Adam Hamilton 

From:

Herald Sun 

January 07

EVIDENCE of snake venom being used as a performance enhancer in Australian racing has been uncovered.

Harness Racing New South Wales chief executive Sam Nati has told the Herald Sun evidence had been found to confirm growing speculation in recent years.

Snake venom, most notably cobra venom, is said to serve as a powerful painkiller by deadening a horse's joint or nerves. It is most effective on horses with niggling injuries.

Several trainers, including internationally renowned thoroughbred trainer Patrick Biancone, have been disqualified or suspended for venom use in North American racing.

"We got our hands on a sample about six weeks ago and sent it to the Australian Racing Forensic Laboratory to be analysed," Nati said.

"Testing is continuing on the sample and the lab says from its experience it expects to confirm the presence of some type of venom."

"It was given to us in a bottle with a viper's head on the label," he said.Nati would not reveal the source of the sample.

"There were a range of ingredients on the label, but venom wasn't one of them."

Nati described obtaining the sample as a major breakthrough in Australia racing's fight against drug use.

"We believe viper, or some type of snake venom, has been used in Australia, but we don't have any positive swabs to confirm it," he said.

"It cannot be detected in swabs at the moment, but the lab tells me they will have test kit for it this year.

"This is a significant breakthrough because there has been so much rumour and innuendo about snake venom for so long, but we've never had anything to go on."

Racing Victoria chairman of stewards Terry Bailey, a crusader against prohibited substance use in racing, spoke at length with Nati yesterday about HRNSW's findings.

Bailey said he had also talked to Dr John Vine, the head of Racing Analytical Services, Victoria's testing laboratory.

"Dr Vine also said a testing kit was expected to be available this year," he said.

"Apparently it's been developed in South Australia and is now having the finishing touches put on it over in the US."

Edited by Gay3 - 10 Feb 2019 at 9:04pm

Or better still, say it won't be ready 'till late in the year but in reality, start testing several months earlier . Might sort a few out 

yeah no wonder harness racing is stuffed- Drug cheats and the earth worms that eat of the spoils are the reason. U egotistc retard bastards have not only stuff racing but u have damaged our breeding, made it imposible 4 the hobby training to continue, bred an atmosphere of contempt and idolised false heroes. When our floor is as dirty as it is and believe me it is filthy- we must open it right up and sweep the place clean and cull hard. Big names believe that they desserve an ammensty and idiots that copy believe that the industry cannt afford the exposure- well think again and think real hard because we cann't afford what is happening now -breeding numbers down , race numbers declining. Clean the game up and debate heavily having nil tolerance on drugs such as Viper and EPO - maybe the RSCPA should take more of an interest on this practice. And as for the galloping industry ALWAYS saying there is no evidience in their code -BULLgelati!!

Trainers have been using snake venom as an anti bleeding treatment for years

Beautifuly put Icare , you obviously care..

Is there a synthetic Chinese version out there...

EPO: What We Know, And What We Don’t, About The Blood-Doping Threat
SPONSORED BY:
by Natalie Voss | 03.20.2019 | 2:51pm

Adobe Stock image
When Lance Armstrong confessed in 2013 to taking Epogen to boost production of oxygen-carrying red blood cells, horse racing fans began looking behind every tree for the boogeyman called erythropoietin, or EPO. Many had long suspected EPO had risen to prominence in horse racing in the 1990s alongside anabolic steroids, and news that one of cycling's biggest stars was using it seemed to cement the idea it could be lurking anywhere – even at the top levels of the sport.

Thanks in part to Armstrong, many people have a basic idea of how EPO works. EPO is produced naturally by the kidneys of all mammals and signals the bone marrow to make more red blood cells. More red blood cells mean increased hemoglobin, which is responsible for carrying oxygen. In the 1980s, a man-made version of EPO (recombinant EPO) was developed as a treatment for anemic patients who could not circulate enough EPO to keep their red blood cells at a safe level. Today, FDA-approved forms of EPO for humans include Epogen, Aranesp, Retacrit, and Procrit. When given to healthy people, however, the synthetic EPO boosts red blood cells to higher-than-normal levels, allowing athletes better endurance.

Most racing insiders who have some idea of what EPO does also know that it has been favored by human athletes in part because it's difficult to test for. Like anabolic steroids, EPO's competitive advantage lies in its ability to boost the body's natural production of certain materials, but unlike anabolics, the drug itself disappears from the body quickly. One set of instructions written by a still-practicing veterinarian and provided to the Paulick Report in 2015 suggested the drug was given in repeated injected doses, often along with iron, for maximum effectiveness.

The first tests for EPO were developed in the early 2000s — so where do we stand now in our ability to catch trainers engaging in blood doping? And what's on the horizon for both cheaters and regulators?

The modern testing process

Currently, getting an EPO positive (and there have been a few over the years) is a two-step process. Testing laboratories use an ELISA kit test to screen for it and then forward a split sample to a more advanced lab, which performs mass spectronomy testing to confirm. The confirmation testing is a multi-day procedure that must be performed by technicians with specialized advanced training.


Dr. Richard Sams, former laboratory director at LGC Sport Science Lab in Lexington, Ky., said the ELISA kit test used for screening was based on detecting human EPO, which is most of what seems to be available on the market. The good news is he believes the ELISA kit could detect all types of human EPO commercially available. The bad news is, it focuses on human EPO.

All mammals make EPO naturally, and roughly 80 percent of the molecule is the same between horses and humans. Since EPO is incredibly expensive to produce and buy, it stood to reason cheaters would focus on giving to horses human EPO developed for sale to human athletes. (And yes, there are a number of dubious online outlets which claim to sell EPO or EPO-like products to horsemen, but these outlets are not regulated closely and there's a significant chance the products aren't what they claim to be.)

In Sams' time at LGC, the lab's home base in Fordham, England, was responsible for EPO confirmation for the Kentucky lab (and a number of others). About two years ago, Sams recalled a smattering of tests with suspicious ELISA kit results which came back as no-confirmation from Fordham.

“We [the Lexington lab] and Fordham routinely discussed findings, and the Fordham scientists who were responsible for confirmation analysis told us about the same time that we began sending these suspicious samples over that weren't confirmed, they were getting similar samples from other labs that could not be confirmed,” Sams recalled.

Because of the chemical construction of human EPO, it must have three particular peptides on its sequence to come up on both ELISA kit and confirmation analysis. (Naturally produced EPO in horses has always been different enough that it doesn't produce a positive on either test, so there's no fear of a horse's own EPO causing an accidental positive.) Sams could only suppose someone had begun using a type of EPO that was similar enough to human EPO to flag one test without fulfilling the other — perhaps EPO derived from another species. There have been no new forms of EPO approved for therapeutic use in humans in recent years, so whatever it is, it's not coming through a Food and Drug Administration-approved channel, which raises its own questions about product safety. We still don't know what product caused those unconfirmed tests, or where it came from.

“I'd be surprised if anything was made clandestinely for the racing market, but there may very well have been something made clandestinely for human athletic competition,” said Sams.

It's understood that some drugs, such as dermorphin, can be edited in their chemical makeup to evade tests. Sams said he doesn't worry about that so much with EPO.

“It would be exceedingly difficult,” he said. “I think the bigger risk is making horse EPO or presumably you could use other kinds of EPO that are different from human and horse which produce an EPO-like effect. Any time you would switch from one EPO to another, the labs would have to develop a new test.”



What are the risks?

Administering EPO of any sort to a horse also comes with risk. Although human EPO molecules are 80 percent identical to horse EPO, that last 20 percent can set off alarm bells in the equine body. Some horses recognize the substance as a foreign invader and begin producing antibodies to attack it. In some cases, the immune response can be so severe that the horse's body also begins producing antibodies to its own EPO, resulting in anemia. Anemia isn't particularly common in fit, healthy horses but if it's left untreated, it can be a long, slow death.

And what about the rumored use of poisons and other blood thinners to counteract overenthusiastic EPO administration? EPO use in humans is believed to sometimes result in blood which has become too thick from hematocrit, resulting in circulation problems. Hematocrit is the ratio of red blood cells to total blood volume.

Railbirds have long theorized positive tests for blood-thinning agents may be explained by some attempt on the part of trainers or veterinarians to balance out the effects of blood doping. There's one problem with that, Sams said: Horses have contractile spleens, which store large amounts of red blood cells and release them at times of stimulation, such as the start of a race or as part of a startle response. When this happens, the hematocrit rises significantly. The equine body has obviously figured out how to cope without encountering circulation issues, though we don't know how exactly. (This is one more reason detection is difficult – testing can't conclude for sure if a horse's hematocrit level is high because of a recent spleen contraction or because of an EPO administration – at least, not yet.)

Because we don't know how the equine body may deal with elevated hematocrit, we don't know whether those blood-thinners are given intentionally to horses receiving EPO, or whether they're safe or effective.



How common is EPO use?

Without a better way to detect EPO, we really don't know how commonly it may be given to racehorses. The ELISA kit test used by laboratories these days can detect recent administrations of the drug, but anyone looking to boost performance would need to give EPO and then wait several weeks for it to take full effect – at which time it's long gone from the bloodstream. Post-race testing is not likely to encounter it, although Sams knew of a few instances where it was found in post-race samples from harness racing in Maine, likely due to the frequency of races for that population.

Dr. Mary Scollay, equine medical director for the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission, said she has no idea how common it really is, but she does get questions about it.

“We certainly hear about it,” she said. “It has been detected in a couple of cases in recent history. There are people who believe its use is profligate and others who say 'I don't think so.' And I can't answer the question.”

Dr. Mark Cheney, board member of the Kentucky Equine Drug Research Council (KEDRC), suspects the use has become more common than people want to believe. Cheney has been outspoken in meetings of the KEDRC over the effectiveness of EPO testing more so than any other performance-enhancing substance. Cheney is also disturbed by the volume of distributors marketing EPO-like products on the Internet.

“It is, I would say, just about epidemic use in our industry,” he said in an Oct. 2, 2018, meeting of the KEDRC. “Some trainers, I'm not going to mention any names, their horses are just rebreaking at the eighth pole.

“We're never going to be able to test for these products … if we have just an inkling of research to show we can identify someone that's using an epogenic product, as soon as you put that on the front page of the Lexington Herald-Leader, they'll stop using it. There's probably some pretty important people in this business that have done it.”



What do we do about it?

Given the low likelihood of finding EPO in a post-race test, experts say there are two ways its use can be curbed. The easier and quicker of the two options is increased out-of-competition testing (OOCT). Many – but not all — states have rule language allowing OOCT, though having rules permitting it and having the funding for extra laboratory tests are two separate issues.

Sams points out that in some jurisdictions where OOCT is common, it's not a good idea to make its scheduling too predictable. In many cases, trainers may learn how far out from a race the OOCT sample will be collected and administer long-acting performance-enhancing drugs like EPO immediately after the sample has been taken. Sams suggests regulators take OOCT samples and return in two to three days to take another set. EPO can be detectable for an average of two to four days after administration, up to a week in some cases.

The more effective form of testing is still far off. There is ongoing research into the creation of equine biological passports. They look for unusual changes in proteins or other biomarkers in the blood in response to drugs like EPO or anabolic steroids, which produce artificial levels of natural cells.

“Biological passports have been used very successfully in human testing to detect EPO,” said Sams. “It does not work in horses for a number of reasons, one of which is the ability of the horse to store red blood cells in the spleen and the ability to then release them. We don't see a lot of stability in hematocrit and hemoglobin because the horse can release those red blood cells when it's being handled before the blood sample is collected.”

Reticulocytes are another key giveaway in human biological passports — they act as a type of signal that a new round of red blood cells are being made. Horses don't produce them as part of this process.

The Racing Medication and Testing Consortium recently funded two studies to improve detection of EPO, which executive director Dr. Dionne Benson hopes will result in tenfold or greater detection sensitivity.

In 2018, the Kentucky Equine Drug Research Council gave funding to an ongoing project from the lab of Dr. Scott Stanley to explore biological passports for horses. Earlier this year, the group provided a grant to Dr. Heather Knych of the University of California-Davis to look at changes in gene expression following microdosing of EPO. Scollay hopes the work could lead to a new type of monitoring.

“I think this potentially provides an investigative tool to run some facts against the speculation,” said Scollay. “It is not a standalone enforcement tool. It would identify a sample for a confirmatory analysis for EPO. You don't hang your hat on a screening test, but on the other hand, there's nothing wrong with a screening test triggering some information gathering.”

If successful, Knych's research cannot tell a regulator that a horse has gotten EPO, only that its results are out of the ordinary and it may be helpful to do more investigation.

“I would definitely say that this is only a first step,” Knych echoed.

There's another challenge with EPO detection from biological passports — in Kentucky and probably elsewhere: Scollay has raised concerns about the phrasing of Kentucky's rules. They prohibit the finding of “a drug, medication or substance” and “substances present in the horse in excess of concentrations at which the substances could occur naturally.”

Biomarkers don't fit into either category.

“Right now, our regulations require the unequivocal identification of a molecule in the horse to determine it carried that prohibited substance,” Scollay said at an October meeting of the Kentucky Equine Drug Research Council. “I'm not sure how the attorneys across the country, or in Lexington, are going to feel about prosecuting a case based on indirect evidence of a substance having been in the horse at some point. I know USADA is able to do some of that, but we're government agencies as opposed to a sports club.

“I think we're in the early stages of this; there's an awful lot to learn about this substance in the horse.”


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This entry was posted in NL Article, Ray's Paddock and tagged Dr. Heather Knych, dr. mark cheney, Dr. Mary Scollay, dr. rick sams, drugs in racing, epo, erythropoietin, Kentucky Equine Drug Research Council, Lance Armstrong by Natalie Voss. Bookmark the permalink.

Wow. Hope he has a spare 25 million to pay back his victims. Poor horses. 

Look over the fence at Harness racing especially NZ & Vic

DRUG SCANDAL SET TO ENGULF SEVERAL LEADING OZ STABLES

SEVERAL of the nation's top stables are using the same illicit performance-boosting drug that has riddled bike racing since the 1990s, according to angry trainers and veterinarians.

ANDREW RULE reports ‘exclusively’ for the HERALD-SUN that some of the biggest names in racing have said that sophisticated drug cheating has become rife among well-known stables.

Respected trainers and veterinarians have confirmed the allegations are valid, citing several examples in both horse racing codes over many years.

They believe the practice of "milk-shaking" with sodium bicarbonate is being combined with use of undetectable variants of the notorious oxygen-boosting hormone used by Armstrong and dozens of other cyclists since the 1990s.

The drug is erythropoietin - known as EPO and dubbed "Edgar Allan Poe" in cycling circles.

The substance is difficult to detect and almost identical variants leave a slightly different molecular "fingerprint" undetected by current drug tests.

But EPO-type synthetic hormones are not the only illicit "go-fast" drugs in use, according to well-placed sources.

Some trainers were using variants of the opiate-based stimulants such as "elephant juice", which became notorious when the distressed Rocket Racer collapsed and almost died after literally bolting ahead of the field in the 1987 Perth Cup.

The trainers and veterinarians have broken their silence on condition of anonymity not just because of fears for personal safety, but because they fear being targeted by embarrassed officials for creating bad publicity for an industry already plagued with corruption issues.

Racing Victoria deny EPO was rife in the industry.

"Racing Victoria refutes the assertion that EPO use is widespread in Victorian thoroughbred racing. We have a robust and active testing regime in place for both EPO and opiate-based stimulants and there is no evidence to indicate the systematic use of either within the state of Victoria," said Racing Victoria's general manager of integrity, Dayle Brown, said.

Harness Racing Victoria's chief operating officer Brant Dunshea said his organisation had been testing for EPO in and out of competition since 2009 and there had been no evidence of its use since then.

Always about carnival times you can expect these stories , I'm all about clean racing , is it news ? or pure scuttlebutt ? 

Carioca, Andrew's been around a long time & isn't likely to place information in the public domain at the hint of a story so I'm guessing the powers that be exerted their influence in pulling it but only after the eagles eyes of LGHR & possibly PeterProfit had published it 
From above: ANDREW RULE reports ‘exclusively’ for the HERALD-SUN

sorry Carioca, referring to Gay's post