
Originally Posted by
triplev123
G'day Buster,
You're moving the goal posts around on me.
First it was new & previously undetectable drugs in the Frog Bike Rides and that travelling corrupt ridden sham known as the modern day Olympics, now it's old school 'the needy and the greedy' stuff like Bi-carb and EPO. Which is it?
If you had unlimited funds and relaibale access and if you really wanted to be a villain and sought to use something that would light them up that nobody has a test for...then I'm sure there are numerous options available other than old school stuff like EPO or easily detected Prehistoric acid buffers like Bicarb or stimulants like Caffiene or NSAID's like Bute etc etc.
The problem is that just like DVD Players or Wide Screen TV's initially such high tech options come at an extremely high/inflated price, and so in the case of our Industry one that is going to be largely unsustainable given the basic economics of the majority of Harness Racing in this country. No doubt the arse fell out of the black market EPO price when a conclusive test became available (& those tests have become increasingly cheaper over time) and things moved on to other areas.
For a good example, if you happen to read Medical & Scientific Journals & such you'll have noted the release of a whole new class of cardio vascular type drugs that come with aranesp like qualities. Their nature is such that a bankable test for it in equines will not become available at any time into the forseeable future, if at all.
These new drugs are the result of some rather wonderful research and a very different way of looking at and treating human ailments, one that does not have the risks associated with EPO and its derivitives/relatives/offspring. They are also so far out over the cutting edge of their own field...let alone that of the current testing regimes for equines...that they make virtually all other drugs previously in the cross hairs for use in such circumstances look like Cello Players in Marching Bands. As I said before, villainy and wrongdoing aside, I simply doubt that anyone has the access to nor do they have the considerable $$$ required to plonk down for such drugs to then turn around and use them on a horse with 5k stakes and the expectation of 10k on the Punt. That's not to say that someone, somewhere in the World is not doing so already, just that given the economic constraints of racing I very, very much doubt it is happening here.