By Milton C. t oBy

LubrisynPHRaprilArticle Modified: March 28, 2013 3:44 PM Files:Publications:PaintHorseRacing:2013:04.13 PHR-ENews:FreeOnlineArticle:LubrisynPHRaprilArticle.indd

Winning

DrugGamethe

Imagine a game of leap frog. Two children move across a schoolyard in fits and starts – one jumps ahead, only to be

passed by the other, with the

pattern repeating over and over

until the recess bell finally rings.

Now imagine a modern version of the same game. This time, though, the kids have been replaced by a shady horse trainer armed with a pocketful

of syringes and a racing chemist

wearing a white lab coat.

By Milton C. toBy

Presented by Lubrisyn

1 u April 2013 u presented by lubrisyn


this is the state of drug testing in horse racing today. trainers who need to cheat to win always have the upper hand, at least initially, when it comes to prohibited perfor-mance-enhancing drugs because chemists cannot test for a drug until they know what it is. this time lag gives unscru-pulous trainers a free hand until the chemists leap ahead with a new procedure to detect the medication. When a reliable test appears, the old drug falls out of fashion, a new one appears and the cat-and-mouse cycle starts anew.

it’s a frustrating situation for racing officials, who often find themselves a step behind in the medication war. it’s equally so for the vast majority of trainers who want to compete on a level playing field and abide by the medica-tion rules.

Public perception of the medication problem in horse racing is clear—people think drugs are rampant in the sport. Fueled by media reports of high-profile drug cases and 2012 Congressional hearings prompted by a call for federal intervention, medication is among the most pressing issues facing horse racing today. When the Jockey Club surveyed stakeholders in 2011, 78 percent of respondents viewed medication as an issue adversely affecting thor-oughbred racing; other surveys came to similar conclu-sions. though the Jockey Club’s survey addressed only thoroughbreds, medication concerns have an impact on all racing breeds.

Dermorphin was classified by ARCI as a Class 1 drug in July 2011, nearly a year before the test for its detection was implemented in April 2012. By mid-June, at least 30 horses in four states had tested positive. By late 2012 and early 2013, punishments for offenders were handed down and the tide of dermorphin use began to turn.

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presented by lubrisyn u April 2013 u 2


A problem with public perception is that it can be influ-enced more by emotion than facts. Even more important, sometimes public perception is wrong.

in 2010, according to figures released by the Association of Racing Commissioners international, more than 324,000 biological samples were taken from horses competing in races in the United States and subsequently tested for pro-hibited medications. of those samples, only 1,600—less than one-half of one percent—were positive, and most of those violations were characterized by ARCi as “therapeutic overages of legal substances.” only a miniscule percentage of the positives were the result of performance-enhancing medications that could legitimately be called “doping” by the organization. Statistics aside, though, to the general public and many others, a positive is a positive, and even one medicated horse on the racetrack is too many.

the fragmented nature of drug enforcement—a lengthy process that starts with backstretch rumors and develop-ment of a reliable test through administrative hearings, liti-gation and finally sanctions imposed on the guilty—makes

the process difficult to understand. Rather than look at the medication problem globally, a better approach is to exam-ine in detail the life cycle in horse racing of a single drug: dermorphin.

Officials have a zero-tolerance policy for Class 1 prohibited drugs, like dermophin, and the penalties for their use are steep. As news of the use of new drugs reaches track officials, racing chemists begin furiously developing detection methods.

SCeniCrefleCTiOnS.COm

Rather than look at the medication problem globally, a better approach is to examine in detail the life cycle in horse racing of a single drug: dermorphin.

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”3 u April 2013 u presented by lubrisyn


The Year of the Frogthe Waxy Monkey leaf Frog (Phyllomedusa sauvagil ) is

a solemn-looking amphibian native to the Gran Chaco, an arid region west of the Paraguay River and east of the Andes Mountains in South America. three- to four-inches long from snout to rump, the Waxy Monkey leaf Frog is char-acterized by its bright lime-green color and cream-colored stripes and spots.

When a Waxy Monkey leaf Frog is stressed or frightened by a potential predator, its skin produces a noxious white secretion to deter the attacker. often called “frog venom” or “frog toxin,” this secretion is a natural source for dermor-phin. the drug was first isolated and identified by scientists in the early 1980s, however, the unique properties of frog venoms from Waxy Monkey leaf Frogs and their relatives have been known and utilized by indigenous people in South America for centuries.

Glenn H. Shepard is an ethnobotanist and medical anthropologist living and working in Brazil. He’s also a filmmaker with an Emmy Award to his credit for the docu-mentary “Spirits of the Rainforest” and author of the notes From the Ethnoground blog. on his blog, Glenn detailed the use of frog venom by natives.

“the Cashinahua collect secretions from the Giant Waxy Monkey Frog (Phyllomedusa bicolor) and administer the substance directly into the bloodstream through small wounds burned with smoldering twigs on the skin. the treatment produces short-lived bouts of nausea, sweating, vomiting, diarrhea and sometimes unconsciousness, but leaves the user with a lasting sense of strength, well-being and heightened sense perception. the treatment is especially valued by indigenous hunters for improving their stamina, skill and luck at hunting.”

The Waxy Monkey Leaf Frog naturally produces a noxious secretion as a defense mechanism—the so-called “frog venom” is a natural source of dermorphin, which suppresses pain and exhaustion in horses. Inexpensive, accessible and more potent than morphine, dermorphin’s high-abuse potential led to its classification as a Class 1 prohibited substance in racehorses.

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http://ethnoground.blogspot.com


Shepard added that more than 20 patents have been registered for various compounds derived from venoms pro-duced by Phyllomedusa frogs, including dermorphin. it’s no longer necessary to antagonize frogs to obtain the drug, though; dermorphin has been synthesized and is readily available through at least a half-dozen online sources. of a “natural dermorphin herbal blend,” one online distributor’s advertising notes, “it definitely packs a punch,” then adds somewhat optimistically that buyers must agree to use the drug only for research.

Administered to racehorses, dermorphin produces effects similar to those reported in indigenous hunters in South America. For horse racing, that’s the problem.

Veterinarian and researcher thomas tobin, D.V.M., MSc, Ph.D., MRCVS, has worked as a toxicologist and pharmacologist in the University of Kentucky’s Department of Veterinary Science for some 40 years. He also has been at the forefront of much of the research into the effects and detection of performance-enhancing drugs in horses.

“Dermorphin does two things when it is injected into a horse,” tobin said. “it suppresses the horse’s sensitivity to pain, and it suppresses exhaustion at the end of a race. it makes a horse want to run. the horse will have more stamina at the end of a race than you’d expect.”

Relatively inexpensive and accessible, and many times more potent than morphine, dermophin has an extremely

Dermorphin does two things when it is injected into a horse. It suppresses the horse’s sensitivity to pain, and it suppresses exhaustion at the end of a race.

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high abuse potential, which led to the drug’s designation as a Class 1 prohibited substance by the Association of Racing Commissioners international in July 2011. Progressively, the classification came months before there was a reliable test to detect the drug in a horse’s system.

ARCi classification places medications in one of five categories. Class 1, tobin explains, is for stimulants and depressants with two principal characteristics: no clear-cut veterinary medical use coupled with a high probability of affecting the performance of a racehorse. About 100 drugs are on the Class 1 list, including a variety of opi-ates, opium derivatives, synthetic opioids and psychoactive drugs, amphetamines and amphetamine-like drugs, their

metabolites and related medications. Many, but not all, of these medications also fall under Drug Enforcement Agency control. Dermorphin, at the present time, does not.

Recommended minimum penalties for a Class 1 viola-tion by a trainer include a one-year suspension and a fine of $10,000 (or 10 percent of the total purse) for the first offense, a three-year suspension and a fine of $25,000 (or 25 percent of the total purse) for the second, and a five-year suspension and fine of $50,000 (or 50 percent of the total purse) for the third violation.

the classification system is designed to “communicate the severity of medication infractions” to track stewards and other racing officials, tobin says, from Class 1 (the most

According to 2010 figures from the Association of Racing Commissioners International, less than one-half of one percent of tested samples from U.S. racehorses were positive—and of that, an even smaller amount were positive for performance-enhancing medications. To the general public, however, a positive is a positive and even one medicated racehorse is too many.

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serious) to Class 5 (the least serious). While Class 1 drugs have no generally accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse, Class 5 medications include recognized thera-peutic drugs that are subject to established concentration limits.

A zero-tolerance policy exists for Class 1 medications, such as dermorphin, tobin says, and which places them squarely in the sights of racing chemists.

Rumors & Realityit’s impossible to know with certainty when dermorphin

made its way from the research laboratory to the back-stretch. An educated guess, based on when rumors of a new drug started to surface, would be sometime in the last two to three years. How it happened also is a mystery.

“there were rumblings on the backstretch about a new drug,” explained Dionne Benson, D.V.M., executive direc-tor and chief operating officer of the Racing Medication and testing Consortium. “in cases like this one, our best allies often are the horsemen. they want a level playing field, and they are the first to complain if someone is cheating. the vast majority of trainers don’t want anything to do with prohibited medica-tions. they want to win on the merits of their horses, not the merits of an illegal drug.”

Based in lexington, Kentucky, the RMtC came into being more than a decade ago in response to a closed-door meeting of industry groups at the American Association of Equine Practitioners’ Racehorse Medication Summit.

the RMtC mission is a broad one: to “develop and promote uniform rules, policies and testing standards at the national level; coordinate research and educational programs that seek to ensure the integrity of racing and the health and welfare of racehorses and participants; and to protect the interests of the racing public.” in medication leapfrog, Benson and her colleagues have their hands full.

Rumors of a powerful new performance-enhancing drug might start the investigative ball rolling, assuming that there is enough social pressure to act and sufficient funds for research. Even under the best of conditions, however, suspecting that some trainers are using a drug and actually identifying the substance in a post-race urine or blood test with enough certainty to stand up in court are two very dif-ferent things.

A mass spectrometer is one of the pieces of equipment used in drug testing to sort out the substances that should

be in a test sample from those that should not. Sketching on a legal pad, Benson drew a straight line across the page, with a sharp and narrow peak in the middle. the peak indi-cates that something is in the sample, she said, but without a standard for reference and comparison, it’s impossible to identify the substance as either naturally occurring or prohibited.

“the first real breakthrough in the investigation came when a syringe was confiscated by a regulatory official,” Benson explained. “the compound in the syringe was iden-tified as dermorphin.”

Putting a name to the mystery drug known as “frog venom” or “frog juice” was the first step toward developing a reliable test for the drug. next was determining how to recognize the substance or its residue in a urine or blood sample. Chemical processes in a horse’s body might alter the characteristics of the drug, for example, and the mass spectrometer spike indicating pure dermorphin might look

different than the spike in a post-race sample that shows the pre-race administration of the drug.

industrial laboratories in Denver was the first testing facility to develop a reliable post-race test for dermor-phin. the laboratory con-ducts drug testing for racing commissions in five states and also shared the test with a number of other laborato-ries across the country. test-ing for dermorphin quickly became a collaborative effort that Benson praised for its effectiveness.

the new test was imple-mented in April 2012, and the first positives for dermor-phin showed up a month later. By mid-June, The New York Times reported that at least 30 horses racing in four states had tested positive for dermorphin.

Around the same time—June 19—the RMtC issued a “Dermorphin Bulletin” alerting the nation’s racing commis-sioners about the drug. the decision by ARCi 11 months earlier to classify dermorphin as a Class 1 prohibited drug, even before a test had been developed, had been prophetic.

Zoomin to the ForefrontRuidoso Downs in new Mexico opened its 2012 summer

season on May 25 with a marathon 25-race card, all of the day’s sprints serving as qualifying trials for Quarter Horses being pointed for the Ruidoso Futurity. Horses with the 10 fastest times in the 350-yard trials qualified for the Futurity, which ran two weeks later for a $600,000 purse.

nearly one-third of the 25 winners—eight 2-year-olds in all—tested positive for dermorphin. of the eight, five were

The vast majority of trainers don’t want anything to do with prohibited medications. They want to win on the merits of their horses, not the merits of an illegal drug.

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trained by one man: prominent Quarter Horse conditioner Jeffrey Heath Reed. Reed’s only runner to qualify for the Ruidoso Futurity was Jess A Zoomin (QH), whose final time of :17.97 was the 10th fastest of the trials; he ultimately ran sixth in the futurity.

two months later, Jess A Zoomin won his trial for the All American Futurity, posting the second-fastest qualify-ing time. Despite his stellar performance, Jess A Zoomin didn’t make it to the All American Futurity. the gelding broke down after crossing the finish line first in the trial, and he was euthanized. The New York Times sensationalized the story with the headline “Horse Given Painkiller Breaks Down at new Mexico Racetrack.”

Why Reed still was saddling runners two months after Jess A Zoomin and four other horses in his care tested posi-tive for dermorphin is one of the least understood—but most necessary—protections for trainers in the drug-testing war. Reed asked to have the positive tests on his horses veri-fied by a second laboratory, a right guaranteed an accused trainer by the rules of racing in new Mexico and just about everywhere else, and any suspensions were delayed pending the second round of tests.

Four months after five of his Ruidoso Futurity trial runners won with the help of dermorphin, Reed finally was sanctioned by new

Mexico racing officials. He was suspended for a total of 21 years and fined $23,000 and loss of purse money. the sanctions were based on four con-firmed dermorphin violations (a fifth was dismissed due to problems with labeling on one of the test samples) and two violations for stanozolol, an anabolic steroid.

Suspensions handed down by racing commissioners in one state nearly always are recognized by officials in other jurisdictions, but court action can negate, or at least postpone, effective punishment. on october 19, Carl J. Butkus, a judge in new Mexico’s Second Judicial District Court, issued a temporary restraining order and an injunc-tion against the new Mexico Racing Commission, blocking enforcement of the penalties against Reed. other trainers who received dermorphin suspensions in new Mexico were granted similar restraining orders and injunctions. Court orders aside, though, it was clear that Reed was not wel-come at new Mexico tracks.

By mid-october, Reed was training at Will Rogers Downs near Claremore, oklahoma. Ray Paulick of the Pau-lick Report showed up at Will Rogers Downs on october 26, incredulous that Reed still was saddling horses after the new Mexico suspensions—watch a video report of Paulick’s oklahoma investigation.

on March 4, 2013, oklahoma County District Judge Bill Graves denied a legal bid by Reed and three other train-ers challenging a decision barring them from Remington

Park. noting that the decision was based “in great part on the problems [the trainers] have encountered at Remington Park or other race tracks,” Judge Graves explained that track officials had just cause to exclude Reed and the others.

Guilty of multiple dermorphin violations on the same day, Reed could serve as poster child for legislators demand-ing federal intervention to solve racing’s drug problem. At a mid-July 2012 hearing conducted by the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and transportation, a succession of witnesses called for stiffer penalties for trainers using potent drugs like dermorphin.

During the hearing, Standardbred track owner Jeffrey Gural said suspensions and fines weren’t a strong enough deterrent. He recommended that trainers using illegal drugs should be arrested instead. Barry irwin, whose team Valor international campaigned 2011 Kentucky Derby winner Animal Kingdom, said state officials need help from federal agencies, including the Drug Enforcement Agency and the Federal Bureau of investigation.

“State racing commissions, with few exceptions, do a lousy job of identifying cheaters, investigating them and

adjudicating them,” irwin said. “Reasons include lack of will, lack of sufficient funding, lack of qualified personnel and failure to prevail in court against cheaters. So cheaters cheat, sometimes they get caught, but too many that do wriggle off the hook.”

Federal intervention could establish uniform rules for all racing states. Uniformity across the board is a goal that nearly everyone agrees is a good idea, but it doesn’t appear to be something that racing can manage by itself. Without a national governing body with real authority to take action, it’s likely that intermural squabbling among the various fac-tions in racing will continue to dominate the uniform rules argument.

Beyond a standard rule structure, however, it isn’t at all clear what federal involvement in racing would accomplish. there is no reason to think, for example, that federal agents could have done a better job of identifying dermorphin after the rumors surfaced, developing a reliable test or pun-ishing the offenders.

By the end of 2012 and into 2013, it was clear that the dermorphin tide had turned.

in new Mexico, Carlos Sedillo, who had two of his Ruid-oso Futurity trial winners test positive for dermorphin, was suspended for 10 years and fined $10,000 in late September


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uQP1MM4V7NI




2012. John Bassett received similar penalties for two der-morphin positives from the trials.

in oklahoma, Roberto Sanchez-Munoz was suspended for 100 years and fined $100,000 in January 2013 after 10 of his horses tested positive for dermorphin at Remington Park. the oklahoma Racing Commission ordered Sanchez-Munoz to serve 20 years, with the remaining 80 years suspended.

in nebraska, owner-trainer Kim Veerhusen was sus-pended for two years and fined $1,000 in February 2013 for a single dermorphin positive.

in louisiana, the first round of dermorphin cases resulted in suspensions and fines for eight trainers in September 2012. Some of the accused trainers cooper-ated with the investigation in return for reduced pen-alties, including Anthony Agilar, who reportedly implicated a local vet-erinarian, and lamont Keith Charles, who gave a syringe believed to contain dermorphin to authorities. During an interview with local television station KAtC, both Agilar and Charles tried to shift blame for the drug positives to their veterinarian.

“i questioned him probably three or four times, and he told me not to worry, that it was a natural supplement,” Agilar said. “Come to find out it’s a Class 1 narcotic.”

the two dermorphin positives were the first drug viola-tions for Agilar, who has trained for 10 years. Charles, who used the same veterinarian as Agilar, also blamed the vet.

“the first thing i did was call the vet, and he told me there’s no way that’s possible. i’ve been dealing with it ever since,” Charles said. “it’s not like i was going out on the street trying to buy stuff. the vet was giving medicine. i have no control over what he puts in that syringe.”

Charles added that he would never do anything to endan-ger his son, who rides races for the trainer. Each injection, which Agilar and Charles say were given one hour before races, cost $103.

the good guys are winning the dermorphin skirmish, but the drug war continues.

“Putting horses at risk and mistreating them by juicing them with drugs is no way for states to line their coffers, for racetracks to improve their bottom line or for trainers to make a better living,” irwin told the Congressional com-mittee. “We need to stop drugging racehorses in order to make them the beast of burden that will carry our industry on its back. We should be celebrating this glorious athlete, not trashing it.”

State of the GameWhen The Blood-Horse magazine asked a group of

experts to select the most important events in racing during the 20th century, the advent of drug testing came in 37th among the top 100. the ranking is something of a puzzle because development of a workable program to help safeguard the integrity of horse racing arguably should sit atop the list. that it does not might reflect the industry’s mixed feelings about drug testing, recognizing

the necessity of a compre-hensive testing program while wishing racing’s drug problem would just go away.

that won’t happen, at least as long as there are unscrupulous trainers looking for any edge in a race, but the situation is improving. it’s unrealistic to expect testers ever to be able to anticipate the use of a new drug. As technology becomes more sophisticated, however, the window of opportunity when trainers can use a performance-enhancing

drug without fear of getting caught is shrinking.“the period of time between rumors of a prohibited

drug and the development of a reliable test is getting shorter and shorter,” tobin said. Better testing is cutting into the “free period” when a prohibited drug can be used with impunity.

Benson agrees.“Racing has a public relations problem when it comes to

medication. the labs generally do a good job and the test-ing program works better than people realize. there are not very many positives of any kind, and most of those are for nSAiDs (non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs) and furosemide. there will be new challenges and we always need to be looking for new drugs, but we’re getting better all the time.”

Milton C. Toby is a special contributor for Paint Horse Racing. To comment on this article, email [email protected].

The good guys have won the dermorphin skirmish, but the drug war continues at the track. Though it might be impossible to circumvent unscrupulous trainers’ use of performance-enhancing drugs completely, the window between rumors of prohibited drug use and the development of reliable tests is shrinking.

The period of time between rumors of a prohibited drug and the development of a reliable test is getting shorter and shorter.

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