ARCI continues to beat anti-medication drum

[Kasept]

Call for Phase Out of Drugs

NEW ORLEANS - Both the outgoing and incoming Chairmen of RCI challenged the racing industry and member regulators to embrace a strategy to phase out drugs and medication in horse racing. Outgoing RCI Chair, Dan Hartman of the Colorado Racing Commission, said that “a five-year phase out is reasonable to bring North American racing policies in line with what is going on in other parts of the world like Europe and Hong Kong.” Hartman said that a phased approach would give horsemen and owners sufficient time to adjust to the change.

RCI’s new Chair, William Koester, Chairman of the Ohio State Racing Commission, said, “Today over 99% of Thoroughbred racehorses and 70% of Standardbred racehorses have a needle stuck in them 4 hours before a race. That just does not pass the smell test with the public or anyone else except horse trainers who think it necessary to win a race. I'm sure the decision makers at the time meant well when these drugs were permitted, however this decision has forced our jurisdictions to juggle threshold levels as horseman become more desperate to win races and has given horse racing a black eye.”

These comments mark a major departure from regulatory policy that has been based on allowing traces of medication and a move toward enacting a policy of zero tolerance. RCI President Ed Martin said the membership gathering in New Orleans last week was largely receptive to a major overhaul of medication policies. Mr. Koester noted that “change is inevitable” and called for the association “to take the moral high ground and implement drug rules that mirror the racing in Australia, Dubai, Europe, Hong Kong, and even Russia.”

“If you follow horse racing, you probably heard of the names Well Armed, Curlin, Invasor, Roses in May, Pleasantly Perfect, Captain Steve, Silver Charm. and Cigar. Eight of the last sixteen winners of the Dubai Cup were from North America and ran drug free. It can be done,” Koester said.

In recent years RCI has based its medication policies largely on recommendations from the Racing Medication and Testing Consortium (RMTC). A shift toward “zero tolerance” would mark a departure from that practice and a major change for trainers. Hartman concluded his remarks by telling the RCI members, “we regulators are the only voice in racing for the animals and betting public. It’s time we raise the bar in service to both.”

[The Indomitable DrugS]

Why bother? Let them "medicate" away.

It's what the horsemen want - and though it makes handicapping a little perverted sometime ... it shouldn't really bother horseplayers.

[Cannon Shell]

This is a joke which is to be expected from this bunch of clowns. Illegal drugs are already supposed to be banned and calling for zero tolerance for legal ones under the current system basically is entrapment since no one will give us accurate withdrawal times.

Look at how well the steroids ban has worked out...

[Cannon Shell]

Originally Posted by The Indomitable DrugS

Why bother? Let them "medicate" away.

It's what the horsemen want - and though it makes handicapping a little perverted sometime ... it shouldn't really bother horseplayers.

I thought they wanted to phase you out...

[randallscott35]

"Hay oats water

Hay Oats Water"

[Cannon Shell]

Originally Posted by randallscott35

"Hay oats water

Hay Oats Water"

LOL

no such thing

[The Indomitable DrugS]

Considering the many tens to probably even hundreds of hours I spent this winter studying trainer stats and tendencies preparing for the spring and summer meets ... I hope not a single rule is changed anywhere ... and every trainer runs on the same stuff they've been running on.

Hopefully no one finds a new supply of goodies - or has his old supply cut-off.

[Cannon Shell]

Originally Posted by The Indomitable DrugS

Considering the many tens to probably even hundreds of hours I spent this winter studying trainer stats and tendencies preparing for the spring and summer meets ... I hope not a single rule is changed anywhere ... and every trainer runs on the same stuff they've been running on.

Hopefully no one finds a new supply of goodies - or has his old supply cut-off.

I guess what people don't seem to understand is that "goodies" are not going to be effected especially since we will now be spending more time and funds chasing after medications that are now legal. Simply gives the cheaters a bigger advantage.

So basically they're trying to take jobs away during a recession. These people should be sent to Gitmo.

[The Indomitable DrugS]

Originally Posted by Cannon Shell

I guess what people don't seem to understand is that "goodies" are not going to be effected especially since we will now be spending more time and funds chasing after medications that are now legal. Simply gives the cheaters a bigger advantage.

I think I get what you're saying ... basically - the stuff that makes a difference is the stuff that isn't legal right now anyway and can't be easily detected or detected at all.

When they say....

“we regulators are the only voice in racing for the animals and betting public. It’s time we raise the bar in service to both.”

They certainly aren't doing any favors to the betting public. If they want to do favors for both the betting public and the industry as a whole ... everything starts and ends with lowering takeout in a healthy fashion.

As for them being "the only voice of the animals" .... animals can't talk. The animals are in it to get the vets who medicate them rich - give a whole bunch of people jobs - and entertain fans, bettors, and owners.

[Kasept]

The Jockey Club Supports RCI Medication Plan
By Blood-Horse Staff

Ogden Mills Phipps, the chairman of The Jockey Club, said April 11 the organization supports the recent Association of Racing Commissioners International initiative to formulate a plan that would eliminate the use of medication in horses competing in races.

“We have often voiced concern and we sincerely believe that the overuse of medication endangers our human and equine athletes, threatens the integrity of our sport and erodes consumer confidence in our game,” Phipps said in a statement released by The Jockey Club. “There is a growing and correct perception that horses in this country are over-medicated.

[horseofcourse]

What does "drug-free" actually mean? I'm actually being serious.

[Cannon Shell]

Originally Posted by horseofcourse

What does "drug-free" actually mean? I'm actually being serious.

They have no idea. I have no idea. No one seems to have any idea. But they sure look like they are doing something.


I have asked some of the people who actually believe that if horse racing is "drug free" that handle will spike and more people will come to the races how to define "drug free". Mostly they have no real plan and have zero idea that the impact of what they are proposing will make it more expensive to own horses and make horses form more erratic. In a time when finding owners able/willing to lose money is growing increasingly more difficult, getting the answer "if horses need drugs to race they shouldn't be racing" is hard to digest when you ask exactly what we are supposed to do when horses have ailments. Generally the people who are pushing this agenda aren't horse owners and a lot of them dont bet either. The typical anti-medication person:
Doesn't own racehorses
Wants to eliminate 2 year old racing
Wants to eliminate whips
Wants polytracks/artificial surfaces
Hates "juice" trainers yet refuses to understand that this agenda actually helps them
Thinks that horses are running too much
Believes that breeders/owners are all rich
Think foreign racing is pristine simply looking past the fact the most blatantly illegal drugs are not created in America
Thinks Zenyatta was just the greatest horse ever

What most people don't understand because it is a little too complicated for them and people want to believe what they want to believe is that most of the drug positives that we hear about have no effect on the performance of the horse in question. And that the level of detection at which a positive is called at rarely is at a level where the horse would be of any benefit, it is usually just an arbitrary number tossed out by the chemists and adopted by the commissions. "Zero Tolerance" is simply a continuation of this piss poor system which routinely causes bad PR for nothing and allows the 42% trainers a complete free hand as the commissions and labs spend most of the time and effort (and money) looking under rocks for moss we already know is growing.

[PatCummings]

Originally Posted by Cannon Shell

The typical anti-medication person:
Doesn't own racehorses CORRECT
Wants to eliminate 2 year old racing Love 2yo racing
Wants to eliminate whips That would be foolish
Wants polytracks/artificial surfaces No preference
Hates "juice" trainers yet refuses to understand that this agenda actually helps them Hate seeing trainers who go from 5% to 40% and are about 65% off the claim and when claimed from, runners come back with 2% winners...
Thinks that horses are running too much Hell no, they aren't running enough
Believes that breeders/owners are all rich Only a minority
Think foreign racing is pristine simply looking past the fact the most blatantly illegal drugs are not created in America This is a disconnected statement, but I do find foreign racing generally cleaner than American racing, but am not benign to the fact that stuff is everywhere
Thinks Zenyatta was just the greatest horse ever Anyone who believes this is a fool

So - now that that is out of the way...

I'm anti-medication for one reason, and one reason alone...I believe (granted, it is an opinion and an opinion backed in NO DISCERNABLE FACT)...permissive medication policies such as those in the US weaken the breed, which in turn, weakens the sport. That's all.

[Cannon Shell]

Originally Posted by PatCummings

So - now that that is out of the way...

I'm anti-medication for one reason, and one reason alone...I believe (granted, it is an opinion and an opinion backed in NO DISCERNABLE FACT)...permissive medication policies such as those in the US weaken the breed, which in turn, weakens the sport. That's all.

So why not capitalize on this, import a bunch of foreign horses with no american breeding influences and dominate the weakened horses?

[alysheba4]

Originally Posted by Cannon Shell

I guess what people don't seem to understand is that "goodies" are not going to be effected especially since we will now be spending more time and funds chasing after medications that are now legal. Simply gives the cheaters a bigger advantage.

....its a complete cluster fk.