Come to think of it, that might be the reason I almost never sleep.

Do you have any recommendations to help me sleep? I'm trying to figure out which sleep aid would work best for me.

She'd be with me.

In TAP's case we should not go there....

Not to change the subject but frankly I am surprised by the few here that are going to such great lengths in defending him, there are alot of astute knowledgeble minds that already have brought up great examples of why they believe not all was on the up and up with his stable. You have to be blind to not believe it was possible. I have no problem saying it is my alledged belief that Todd was a juicer, I have very little doubts about this fact.

So basically, what you're saying is that a guy who's had two seperate horses (that won or placed in races) with significant levels of local anesthetic in their systems during the immediate post-race period looks rosier than a guy who had an unused vial of illegal medication sitting in a refridgerator.

A 1.6 nanogram mepivacaine positive - when most states have threshold levels much higher than that - is a "significant level?"

I understand the desire to catch cheaters. I do not understand the mindset that wants to see trainers get "gotcha'd" for using legal medication that jurisdictions tell them they can use, at days out from races that jurisdictions tell them they can use it.

This mindset does more damage, re: drug use, to racing than anything else. Most - so they say, virtually all - positives involve nothing but trivial overages of routine, legal medication. The outside world, which hears only that TRAINER X HAS DRUG POSITIVE (not that trainer x used a legal medication several days, or even weeks, ago, often following the official withdrawal recommendations), can only assume that said positive means that trainer x intentionally gave an performance-affecting medication right before the race for nefarious reasons or else they wouldn't be publicising and punishing him for it. Racing needs to figure out how to handle legal medications in a way that doesn't allow abuse but also doesn't criminalize trainers for using them. How it's handled now is not accomplishing that.

In a word, yes. What you neglected to mention when bringing up the fact that other states allow for threshold levels of mepivacaine was that New York, at the time, did not allow for any level of mepivacaine. Thus, its not a valid comparison. Even a minor trace of mepivacaine proved that the horse was administered the drug in an illegal fashion (within 7 days of the race) as far as the State of New York was concerned (regardless of whether it was used for therapeutic or nefarious reasons).

Mepivacaine is a local anesthetic. While it has therapeutic uses as far as lameness diagnosis and minor surgery goes, it has no business being in a racehorse's system on raceday.

The fact that Pletcher has recently been handed a second violation for another local anesthetic (I realize many here are trying to sugar coat it by calling it an "antibiotic" positive--but Wait A While tested positive for procaine) makes things look anything but rosy. At best the repeat offense makes him look careless, and at worse it makes him look like he's trying to toe the line with what he can "get away" with.

How many nanograms would it take to enhance performance?

Mepivacaine basically allows a horse to run his/her heart out because it dulls any pain to a horse. You can imagine the effect this would have on a horse's performance. Notable trainer's to have tested positive for having Mepivacaine in their horses are Dutrow, Mullins, Asmussen, and Pletcher. The how many nanograms is a mute issue if you ask me, the question should be why was it in a horse's system in the first place, the answer to me is obvious if you see what the common trait of the vast majority of these trainers horses strengths are/were. There's a common thread.

Good post.

Haven't been following this little episode, but it's always great fun watching Pletch twist in the wind.






Would love to see some deranged board member (FGFan perhaps ... lol) give Pletch a wedgie in that Toga winner's circle one of these summers.

Actually the NY rule was changed because the rules that were in effect before were for testing procedures that were dated. The state of New York's rules are the problem in this case hence the change. No one would try to use mepivacaine as a block in a racehorse any more than you would down a 6 pack while waiting in line at a police checkpoint. The levels ARE insignifigant at a certain point. Just about anything can be found in a horses system if you test at low enough levels.

Procaine penn was a bad choice of medications and despite the vet and Pletchers assertions they should have known better. But again no one would use procaine in the manner that ypu suggest he may have. it would be like trying to sneak a rifle through airline security especially at the BC where you know that the testing is going to be very thorough.

Pletcher surely is guilty of violations of the rules but these are not smoking guns that people want them to be. Check out what happened to Noel Hickey in Chicago a few years back to really learn how people cheat.

if Mepivacaine is allowed at some level, it isn't a mute point. if it doesn't actually enhance performance with levels so low you have to go nano to even find it...

though I have never tried the stuff I imagine a nanogram of cocaine won't get you high but cocaine isn't allowed at all.

I remember Brass Hat lost his placing at Dubai because they found something in his system they said he could have.

I have a different metabolism than you and I imagine horses can differ. I'm just saying I don't know if the intent was to cheat or they are clueless. I'm not pro-drug but I imagine it is like Lasix. No one wants to find out on race day that they should have used it. (like EVERYONE else)

There is virtually no medication that could effect performance at the nanogram level. The point of the exercise is dectecting the drug to attempt to determine if the drug was given after the allowed time frame. There is virtually no research done to reach these levels. Often they are randomly determined by the lab doing the testing in conjunction with the state doing the testing. One of the reasons that the RMTC was a good idea is to get all the states to come to grips with having the same testing levels and hopefully one day they will actually determine the levels that a drug can actually still have an effect and come up with an adequate withdrawl time so that we dont have all the gray areas that we currently still have.

ok, What did Noel Hickey do?
What exactly do I need to search on. If I just put in Chicago and cheater - the search engine will never stop finding stories

mepivicaine is regularly used to try to determine where the point of unsoundness. It is hardly a sinister drug unless it was given at high doese close to the race. A few hours after it is given the horse will go back to being unsound. Remember that the testing procedure is strictly a detection device, not a performance enhancement issue.

Mepivacaine is allowed to be in a horses system on race day.

Yes, nanograms matter.

There are dosages at which drugs can influence or affect performance, and dosages at which that is impossible. That is the whole point.

A drug positive is an actionable offense, indeed, but not all drug positives are proof of attempting to influence a horses performance.

I'm curious Chuck what if a trainer is using masking agents such as 'lidocaine', is it possible that would that reduce traces of mepivacaine or other drugs. Everyone seems to be so concerned about the dosage, we tend to neglect the drugs that are not detected.

I got this information from from the Racing Medication and Testing Consortium.

The drug, mepivacaine, is banned on race day in every jurisdiction in the country, a so-called Class 2 drug with a high potential to enhance performance because it can deaden pain in a horse's legs. The concentration found in No End in Sight's postrace tests was powerful - 750 times higher than another recent positive for mepivacaine - and resulted in a six-month suspension for Steve Asmussen, one of the country's most prolific and successful trainers and runner-up the last two years in voting for the Eclipse Award as top trainer.

lidocaine is in the same family of drugs and would cause a positive test as well, it wouldn't be used as a masking agent.