Pletcher BC positive; Hearing pending

[CSC]

Originally Posted by Riot

Mepivacaine is allowed to be in a horses system on race day.

Yes, nanograms matter.

There are dosages at which drugs can influence or affect performance, and dosages at which that is impossible. That is the whole point.

A drug positive is an actionable offense, indeed, but not all drug positives are proof of attempting to influence a horses performance.

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.