Doug O'Neill

[Riot]

Originally Posted by Indian Charlie

Are you serious? They really raced horses on heroin?

I could see the rationale for coke, but heroin? That would be one pretty docile competitor.

Horses react differently than humans, can react badly to some opiates. That's why so many horses used to die coming up from anesthesia after broken bone repair. They'd be panicky and kicking, groggy and staggering, due to the drugs used for pain control. Blow their surgical repairs apart and die.

Ruffian, unfortunately, comes to mind.

Heroin was nicknamed "horse" because of it's equine use early in the last century. To copy a bit from Risk's link, above:

In the United States, cocaine, heroin and morphine were legal for anyone with a doctor’s prescription to buy from a drugstore, until prohibited by the Harrison Act of 1914, and could be bribed from pharmacists long after that. But using those mixtures was a fine art. Prudent trainers experimented during morning workouts, discovering the right dope and dose for each horse.

~ Dorothy Ours, in her book Man o’ War: A Legend Like Lightning