Originally Posted by
eliteblood
really. That's terrible to think that hrnsw may have got it wrong and, due to an administration error, innocent trainers are coming up with positives to capsicain and are being suspended for the use of a performance enhancing drug.
Or could it be that it is you who has spun off the runway and that the trainers are in fact the ones who have made administration errors, ie. Administering a drug that they thought would go undetected in an attempt to gain an unfair advantage over the ever diminishing group of honest people left in the sport.
[vvv] depends on your point of view i guess. I think it's a symptom of a bigger problem, one that could be addressed and should be addressed and would be largely if not completely solved if the motivation were there to do so.
if we had a list of therapeutics in place and thresholds for same then we wouldn't be having this debate...but we don't and we should and whatsmore we all know we should, even most if not all of the stewards will agree with that...it would make their job 10x easier for starters.
i think you should be praising reid sanders and hrnsw for their efforts to bring things back to a level playing field rather than trying to discredit everything they do.
[vvv] i am not discrediting everything they do trevor...however what has boiled over here is my frustration at their continued innaction insofar as the establishment of thresholds for a therapeutic substances list.
imo if reid & the rest of the regulatory crew there at hrnsw really want to do something lasting and of benefit, something which will see the industry get out of the dark ages in his area and progress then they need to find deep within themselves the motivation required to drag the issue of the establishment of a therapeutic thresholds out of the too hard basket...the place where successive administrations both state & national have left it lay.
they then need to work on it & keep working on it until such time as it is ready to be instituted. I would dearly love to see nsw take the national lead in this area, we should get on the front foot & do something about it. i'd be there to cheer it in from the rooftops.
with regard to the vast majority of positives recorded there's no question they are therapeutic overages in nature.
while under the current state of play that does not serve as a defence, the fact we currently do not have a therapeutic thresholds list in place effectively forces many a trainer's hand insofar as them seeking to maintain their stock in good racing order.
these are performance horses being asked to tough, fast miles week in week out and they need to be viewed as such they need to be able to be treated accordingly. Week to week, month to month, year in year out economics when combined with the basic animal welfare issues will otherwise ultimately prove to be insurmountable unless the industry seeks out & finds a better way.
a classic example is eiph.
i would hazzard a guess and say that people in the industry largely do not realise that it is the single biggest animal welfare issue horse racing faces...however because it for obvious reasons largely hidden then regulatory on a state and national basis have never felt the need to address it. Perversely, i was recently told that internationally the very substance that geoff small got hung for, amicar, is fast firming as the best practice choice above and beyond lasix. How slowly the wheels turn eh?
instead of getting ahead of the wave ala the whip rule changes (which were excellent & welcome btw) must we instead wait until such time as some batik sarong wearing, sandle clad, tofu eating peta subscribing tree hugger gets their head around the implications of it & all of a sudden our hand is being publicly forced. Presto...there'll be all sorts of moves made to investigate the use of/allowable thresholds for anti-bleeder meds & so on. Masters of our own destiny, be.
a further to the above aspect and at the very least as equally important is that rules covering this area as written effectively work in direct opposition to that which the harness racing industry so desperately needs to offer up as a product in order to sruvive...genuine, reliable handicappable form for the punters to bet on.