Pletcher BC positive; Hearing pending

[Cannon Shell]

Originally Posted by RolloTomasi

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 I was just pointing out that, regardless of it being outdated, the NY rule was in a affect and he violated it.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.

I understand where you are coming from. But racing has done a terrible job of creating fair, uniform and reasonable regulations and has done an even worse job of explaining the system (though if I had a system like they do i would be embarrassed to try to explain it too). Just the fact that NY had neglected to alter it's rule to come into line with modernized testing is embarrasing. The truth of the matter is that the system is so screwed up and arbitrary that if you understand the medications, levels, suggested withdrawls and tesing procedures you could make the analogy of driving down the highway where the speed limits change every few miles but there are no signs to tell you when. Then when you get the ticket there are are rumors that you may have killed someone too because you were caught speeding. Maybe that doesnt make sense to some but the Pletcher mevipicaine positive was really a bad deal for him. The latest though was an error IMO in judgement by Pletcher for taking a chance with a highly volitile medication regardless of what the vet said. But the procaine found in minute levels would have no effect on performance. The big issue horse racing faces is that they really need to explain to everyone that these positives are very rarely performance enhancing and then explain why they are positives if they arent. I for one would like to hear an explanation because everytime I go to a meeting conserning medication with state authorities I ask for a clarification and never get an answer that doesnt involve stammering about funding for research or horseman wanting liberal regulations or some other form of passing the buck.