Zilpaterol positives in International poster child of perfection Hong Kong

[Kasept]

More International myth-busting..

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/...ng/707758.html

HONG KONG: Seventeen horses from the stables of three Hong Kong trainers have tested positive for the banned drug zilpaterol, a substance used to produce muscle growth in livestock, the Hong Kong Jockey Club said on Wednesday.

Thirteen of the horses have been withdrawn from Wednesday's public holiday races following testing that began earlier this week, the city's racing authority said.

"Seventeen horses have been found to have the substance," Hong Kong Jockey Club spokeswoman Carmen Lok told AFP.

The discovery follows a series of doping scandals in Britain involving identities including Godolphin trainer Mahmood al-Zarooni who was handed an eight-year ban in April for using prohibited steroids on 11 horses.

The Jockey Club said that 12 of the horses were trained by Ricky Yiu, and the South China Morning Post daily said the remainder were trained by Paul O'Sullivan and Me Tsui Yu-sak.

The Jockey Club announced the initial positive tests on the Yiu-trained horses in a statement on Tuesday and said tests are under way to identify the source of the substance and determine if feed products had been contaminated.

[asudevil]

Thought it only happens here

[PatCummings]

Please. There is no myth-busting here. If this doesn't go part of the way to prove just how far advanced Hong Kong testing, turnaround, and oversight is, I don't know what would.

Below is an HKJC report from June 12 (today)...if ONLY the rest of the world was as advanced, detailed, and forthright

http://www.hkjc.com/english/corporat...061201931.html

After first learning on 10 June that urine samples obtained from four horses trained by Mr P F Yiu, which raced at the Sha Tin and Happy Valley racemeetings on 2 and 5 June, respectively, had shown the presence of a prohibited substance, the Club has conducted a holistic investigation and has accelerated testing procedures to better understand the extent of the problem. In doing so, it was announced yesterday that urine samples from further eight horses trained by Mr Yiu, which were declared for today’s racemeeting, had also been found to contain the same prohibited substance. The prohibited substance concerned is Zilpaterol.

Dr T S M Wan, the Club’s Head of Racing Laboratory revealed late yesterday that the analysis of a certain registered feed product used by Mr Yiu and a number of other Trainers had been found to contain Zilpaterol which is not a listed ingredient of that product. Further, it was announced that in order to safeguard the interests of the Trainers concerned, their Owners and the racing public, a considerable number of urine samples were being obtained from horses in the care of these Trainers and declared to race at the Sha Tin racemeeting today. The relevant registered feed product was first imported by the Club into Hong Kong in January 2009 and has been used by Trainers since that time on a consistent basis without incident.

The ongoing investigation revealed today that a further product is likely to contain the same prohibited substance. In all, six horses were withdrawn today, including one as a precautionary measure, as it was unable to produce a urine sample this morning for testing.The causes of the recent incidents of contaminated feed, resulting in the withdrawal of runners, remains under investigation and no blame has been attributed.

The Club will work diligently to limit the extent of the current problem and explore all avenues to enhance quality control measures. There have been ongoing efforts to do so and these efforts will continue as a matter of high priority.

The Club will contact the manufacturers of the relevant feed products as a priority to notify them of developments in respect of the products. The Club will continue its investigations into all of these matters and will continue to sample horses in the care of a number of Trainers and in particular those horses which are entered for the Sha Tin racemeeting to be conducted this coming Sunday, 16 June.

A meeting will be scheduled with Trainers tomorrow to communicate immediate measures to best contain and minimise the problem from re-occurring in the future.

The Club routinely takes samples from all feeds, feed additives and supplements and screens them for the presence of prohibited substances. There are nearly 200 products regularly sampled and tested by the Club's Racing Laboratory, which has successfully identified contaminated feed and prevented a number of unwanted incidents over the last 10 years.

Looking at other racing jurisdictions the Club is thought to be unique in providing such a service on this scale. There are limits, however, to this testing regime due to the high volume of products and the impossibility to guarantee absence of contamination from batch-to-batch and within-batch variations of feed products.

Early this morning, Dr Wan informed the Stewards that urine samples taken yesterday from the following horses, trained by Mr P O’Sullivan, had shown the presence of Zilpaterol:-

Race 3: HAPPY WISDOM
Race 7: GRAND CHAMPION
Race 9: HOLYANGELHOLY

Dr Wan subsequently advised the Stewards that further pre-race urine samples obtained early this morning and which were analysed for the presence of Zilpaterol had shown the presence of that substance. Mr O’Sullivan was interviewed by the Stewards and advised of the findings. Having received the preliminary findings of Dr Wan in respect of the samples obtained from horses trained by him, Mr O’Sullivan requested for each of the 3 horses to be withdrawn from their respective racing events and accordingly the Stewards ordered the withdrawal of HAPPY WISDOM, GRAND CHAMPION and HOLYANGELHOLY from their respective races.

Prior to the running of Race 4, the Stewards were advised by Dr Wan that pre-race samples taken from a number but not all horses trained by Mr Y S Tsui this morning had also shown the presence of Zilpaterol. Accordingly, Mr Tsui requested for the following horses to be withdrawn from their respective races.

Race 4: TAI PO FORTUNE
Race 5: RECORD AGAIN
Race 11: DOUBLE GLORY

As a pre-race urine sample could not be obtained from DOUBLE GLORY by the required time and as such a clear sample was not available to be analysed by the Racing Laboratory, Mr Tsui requested for this horse to be withdrawn in the absence of such report from the Racing Laboratory. It was established that Mr Tsui does not use the same registered feed product which was being used by Mr Yiu, Mr O’Sullivan and a number of other Trainers. The Stewards, since receiving this advice from Dr Wan, have established a preliminary association between the two registered products. They are continuing their investigations into any commonality between the two feed products.

[Kasept]

Originally Posted by PatCummings

Please. There is no myth-busting here. If this doesn't go part of the way to prove just how far advanced Hong Kong testing, turnaround, and oversight is, I don't know what would.

Below is an HKJC report from June 12 (today)...if ONLY the rest of the world was as advanced, detailed, and forthright.[/i]

Yes... If only.. If only..

This just shows how perfect everything is in the most controlled racing environment in the world. The one held up as a paragon to us ad infinitum.

[PatCummings]

Originally Posted by Kasept

Yes... If only.. If only..

This just shows how perfect everything is in the most controlled racing environment in the world. The one held up as a paragon to us ad infinitum.

Surely nothing will ever be perfect, but you must admit that their standards are superb, and they are handling what surely seems like contaminated feed, or mislabeled feed, in a prompt and judicious fashion. If ONLY other jurisdictions had a sliver of the attention to detail the HKJC does.

[Danzig]

yeah, nothing to see here. i mean, look at britain, it was just the one trainer using steroids....

[PatCummings]

Trace amounts found in a second feed. Possible 50% of horses in HK could have consumed contaminated feed.

http://www.racing.scmp.com/freeservi...s20130613a.asp

[PatCummings]

80 horses declared for Sunday's races in Hong Kong and were on the feeds in question have tested positive for zilpaterol.

http://www.hkjc.com/english/corporat...061301812.html

[pointman]

Originally Posted by PatCummings

Surely nothing will ever be perfect, but you must admit that their standards are superb, and they are handling what surely seems like contaminated feed, or mislabeled feed, in a prompt and judicious fashion. If ONLY other jurisdictions had a sliver of the attention to detail the HKJC does.

Superb standards, it only took 4 1/2 years for them to detect something that might be in 50% of the horses!

[PatCummings]

Originally Posted by pointman

Superb standards, it only took 4 1/2 years for them to detect something that might be in 50% of the horses!

Who said anything about 4 1/2 years?

[pointman]

Originally Posted by PatCummings

Who said anything about 4 1/2 years?

Originally Posted by PatCummings

Please. There is no myth-busting here. If this doesn't go part of the way to prove just how far advanced Hong Kong testing, turnaround, and oversight is, I don't know what would.

Below is an HKJC report from June 12 (today)...if ONLY the rest of the world was as advanced, detailed, and forthright

http://www.hkjc.com/english/corporat...061201931.html

After first learning on 10 June that urine samples obtained from four horses trained by Mr P F Yiu, which raced at the Sha Tin and Happy Valley racemeetings on 2 and 5 June, respectively, had shown the presence of a prohibited substance, the Club has conducted a holistic investigation and has accelerated testing procedures to better understand the extent of the problem. In doing so, it was announced yesterday that urine samples from further eight horses trained by Mr Yiu, which were declared for today’s racemeeting, had also been found to contain the same prohibited substance. The prohibited substance concerned is Zilpaterol.

Dr T S M Wan, the Club’s Head of Racing Laboratory revealed late yesterday that the analysis of a certain registered feed product used by Mr Yiu and a number of other Trainers had been found to contain Zilpaterol which is not a listed ingredient of that product. Further, it was announced that in order to safeguard the interests of the Trainers concerned, their Owners and the racing public, a considerable number of urine samples were being obtained from horses in the care of these Trainers and declared to race at the Sha Tin racemeeting today. The relevant registered feed product was first imported by the Club into Hong Kong in January 2009 and has been used by Trainers since that time on a consistent basis without incident.

The ongoing investigation revealed today that a further product is likely to contain the same prohibited substance. In all, six horses were withdrawn today, including one as a precautionary measure, as it was unable to produce a urine sample this morning for testing.The causes of the recent incidents of contaminated feed, resulting in the withdrawal of runners, remains under investigation and no blame has been attributed.

The Club will work diligently to limit the extent of the current problem and explore all avenues to enhance quality control measures. There have been ongoing efforts to do so and these efforts will continue as a matter of high priority.

The Club will contact the manufacturers of the relevant feed products as a priority to notify them of developments in respect of the products. The Club will continue its investigations into all of these matters and will continue to sample horses in the care of a number of Trainers and in particular those horses which are entered for the Sha Tin racemeeting to be conducted this coming Sunday, 16 June.

A meeting will be scheduled with Trainers tomorrow to communicate immediate measures to best contain and minimise the problem from re-occurring in the future.

The Club routinely takes samples from all feeds, feed additives and supplements and screens them for the presence of prohibited substances. There are nearly 200 products regularly sampled and tested by the Club's Racing Laboratory, which has successfully identified contaminated feed and prevented a number of unwanted incidents over the last 10 years.

Looking at other racing jurisdictions the Club is thought to be unique in providing such a service on this scale. There are limits, however, to this testing regime due to the high volume of products and the impossibility to guarantee absence of contamination from batch-to-batch and within-batch variations of feed products.

Early this morning, Dr Wan informed the Stewards that urine samples taken yesterday from the following horses, trained by Mr P O’Sullivan, had shown the presence of Zilpaterol:-

Race 3: HAPPY WISDOM
Race 7: GRAND CHAMPION
Race 9: HOLYANGELHOLY

Dr Wan subsequently advised the Stewards that further pre-race urine samples obtained early this morning and which were analysed for the presence of Zilpaterol had shown the presence of that substance. Mr O’Sullivan was interviewed by the Stewards and advised of the findings. Having received the preliminary findings of Dr Wan in respect of the samples obtained from horses trained by him, Mr O’Sullivan requested for each of the 3 horses to be withdrawn from their respective racing events and accordingly the Stewards ordered the withdrawal of HAPPY WISDOM, GRAND CHAMPION and HOLYANGELHOLY from their respective races.

Prior to the running of Race 4, the Stewards were advised by Dr Wan that pre-race samples taken from a number but not all horses trained by Mr Y S Tsui this morning had also shown the presence of Zilpaterol. Accordingly, Mr Tsui requested for the following horses to be withdrawn from their respective races.

Race 4: TAI PO FORTUNE
Race 5: RECORD AGAIN
Race 11: DOUBLE GLORY

As a pre-race urine sample could not be obtained from DOUBLE GLORY by the required time and as such a clear sample was not available to be analysed by the Racing Laboratory, Mr Tsui requested for this horse to be withdrawn in the absence of such report from the Racing Laboratory. It was established that Mr Tsui does not use the same registered feed product which was being used by Mr Yiu, Mr O’Sullivan and a number of other Trainers. The Stewards, since receiving this advice from Dr Wan, have established a preliminary association between the two registered products. They are continuing their investigations into any commonality between the two feed products.

The product has been in use consistently since January 2009, hence, 4 1/2 years.

[Cannon Shell]

Hong Kong SHOULD have the highest standard and ability to handle issues in a quick and judicious fashion being they have gobs of funding and a tiny horse population that is isolated in one well guarded backside.

It is nice that instead of rushing to judgement and screaming cheaters like they would here they are taking an active role in getting to the bottom of the issue unlike most jurisdictions in the US which would be far more interested in coming to conclusions without a real investigation. Or like the loose cannon in New Mexico making insinuations based upon his own personal opinions derived from the vast experience of 12 months on the job.

As I and many others have said, the idea that racing anywhere is crystal clean is ludicrous. Where I wish the US could copy HK is adopting rules like they have that clearly state exactly the steps taken after there is a positive test which may exonerate those which may be victims of something beyond their control as it seems to be in this case or nail and punish harshly those who are absolutely guilty.

[NTamm1215]

Originally Posted by pointman

The product has been in use consistently since January 2009, hence, 4 1/2 years.

But, this is an incident of contamination now. It has nothing to do with how long they've been using it, and nowhere is anyone being led to believe the feed was contaminated for 4 1/2 years.

[pointman]

Originally Posted by NTamm1215

But, this is an incident of contamination now. It has nothing to do with how long they've been using it, and nowhere is anyone being led to believe the feed was contaminated for 4 1/2 years.

Fair enough, the way I read the material posted here is that there were two logical possibilities, contamination being one or that the product always contained this ingrediant without it being labeled and it is just being detected now. Considering that two different products had tested positive and the large number of horses affected, the first scenerio seemed much less likely, though it seems now that both feeds came from the same manufacturer and plant.

What I find more interesting is that California was on top of this in March having discovered 48 cases of the contamination.

http://www.paulickreport.com/news/th...th-zilpaterol/

http://www.thehorse.com/articles/316...mination-cited

This begs the question as to how Hong Kong would not know two and half months later that the same feed being shipped to their horses from the same manufacturing plant during the same time of manufacture should not be fed to their horses two months after the feed is known to be contaminated. Guess they are not so perfect after all.

[Cannon Shell]

http://www.paulickreport.com/news/th...aine-positive/

Look! An International slap on the wrist!

[Scav]

Originally Posted by NTamm1215

But, this is an incident of contamination now. It has nothing to do with how long they've been using it, and nowhere is anyone being led to believe the feed was contaminated for 4 1/2 years.

And there was a feed in California that was just reported contaminated about 2-3 months ago, with same drug if I am not mistaken.

[pointman]

Originally Posted by Cannon Shell

http://www.paulickreport.com/news/th...aine-positive/

Look! An International slap on the wrist!

Prompt AND Judicious!