Quote:
Originally Posted by Spalding No!
Other stakeholders in the industry have to be concerned not only with performance-impacting drugs but also with masking agents and substances that are detrimental to horse welfare.
Levothyroxine is banned for the latter category.
This is not correct. A horse properly prescribed clenbuterol is placed on a list that restricts it from racing AND training while on said list. Removal from the list requires a workout with testing. The whole process takes longer than 3 weeks.
Furthermore, there are restrictions on the length of time any individual horse can be treated with clenbuterol in a 6-month period.
The penalties are harsh for administering clenbuterol outside this protocol.
Risk of heart attacks is also the reason why levothyroxine is prohibited.
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That's great, I'm all for banning it like all other drugs. With that said you can't have a situation where I can take the third most common Rx in the world (we aren't talking cocaine here) walk down this guy's shedrow and drop a bottle into his tack room say for example then call a tip line with no proof whatsoever that it's actually being given to his horses and have him potentially suspended for two years.
If you want to fine him then go for it, but a long suspension should be confined to something where there's actual evidence of it being administered IMO. Like I said witnessing it being administered or for example elevated levels of T4 in the blood. Something legit should be there as evidence, otherwise you have people who for example resent their horse getting claimed and moved up a couple of times start looking to plant a bottle of something in the barn.
My understanding is a horse cannot participate in timed workouts or races while on clenbuterol. I don't believe gallops qualify as timed workouts in this context. Maybe someone can clarify that. Anyway it doesn't matter much to me workouts or no workouts, you and I both know full well why it's being used, it's a
PED.
I'll abstain from going further on the clenbuterol issue in this thread because that's somewhat off-topic for this levothyroxine-focused thread anyway, I apologize. The thought was just to point out that with regard to drugs in racing there are IMO bigger fish to fry than someone's possession of levothyroxine.
