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Originally Posted by CSC
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.
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Great example. Let's compare Asmussen's positive for mepivicaine to Pletchers. Asmussens' has to be (based upon the above info) at least 750 nanograms per ml, but probably a bit higher. But we'll give him the minimum it could be as 750 ng/ml.
Asmussen: 750 ng/ml or higher
Pletcher: 1.6 ng/ml
The allowable level of mepivicaine in California (yes, there are allowable levels that can be found post-raceday test, and they follow what the RMTC wants) is up to
10 nanograms per ml
So again, let's look at who the "horse dopers with mepivicaine" are:
Asmussen horse: 750 ng/ml or higher
Pletcher horse: 1.6 ng/ml
Allowable level in CA and RMTC: 10 ng/ml
No way will I call Pletcher a "horse doper" with mepivicaine based upon the above facts.
As to what the trainers have to deal with - the inconsistency - until the RMTC standards are adopted nationally, look at the following examples:
Mepivicaine allowable dose may be given:
CA: 50 milligrams subcutaneously 96 hours ( 4 days) before post time
FL: 200 milligrams subcutaneously 168 hours (7 days) before post time
MD: no specified dose or route, withdrawal 5 to 7 days
KY: no specified dose or route, withdrawal 96 hours (4 days)
Am I gonna jump on a trainer for a mepivicaine positive of 1.6 ng/ml, when the RMTC allows up to 10 ng/ml to be found race day? No.
Do I think differently of Pletcher's mepivicaine positive, compared to Asmussens? Absolutely.