Congressional Committees seek information on drugging and shock waving racehorses

WALT BOGDANICH, writing for the The Rail of the New York Times reports:

(June 9, 2012) Members of two Congressional committees investigating the drugging of racehorses have sent letters to racing regulators in 39 states seeking information on how trainers with multiple drug violations are disciplined and how often certain performance-enhancing treatments are used.

The letter asks about the use of so-called milkshakes, alkalizing agents that help horses combat fatigue, as well as the use of shock-wave therapy, which supposedly promotes healing but also deadens pain.

continuing:

Only a few states require trainers to disclose when shock-wave therapy is administered on horses and forbid the horses to race soon after receiving it. Regulators currently have no way to detect whether a horse has received shock-wave therapy shortly before a race.

“It is up to the ethics of those that have the machines, and that is the problem,” Kenneth H. McKeever, associate director of research at Rutgers Equine Science Center, said.

Read full report here >>

FROM THE EDITOR

I’ll Have Another walks in the barn with groom Benjamin Perez after a morning workout at Belmont Park, Friday, June 8, 2012 in Elmont, N.Y. The Triple Crown hopeful was set to run Saturday in the Belmont Stakes, but was later scratched reportedly due to tendonitis. (AP Photo / Mark Lennihan)

This is encouraging news and hopefully the US Congress will be able to address the alarms we raised about the use of shock wave therapy of racehorses, chief among them the fact that the treatment has an analgesic effect that could mask the pain of injury and go undetected because it leaves no chemical residues the way pharmaceuticals do.

The use of shock wave therapy on Thoroughbred racehorses came to national attention as it was reportedly used on Triple Crown contender I’ll Have Another. His connections sent out shock waves of a different kind when they scratched and immediately retired I’ll Have Another the day before the Belmont Stakes, the final leg of the Triple Crown.

The champion who surprised and thrilled race fans was diagnosed with the onset of tendinitis according to media reports. This type of injury is not typically career threatening, plus the O’Neill brothers had stated earlier that they intended to keep I’ll Have Another in training and race him as a 4-year old, possibly even longer.

I’ll Have Another was set to lead the post parade for the Belmont Stakes but that idea was as quickly scratched as the horse was retired. While we welcome this change of thought, Dr. Larry Bramlage, who is renown for his career-saving surgeries of catastrophically injured Thoroughbreds, is quoted in a tweet by @belmontstakes prior to the change of plan:

Dr. Larry Bramlage: “I’ll Have Another’s ability to lead post parade … an illustration of the character of his injury.”

It is all so confusing. But as they say, that’s American horse racing.

For more information, read Jane Allin’s groundbreaking report on shock wave therapy:

— I’ll Have Another . . . shock wave therapy treatment please, Tuesday’s Horse, May 14, 2012.

See also:

— The O’Neill brothers, the meaning of milkshakes and fixing of horse races, Tuesday’s Horse, May 23, 2012.

— A lust to win, an incentive to cheat: The stain on American Thoroughbred racing, Tuesday’s Horse, May 24, 2012.

— All Tuesday’s Horse posts on horse racing.