Would a kind person post today's article in the Racing Post about 'medication'.

Sorry brig….can you elaborate, I can’t see anything at the moment?

Sorry Saxon. It was advertised on the RP website this morning but for some reason I couldn't log on. When I did log on the article had been taken down. So this is a real shot in the dark. The author was suggesting the problems tharise with trainers using medication on their horses.

It should be imperative that, when caring for horses, trainers and vets employ robust systems and rigorous management. Two worrying cases last week suggest this isn't always happening.

In cases involving trainers Ben Brookhouse and David Evans, Clement Goldstone KC twice felt the need to pass comment before signing off the plea agreements that had been proposed, something that should prompt racing to reflect more broadly on the subject of medicating racehorses.

The first case related to an unannounced out-of-competition drug testing visit paid by BHA inspectors to Brookhouse’s stable in Newmarket in April last year. Samples were taken from 16 horses and, when tested, produced 24 screening findings, meaning something was detected that was being tested for.

However, when the inspectors went to double-check the findings against the stable’s medical book, where the treatments given to horses are meant to be recorded, 11 of the horses with positive findings did not have any entries against their name.

The medications detected in the horses’ bloodstreams included sedatives, the non-steroidal anti-inflammatory known as bute, ulcer treatment and painkillers. These drugs are permitted in training but require a veterinary prescription, so it was described as “alarming” by Goldstone when it was disclosed that Brookhouse was able to produce vets' bills for only three horses.

Moreover, Goldstone commented that “no personal mitigation has been advanced, or explanation proffered” for the inaccurate record-keeping relating to so many horses, but he approved the agreed plea and fined the trainer £1,750, having noted there were no previous infringements.

The second case involved Evans and his horse Supreme King, who had finished first in a handicap on the all-weather at Kempton on March 6 last year.

A post-race sample from the horse produced a positive test for methylprednisolone, a metabolite of the powerful corticosteroid prednisolone, which is sold under the brand name Depo-Medrone.

Corticosteroids are used to treat pain and inflammation, predominantly in joints. They are permitted in training but must be clear of a horse’s system on a raceday as they mask discomfort and have a performance-enabling effect.

The BHA recommends corticosteroid injections are given no less than eight weeks before a horse runs, while many vets would say 28 days is enough. Medical records show Supreme King was treated a month before he ran, albeit Evans’s vet allegedly suggested a week to ten days would be enough for the drug to have been excreted.

Goldstone approved the plea agreement of a £1,500 fine but added that it was done “with some hesitation” as it was the trainer’s third breach of the same rule. “Mr Evans should understand that neither the BHA nor a judicial panel will treat any further breaches of this or any related rule as leniently,” Goldstone added.

Medication is part and parcel of modern training and veterinary treatment, with yards up and down Britain and Ireland using it judiciously for the benefit of their equine athletes and to keep them exercising and racing through mild discomfort. But with such an approach to the use of medications, particularly corticosteroids for fetlocks and knees, and non-steroidal anti-inflammatories for pain relief, comes the increased responsibility to keep on top of what horses are receiving, when and for what purpose.

Abergavenny based trainer David Evans by his 3 and a half furlong sand gallop at his stables Ty-Derlwyn Farm13.9.10 Pic:Edward Whitaker
David Evans: three rules breaches for horses testing positive for drugs not permitted on raceday
Credit: Edward Whitaker
To emphasise this point, the BHA provided an update to racing professionals last month outlining how the rules on the use of the bronchodilator clenbuterol would soon be amended to discourage its use “unless it is considered absolutely necessary” in part due to the potential for cross-contamination. It is simply not something to use just because it can be used.

Moreover, the regulator took the unusual step last month of reposting a message on X from the Veterinary Medicines Directorate, a government body responsible for the oversight of veterinary products, relating to the seizure of 13,000 unauthorised horse medicines that had been sold illegally online. The products, which were mostly ulcer treatments, had been sold by a company in the Seychelles and were not suitable for use in the UK, where they had been heading.

The importance of knowing with certainty what a horse is being treated with, and why, is crucial given equine welfare is such a big issue. Any impression that drugs are given to horses without everything being completely above board would not be the kind of image racing wants to offer up to the public.

One progressive suggestion would be the creation of a central medication database on which the treatments given to horses would be uploaded by vets. This would allow for a full and clear medical history to be created for each horse that could then travel with them throughout their racing and post-racing lives. It would also provide the BHA with unambiguous clarity over what medications horses racing in Britain are receiving.

From personal experience, I have found it utterly confusing that a horse’s medical history is not its own but rather the possession of whoever was paying the bill at the time the medication was given. When attempting to find out with certainty what injections and interventions a horse I have bought has had, I have been rebuffed by vets who say that such information can only be disclosed by the previous horse’s owner. A database would eliminate that.

The prevalence of medication means that racing owes it to its horses and to its supporters to ensure all efforts are made to use it only when appropriate and to ensure that no corners are cut in its delivery or its recording.

None of us could log on for a number of hours today, brigust.

The new community still isn't working right