Asmussen goes down again

[Michael D.]

http://drf.com/news/article/95805.html

[miff]

Lidocaine can only be used 96 hours out in New York State.

[TGJB]

I\'m going to wait until this shakes out to comment further, but I have to say one thing now. Hegarty does some terrific reporting, but he on accasion has gone astray (as he did about rebates and certain other things in articles concerning me) when he injects his opinions into stories. Lidocaine and other anesthetics are certainly dangerous to the health of a horse if improperly used, but they are not preformance enhancers, any more than aspirin is a performance enhancer when you have a headache. Performance enhancers raise an athlete\'s maximum level of ability beyond what it would otherwise be-- EPO, bronchodilators like Clenbuterol, alkalyzing agents, those are performance enhancers. Painkillers allow an athlete to perform to his maximum natural ability, but don\'t expand it.

[Bustin Stones*]

Well said Jerry!

[alm]

Jerry, I am not trying to make a big point out of this question, but what type of medication is more likely to actually hurt a horse?

Drugs that mask a condition that pains a horse, thereby encouraging the animal to run at its full capacity (not advisable if it is hurting) or performance enhancers, at least some of which don\'t mask anything, but help it run better?

[Michael D.]

TGJB Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I\'m going to wait until this shakes out to comment
> further, but I have to say one thing now. Hegarty
> does some terrific reporting, but he on accasion
> has gone astray (as he did about rebates and
> certain other things in articles concerning me)
> when he injects his opinions into stories.
> Lidocaine and other anesthetics are certainly
> dangerous to the health of a horse if improperly
> used, but they are not preformance enhancers, any
> more than aspirin is a performance enhancer when
> you have a headache. Performance enhancers raise
> an athlete\'s maximum level of ability beyond what
> it would otherwise be-- EPO, bronchodilators like
> Clenbuterol, alkalyzing agents, those are
> performance enhancers. Painkillers allow an
> athlete to perform to his maximum natural ability,
> but don\'t expand it.



Jerry,

Are you still working with Steve Asmussen?

Do you know how many medication violations he has? I read it was 22 before the latest, but can not confirm it. Can you confirm that number?

[TGJB]

I wasn\'t offering an opinion about that, and certainly I agree. I\'m just disputing Hegarty\'s characterization of anesthetics as performance enhancers.

[TGJB]

Yes I am, and I don\'t know. I also can\'t tell if he is doing anything. Of all the horses I ever was responsible for purchasing that he has trained, I can only think of one (Rolling Sea) that ran significantly better after he got it. Which is less than normal, statistically.

One thing about stats like you quoted is that they are kind of misleading if you don\'t factor in how many starters the trainer has. Big numbers also increase the chances for a barn to screw up.

Steve probably has 5 times as many starts as Dutrow over the last 5 years, and much of the time assistant trainers are handling the horses at smaller tracks.

[alm]

Right, I follow you.  My question stems from what I believe is a misplaced emphasis and criticism of drugs as being a negative in the sport.  

I don\'t see it that way.

To me, the uneven availability of drugs, which gives a clear advantage to those who have them, is the negative.

The drugs themselves should be classified as being helpful to the animal or detrimental.  If they are helpful, they should be legalized and efforts should be made to make them widely available.

Maybe Bute would be classified, once again, as a dangerous drug, as would any drug that fools the horse into feeling good enough to make a maximum effort and, thereby, hurt itself.

[Michael D.]

TGJB Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I\'m going to wait until this shakes out to comment
> further, but I have to say one thing now. Hegarty
> does some terrific reporting, but he on accasion
> has gone astray (as he did about rebates and
> certain other things in articles concerning me)
> when he injects his opinions into stories.
> Lidocaine and other anesthetics are certainly
> dangerous to the health of a horse if improperly
> used, but they are not preformance enhancers, any
> more than aspirin is a performance enhancer when
> you have a headache. Performance enhancers raise
> an athlete\'s maximum level of ability beyond what
> it would otherwise be-- EPO, bronchodilators like
> Clenbuterol, alkalyzing agents, those are
> performance enhancers. Painkillers allow an
> athlete to perform to his maximum natural ability,
> but don\'t expand it.


thanks for the response to the Asmussen question ....


just quickly here -

when a horse runs 2 points faster than he should because of a medication violation, we lose. I don\'t care if the drug violation pushed the horse to a new level, or allowed the horse to return to a previous level. we lose both ways.

[TGJB]

Michael-- there is a LOT going on right now on this, and I myself am spending a fair amount of time on it (just got off the phone with a reporter). More to follow, hopefully by the time I see you in Saratoga.

Right now it looks like I will be up there the first 2 weekends and the last one. The Jockey Club Round Table at saratoga should produce activity on the drug front.

[BitPlayer]

TGJB -

I don\'t think Hegarty is expressing his own opinion.  He is paraphrasing the definition of a Class 2 substance under the ARCI rules:  drugs \"that have a high potential for affecting the outcome of a race.\"

http://www.ua-rtip.org/industry/modelrules_pdfs/chapter11.pdf

The article is crystal clear about how lidocaine is used and how it can affect performance.  Anyone who read the whole article would understand what he means by \"performance enhancing\" and know that lidocaine is not \"performance enhancing\" as you define that phrase,

Hegarty also talked with Asmussen\'s attorney and laid out her concerns.  In my mind, it would be hard to characterize the story as unfair in any way.

[BitPlayer]

TGJB -

Looks like it wasn\'t even Hegarty\'s story.  The byline is now Marty McGee.

[TGJB]

I didn\'t say it was unfair. I said lidocaine was not a performance enhancer. Lots of drugs (lasix comes to mind) can affect the outcome of a race by allowing a horse to run to it\'s innate ability.

Again, I am not suggesting it\'s okay to run a horse on painkillers. But this is a whole different ballgame from the move-ups we have discussed here at length.

[TGJB]

Then apologies to Hegarty, and my comments (mild as they were) apply to McGee.