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Originally Posted by Riot
Caffeine can be a metabolite of theophylline (given for breathing problems), given outright by itself, or an environmental contaminant.
Interestingly, I couldn't find caffeine by itself in the RMTC model rules (although theophylline is there).
I did find this (I highlighted the take-home):
Journal of applied toxicology :
Effects of caffeine on locomotor activity of horses: determination of the no-effect threshold J Appl Toxicol. 2001 May-Jun;21(3):229-34.
Abstract
Caffeine is the legal stimulant consumed most extensively by the human world population and may be found eventually in the urine and/or blood of race horses. The fact that caffeine is in foods led us to determine the highest no-effect dose (HNED) of caffeine on the spontaneous locomotor activity of horses and then to quantify this substance in urine until it disappeared.
We built two behavioural stalls equipped with juxtaposed photoelectric sensors that emit infrared beams that divide the stall into nine sectors in a 'tic-tac-toe' fashion. Each time a beam was interrupted by a leg of the horse, a pulse was generated; the pulses were counted at 5-min intervals and stored by a microcomputer. Environmental effects were minimized by installing exhaust fans producing white noise that obscured outside sounds. One-way observation windows prevented the animals from seeing outside. The sensors were turned on 45 min before drug administration (saline control or caffeine).
The animals were observed for up to 8 h after i.v. administration of 2.0, 2.5, 3.0 or 5.0 mg caffeine kg(-1).
The HNED of caffeine for stimulation of the spontaneous locomotor activity of horses was 2.0 mg kg(-1).
The quantification of caffeine in urine and plasma samples was done by gradient HPLC with UV detection. The no-effect threshold should not be greater than 2.0 microg caffeine ml(-1) plasma or 5.0 microg caffeine ml(-1) urine.
The horse in question had 45 nanograms of caffeine in the blood (plasma) which is indeed alot less than 2 micrograms, so you're right, there was probably no effective stimulation of the horse whatsoever.
Edit: And again, this begs the question of what limits do we put on drugs found on raceday, considering that testing is so precise and can detect incredibly small amounts of drugs.
The easiest answer is to say, "nothing should be found" - but then you get innocent positives.
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This is a tricky one---a positive is a positive ... I am no scientist---and thanks for the abstract--what I did know was that the teeny amount of caffeine probably meant nothing to the horse as any kind of stimulant.
What I didn't know was either the allowable ( if applicable ) proportions of the substance in proportion to the sample size, OR just the baseline allowable figure , which you provided.
An incredibly small amount of caffeine---in this case was found----shows the test are accurate. Great.
Doesn't mean that the horse couldn't have licked Coca Cola from a groom's hand the day before, and that is where the lawyer is probably going here .
I am inclined to think that with all the commonly used and potential exotic stimulants out there, that this was no hopping ...