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Originally Posted by Cannon Shell
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.
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Well, my intention in that post wasn't to assert that Pletcher definitively used local anesthetics to block horses. I was just pointing out that, regardless of it being outdated, the NY rule was in a affect and he violated it. Hence the mepivicaine level, however minute, was "significant". Not significant (perhaps) in terms of performance enhancement, but certainly significant in terms of post-race testing.
My second point was that, while a legal and therapeutic medication, local anesthetics such as mepivicaine and procaine can alter soundness dramatically in a short time frame (whether or not no one in their right mind would use them) and thus, IMO, positives of that nature are not on par with things like tranquilizers or anti-inflammatories or muscle relaxants that are more obvious management snafu's.
Just for the record, whoever I was responding to originally did bring up a good point, that there is a huge difference between a positive for a therapeutic medication and one for an altogether illegal medication. All positives are not created equal, and the public should be aware of this. At the same time, however, I don't think that all therapeutic positives are necessarily created equal, either.