon.”
His three tracks keep a long list
track aware.

of participants who are excluded.
When Gural took over the lease of
the Meadowlands in 2012, the firstthing he did was boot Lou Pena, theleading trainer of the previous two
years, who earned more than 1,700
drug violations in a two-year period.
Pena challenged this in court but
the judge reaffirmed the track’s
right of exclusion.
“I’m sort of amazed other people
don’t use it,” Gural said in a recent
interview at his Manhattan office.
“On the other hand, you’re judge
and jury so you have to be careful
and try to use your best judgment.”
Most recently, the Meadowlands
turnedaway
Rene
Allard,thesecondleadingtrainerby earnings inharness racing.
Guraldoesn’treleasehis
evidence.
Gural gathers
this information inseveral ways andon his own dime.
He hired a former
state
troopernamed Brice Coteas his private
i n v e s t i g a t o r.
Since
Gural
took over the
Meadowlands,
trainers
whowant to race
Lisa photo
there must sign anagreement whichallows his investigators to visit
their farms at any time and test
their horses. Standardbreds train
away from the track, making outof-competition testing imperative, in
Gural’s estimation. Those who don’t
sign don’t get to race. Gural sends
his samples to many different labs,
some of them overseas, to keep
cheaters guessing.
“I think that by the end of theyear I’ll have a pretty good idea ofJune 22, 2013 | 6

driver’s license, which The elsewhere in the region, and it
whether or not you can catch theseguys.” Allard, he added, “could just -RFNH\ &OXE ¿UVW SURSRVHG LQ will curb the practice of trainers
be the tip of the iceberg.”
August 2011 as part of its Reformed shopping jurisdictions for relaxed“Let’s face it, no vet is giving a Racing Medication Rules. The medication policies and weakhorse something that they think is RMTC adopted a model based in adjudication. For example, many
going to test positive,” he continued. large part on The Jockey Club’s trainers from outside New York“So they’re either giving it to them in system, and the Mid-Atlantic states quit shipping to Aqueduct lasta dosage that won’t test positive or are moving forward with it. The RCI winter after NYRA extended its
they know the state isn’t testing for is scheduled to formally approve it withdrawal times for clenbuterol
and corticosteroids. Come Januarythat particular drug.”in late July
Gural attributes increases in handle
In this system, a trainer 1, this won’t be possible.
Foreman said states outside theat the Meadowlands, in part, to his earns additional penalties afterreforms. Bettors positively respond accumulating a certain number region have expressed interest in
tagging along, such as Kentucky,WRDOHYHOSOD\LQJ¿HOG%XWLIKH¶V
California, Illinois, Arkansas,
carving out a template, so far
and Minnesota, which makes
there are no copy-cats. He has
him believe that this is a basis
QRW EHHQ FRQWDFWHG E\ RI¿FLDOV
for a national program. Someon the Thoroughbred side. And
SODFHV VSHFL¿FDOO\ )ORULGD DQGthe trainers he’s excluded haveLouisiana, are problems, hefound a receptive audiencesaid, but if many states sign on,
elsewhere. None of the“Those not participating will be
Meadowlands’s
competitors
hard-pressed to explain why
has reciprocated, pointing tothey aren’t doing it.”limitations in using house rules.
Gural though, who’s a lone
For example, NYRA would havecrusader, sees promise in thetrouble going this route since its
HIIRUWWREULQJ86$'$RQERDUG
tracks are state property.
Stateracingcommissions
Perhaps a regional compact,
and their budgets tend tolike the Mid-Atlantic consortium
inadequately fund testing andforninestatesfromenforcement. Plus, racetracks
Massachusetts to Virginia,
owned by casino companies
can solve situations like this,“don’t want to be bothered,” healthough skepticism on thesaid, since racing revenue is astate-runapparatus
runs
small portion of their business.
deep. Alan Foreman, the
New York stands alone inchairman of the Thoroughbred
pledging a small percentage
Horsemen’s Association and Alan Foreman
Horsephotosof casino revenue to pay for
one of its architects, outlined
integrity measures.
its three-pronged approach:“We need to have one superuniform testing for 24 controlled of points. These penalties are
medications; testing done at fully- VXSHULPSRVHG RQ WKRVH ¿QHV DQG duper lab, as opposed to labs
accredited labs; and a new penalty penalties already accrued. Foreman all over the place,” Gural said.
system. It also mandates third-party gave the example of trainer Rudy “Because the states all haveadministration, not private, of race- Rodriguez, who this year in New budgetary problems. Nobody is out<RUN KDV ¿YH SRVLWLYHV IRU ÀXQL[LQ there demanding that they catchday Lasix.
Though the list of medications D QRQVWHURLGDO DQWLLQÀDPPDWRU\ the cheats in horse racing. The
appears settled, agreement on drug. “This would easily trip the reality is that there are a handful ofpeople demanding action. The vast
SHQDOWLHV LV LQ ÀX[ 7KH VWDWHV ZLOO system,” Foreman said.
³,I\RXDUHDÀDJUDQWYLRODWRUWKH majority of voters could care less;retain their current frameworks
WR VHW ¿QHV ZKLFK DV WKH\ VWDQG industry is now ready to deal with they don’t go to the track, they don’t
bet on these things.”
QRZDUHZLGHO\VHHQDVLQVXI¿FLHQW that,” he added.
To its credit, the Mid-Atlantic
He paused for a moment. “I hate
deterrents. However, one add-on
with broad support is a points-based pact will allow states to take into to say it, but I think the federal
consideration
what
happens government is on the right track.”
penalty system, similar to that of aJune 22, 2013 | 7