Chief Stipe

Cutting out and shifty isn't normally slippery is it?

I don't have any vendetta - why would I have one? Is this what you mean by "having a fair idea"? I'm just noting my observations and passing on comments that I have heard from trainers and owners that I have asked about the conditions. Te Aroha didn't produce something similar. On what basis do you say that? Sitting in front of the TV?

I was just thinking today looking at the past and future calendar that the Riccarton AWT doesn't seem to get much use to pay its way!

Guess what! The video has been taken down!!!! If it was a soft 6 or even a 5 I can't see how irrigation if it had been done would have made a difference one way or another.

Race 1 WAIMATE RC ANNUAL RACEDAY MILE 1600m CATALINA BAY (K Williams) - Slow away. KING OF THE DANCE (S Toolooa) - Slow away. ELANIA (R Muniandy) - Restrained to obtain cover after jumping from a wide barrier. JETHRO (D Tait) - Over raced in the early stages when attempting to obtain cover and raced three wide without cover throughout. SAILING AWAY (N Parmar) - Lay out under pressure in the straight The track was downgraded to Soft 6 retrospective to Race 1. Race 2 GM ACCOUNTING & CONSULTING MAIDEN 1200m SKYLARK (L Hemi) - Declared a late scratching at 12.10pm after bucking during the preliminary dislodging its rider who was uninjured. Trainer N Mitchell was advised that SKYLARK is required to trial to the satisfaction of a Stipendiary Steward prior to racing next. CLASSIC COUNTRY (C Campbell) - Slow away. Raced greenly throughout, running wide going into the bend passing the 1000 metres. BEACH BOY (A Goindasamy) - Slow away. DUJOUR (C Barnes) - Slow away. STORMY BELLE (L Callaway) - Slow away then being ridden with urgency to recover. Raced three wide without cover. UGET WHAT YOU GIVE (N Parmar) - Lost its footing and blundered going into the bend near the 1000 metres. Inconvenienced near the 150 metres when LISE PAREE shifted inwards under pressure. Following this race it was reported that UGET WHAT YOU GIVE (N Parmar) had lost its footing going into the bend near the 1000 metres. Video footage confirmed a significant slip when the filly was racing free of interference. After meeting with riders, an inspection committee comprising Stipendiary Stewards, Jockey and Club representatives, and the Jockey Mentor, undertook a track inspection which revealed a significant slip mark at the commencement of the bend along with numerous other areas of concern. Following a further meeting of riders the remainder of the meeting was abandoned due to track safety concerns.

MEETING NEWS Timaru Races Abandoned After Race 2 Due to a horse(s) slipping the meeting has been abandoned after Race 2. More information will follow.

Yep contrary to some pundits Swayzee has come back really well from his spell. Track Rating: GOOD Gross Time: 2:41:3 Mile Rate: 1:52:8 Lead Time: 48.3 First Quarter: 29.2 Second Quarter: 28.5 Third Quarter: 27.9 Fourth Quarter: 27.4 Margins: 10.6m x HFNK Track Rating: GOOD Gross Time: 1:53:0 Mile Rate: 1:53:0 First Quarter: 27.5 Second Quarter: 30.9 Third Quarter: 28.5 Fourth Quarter: 26.1 Margins: HD x 6.9m Seemed to be pacing smoothly. PCM08062411.mp4

Interesting Yulong were the anonymous online bidder for Imperatriz until the last bid when they bid from the floor. Apparently they do a similar thing with online auctions where they switch to another user account late in the auction.

Come on @the galah 90% of your opening posts are negative. The last topic you started was typical where you had a go at the favourites getting beaten and made all sorts of inferences. Nearly everyone in that thread disagreed with you. Pot kettle Galah. You won't respond to reasoned argument with logic or evidence. That's the biggest difference in our respective posts but you label mine negative. How is providing substantial evidence to support my claims negative? They are only negative in your view because they negate the conspiracy BS that you promote. You level of knowledge is as bad as the Stuff article around 2009 about a Levamisole positive that stated trainers were "loading their horses with P"! It was unintellgent ignorant BS based on someone connecting dots to arrive at a conclusion that supported their bias. It was nonsense. The journo had obvisiously been sent information or had Googled it and came up with research showing that Levamisole metabolised to an amphetamine LIKE chemical called aminorex. So yes I saw red when you started repeating the same crap. Actually Galah I ignore most of your juvenile swipes as its the BS you espouse on major issues that I take issue with. In my opinion it is those views that are killing the industry aided and abetted by the inaction of those administrators that could resolve things. The integrity of the industry is in trouble NOT because of its participants at the coalface but through the inaction of those making the rules and the negative culture of those enforcing them. You don't offer solutions you just point the finger and go "I told you so!"

But your points have no substance. You promote misinformation but I guess you can be excused because you have no understanding of the science. What's that got to do with Levamisole? Deflection? BTW I've always said that Gain of Function altered coronavirus leaked from a lab was the likely cause of the outbreak. Science shows that there is a considerable air gap between a wild virus and the one that infected Wuhan. Your drug testing arguments have a similar air gap. Your instincts have failed you in this instance. Science is about evidence based research NOT instinct. Occasionally you can get lucky on instinct but at the end of the day you need to provide evidence based fact to support your hypothesis. You fail constantly. The difference between you and I when it comes to the origin of Covid is I back up my hypothesis with solid science. You use gut instinct only. You display no logic and arguably your commonsense is lacking because you have formed the hypothesis that there is widespread abuse of performance enhancing dugs in racing without any evidence. When something remotely related to your argument surfaces you go - You cry wolf when you see a rabbit. The facts are: Your interpretation of what happened in the USA in the recent drug scandal is wrong and not supported by the facts. You have no evidence to support widespread misuse of unknown performance enhancing drugs in harness racing. A bit like your race analysis e.g. your bashing of Johnny Cox's drive.

Pull your head in and read the Act. BOAY has had a complaint before and I'm not looking for another.

Up to five trainers now that I've heard coment about the poor state of the Pukekohe track. Will be interesting to see the nominations for the 19 June meeting. Only 7 races scheduled again.

Pinch @the galah 's!

Continuing on in @the galah 's Chemistry education. Aminorex has amphetamine like properties but it isn't classed as an amphetamine. But looking at the chemical structure of amphetamine we can understand how testing works. Amphetamine variations all have the same chemical backbone which is what testing assays look for. If it doesn't have this back bone in a broad sense it isn't an amphetamine. Classes of drugs all have the same or very similar pharmcological effect which is caused by the common backbone. This is called a pharmacophore. For example:

This is the chemical structure of Levamisole. 6-phenyl-2,3,5,6-tetrahydroimidazo[2,1-b][1,3]thiazole. Interestingly Levamisole is now being used in the successful treatment of human colon cancer. Levamisole is an anthelmintic drug. Co-administered with fluorouracil in the treatment of Dukes' stage C colon cancer, levamisole restores immune function through stimulating antibody formation, enhancing T-cell activity, and potentiating macrophage function. (NCI04)

BTW this is the chemical structure for aminorex (Organic Chemistry 401): 5-phenyl-4,5-dihydro-1,3-oxazol-2-amine. This is what testing assays look for.

No because not only are you slow on the uptake you are biased and blind. Duh! So you've conceded on the Levamisole/aminorex argument and now arguing that there are undetected drugs in use out there. Where did you read this crap about small changes to exising drugs can lead to avoidance of detection? A cite please. However your statement indicates a complete lack of understanding of how testing works. A test doesn't look for the whole drug it looks for a chemical structure within that drug that classifes it for example as an opoid or an amphetamine analogue. A bit like Covid RAT tests - the test looks for a structure that is common to all Covid strains - a very small part of that structure that can't change. When testing for drugs the tests do the same thing for example with opoids they may look for the 4,5-epoxymorphinan ring which is common to all opoids. If a spike occurs on the test assay results then they can further refine to find what the specific molecule is. As I've told you many many times before modern testing looks for anomalies - e.g. if an undefined spike occurs on a mass spectrometer then that triggers a futher investigation and isolation of what the molecule is and its chemical structure. You would fail as a scientist because you are connecting dots without a chain of evidence. Some of what was sold was indeed snake oil and would have had no performance impact. By far the majority of the drugs sold were relabelled drugs that were in common use for therapeutic reasons or were on the controlled substance list. That was the biggest crime that was committed - relabelling existing drugs and selling them at inflated prices and circumventing race code rules as well - there are laws against that both in racing and at Federal level. Many got done for that not because they threw positives with their horses but because they committed fraud. Akin to what intially got Al Capone - he was done for tax evasion not bootlegging, selling illicit drugs or murder. If the administration of these mostly legal drugs resulted in improved performance it was more likely because the health of those horses improved or pain was suppressed allowing harder training. I'm sure with the extensive reading you tell us all you have done on the subject you will know that there were strict administration time frames given by the sellers for the drugs. Why? So they would be within the withholding times for the drugs i.e. by the time the horses got to the races their systems were clear of the substances that could throw a positive. If I recall correctly one of the relabelled drugs was Clenbuterol. Clenbuterol is still able to be legally used but has strict timeframes around its use. I can't remember what the fraudsters relabelled it but it would be something like GoFast 99. Clenbuterol was clearly identified in the relabelled drugs and through positives. It is probably the lack of a legitimate chain of purchase that alerted the authorities to the fraud. So effectively they relabelled existing drugs, handed out detailed administration instructions and got idiots to buy the stuff. The drugs weren't illegal but the process was. Refer above. I've explained this before. The lab testing in the USA is archaic at best. If a lab scientist did indeed make those comments then they should be sacked because they are not up to speed with current technology. No 101 - try reading some Organic and Inorganic Chemistry 101 texts - 101 is the nomenclature used for first year university subjects. Really? So your theory is he got a bad batch of Levamisole? Yet the testing lab identified Levamisole? Do you actually realise how daft your logic is? I take it you don't give any weight to the other hypothesis that the horses that returned positives to Levamisole were recent imports from NZ to OZ and that they may have been treated before departure to boost immunity to cover the stress of transport?

If it (whatever it is) occurs then you predicted it? If it (whatever it is) doesn't occur then you didn't predict it? If whatever you predict is race fixing how is the race fixed? Asking on behalf of the ignorant amongst us.

What is your hypothesis? If the autopsy is inconclusive what do you suggest they do? Make it up?

You are talking about 30 years ago. Yep there has been no advancement in testing technology since then. Not to mention you are ignoring the fact we are talking about a totally different class of drug. I accept you haven't a clue about any of this. Aminorex is an amphetamine analogue. A class of drug that has been around since at least WW2. Not only that but easily detected down to less than a trillionth of a gram per litre. They were duped. It was largely a case of fraud - mislabelling of legitimate easily detectable drugs as well as snake oil that were used fraudently and within withholding periods. The majority were done for another them illegally in their possession. The fact is Levamisole and its metabolites such as aminorex are easily detected in testing. It is impossible to mask their presence. Anyone with a rudimentary understanding of the science involved in testing would be laughing themselves silly at what you write. Or groaning with pity. I can send you some 101 material to improve your understanding but I suspect you are so far down Alice's rabbit hole it would be a waste of time. Oh and your latest argument eluding to masking falls down because if it was so easy to mask why have there been so many positives?

Really? You're not winning anything. I just described what you write for what it is. You've provided ZERO science to support your hypothesis. Present a factual argument to support your opinion?

Right so testing according to you is a complete waste of time. You obviously have no idea. Synthetic EPO is detectable however it is a completely different class of drug that has natural analogues hence the difficulty in detecting it. Multiple doses take longer to clear for reasons that you seem oblivious to. Levamisole and its metabolites if not present aren't having any effect. Any number of legal therapeutic drugs have withholding periods I.e. the time it takes to clear the horses system. Are you going to completely ban everything? Correct and it levels out to near zero!!! So can't have a pharmacological effect!! It was pure aminorex that was being tested at quantities far higher than would be metabolised from Levamisole. What annoys me most about your bullshit is you had fuel to all the crap conspiracy theories about performance enhancing. You effectively bring racing into disrepute and you add a warped credibility to those pushing crap treatments that have no effect.

Rubbish. I see you are downloading the races on your PC or laptop or recording from your smart phone - hence the pixalation. Try looking at the YouTube video - its higher definition and you can still manipulate frame by frame. I fixed your post for you.

No threshold or withholding time for Omeprazole. Medication Thresholds Under LAC 35I1725 That Supersede ARCI Medication Schedule.pdf

Trainer: Vet's List Rule Could 'Destroy' Fair Grounds "One bully met another bully," Hall of Famer Steve Asmussen said of the LRC and HISA. By Eric Mitchell Today, 5:50 PM Sponsored By New restrictions put on racehorses shipped out of Louisiana to tracks operating under Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority rules could decimate the quality of racing during the Fair Grounds Race Course and Slots' winter meet and perhaps endanger the New Orleans track's position as a key feeder onto the Road to the Kentucky Derby, according to horsemen and track executives. HISA announced June 5 a new policy, effective immediately, that all horses shipped from Louisiana to track in its jurisdiction would be placed on the veterinarian's list as "medically compromised and unfit to race." The shipping restriction was in response to the Louisiana Racing Commission making withdrawal times and testing limits less restrictive on multiple medications. Initially, the commission took action to significantly ease restrictions on clenbuterol and methylprednisolone acetate (also known by its trade name Depo-Medrol), but severe pushback regarding these often abused medications caused commissioners to restore the withdrawal times on these drugs during an emergency meeting June 4. The commission left in place, however, changes to the testing thresholds for several medications that are more lenient than what is endorsed by the Association of Racing Commissioners International. "Some of the changes contemplated in the emergency rule contradict the weight of scientific evidence and long-established industry standards for medication controls," stated HISA in its announcement of the Louisiana shipping rule. Trainer Keith Desormeaux, a Louisiana native and Fair Grounds stalwart, said the new shipping rule will destroy the Fair Grounds' winter meet because none of the major racing stables can afford to send horses there. "The rule effectively bans horses from going to Louisiana," Desormeaux said. Photo: Chad B. Harmon Trainer Keith Desormeaux in 2023 at Churchill Downs Once a horse is on the veterinarian's list, it cannot race until it satisfactorily has worked five-eighths in front of a state veterinarian, been jogged afterward to show it is sound, and gotten clean blood test results. Desormeaux said just getting everything scheduled can take a couple of weeks and at least a month—provided everything goes smoothly. "State vets are under a lot of pressure to scrutinize these horses and sometimes a sound horse is returned to the Vet's List and you have to start all over again," he said. "No trainer is going to send a horse to Louisiana and put their horse and their owner in that situation. "This decision effectively ends quality racing at the Fair Grounds. What you will have are the current horses stabled at the Fair Grounds, which are not Derby-caliber horses." Desormeaux noted that Churchill officials are now talking about greatly reducing purses for those races and eliminating Kentucky Derby prep races. "How much does that affect the investment by Louisiana owners in Louisiana if their horses can't race there?" Desormeaux said. "They will destroy the racing economy in New Orleans." Veterinarians list requirements for Louisiana shippers could add to the workload of regulatory veterinarians, who are already performing regular checks in the interests of equine safety. Desormeaux is foremost upset with the LRC for picking this fight by changing its medication rules through emergency procedures. But he also feels HISA has gone too far. "As with the ignorant, too-quick-to-move decision by the Louisiana Racing Commission that obviously was wrong and walked back quickly, HISA has done the same thing. They have made an over-reaching decision that affects thousands of horses' lives and horsemen's lives," he said. "I have to wonder if this is some kind of vindication for the lawsuit." Lisa Lazarus, HISA's CEO, said the new shipping rule has nothing to do with the legal challenge regarding HISA's constitutional standing, which is awaiting a decision in the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans, and everything to do with the state commission gambling with the welfare of Louisiana racehorses. "The federal lawsuit was filed over three years ago. This rule is a response to the detrimental effect on horse welfare caused by the LRC's emergency rule recently passed, which has been roundly criticized by the horse racing community and even the Louisiana state legislature," she said. While Desormeaux believes the pre-race examinations in place now are more than adequate to protect horses without forcing them onto a veterinarian's list, Lazarus disagrees. "Our veterinary team disagrees, as the Louisiana rules, which depart meaningfully from ARCI rules and are not consistent with the rules of Thoroughbred racing anywhere in the world. It believes that these rules place Louisiana horses in a medically compromised position," she said. For the veterinarian's list requirement to be lifted, Lazarus said the Louisiana commission would need to restore all thresholds to the ARCI standards they were before the emergency rule was passed. The commission has called its second emergency meeting in a week, to be held June 7 at 2 p.m. CT. Executives with Churchill Downs Inc., which owns Fair Grounds, also seem focused on seeing Louisiana commissioners restore the status quo. "While I understand this is a walk-back on two of these problematic medications, Churchill Downs wants to be on the record to state this entire emergency rule-making process that put us in this position is probably not the right way to go," said Oz Shariff, counsel for CDI, during the Louisiana commission's June 4 emergency hearing. "I think the best way and the best approach for the commission is to reexamine this process through normal rule-making so there is adequate time for public input, comment, review—all the industry stakeholders, which many are on this call—deserve to weigh in on this very important issue, particularly as Louisiana starts to deviate from well-recognized, and well-understood national standards. We are appreciative of the baby steps on these two medications but there is a much broader issue at play here that we want to be on the record as being opposed to." During the June 4 meeting Dr. Will Farmer, CDI medical director, attempted to address some issues with the other therapeutic medication threshold changes but was told by LRC executive director Steve Landry to limit his comments to clenbuterol and Depo-Medrol. "What we sought to express in that meeting is that CDI views the LSRC's actions in passing the remaining emergency rules as a credible risk to the reputation, safety, and integrity of Louisiana racing that will result in damages to the economics of the Louisiana racing ecosystem. Indeed with the announcement made Wednesday by the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority...our initial concerns are no longer hypothetical," wrote Churchill Downs Inc. CEO Bill Carstanjen in a June 6 letter to Landry. Carstanjen wrote that with the shipping restriction in place he expects the Fair Grounds meet to be shorter and that its Kentucky Derby prep races may not be run at all. "It is our belief that the substantial impediment of automatic placement of horses on the Vet's List will cause many owners and trainers to elect not to send horses into Louisiana for the meet at Fair Grounds Race Course. Our goal at Fair Grounds is to showcase Louisiana racing on a national stage by delivering a racing product similar in quality to that which is offered in Kentucky, Arkansas, and New York," he wrote. "Under current circumstances, we are unlikely to have sufficient horses to conduct the full number of race dates for our traditional meet and will be forced to run fewer days. Under this uncertainty, there is a strong likelihood that we will not hold the Risen Star (G2), Lecomte (G3), or the Louisiana Derby (G2) at Fair Grounds, to name but a few key races." Carstanjen added that CDI would be reviewing the provisions in state law that address unforeseeable circumstances that might prevent a racing entity from being able to fulfill its contractual obligations. Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen, who owns multiple leading trainer titles at Fair Grounds and is the leading North American trainer by wins, sees blame on both sides of the shipping restriction. Photo: Anne M. Eberhardt Trainer Steve Asmussen "I believe that (Louisiana) did it because they don't want outsiders to come in and racing against them. And then I think with what HISA has done has given them exactly what they wanted," he said. "One bully met another bully. The participants who have nothing to do with those dumb decisions are the ones who serve (the penalty)." Winter stabling at Fair Grounds has typically been a key component of Asmussen's operation. He believes training and racing horses there on a safe surface leaves them well-prepared for heading north in the spring. "We're trying to put them in the best circumstances possible, and if HISA thinks that eliminating horses legging up on the Fair Grounds surface so that they can go to the alternatives of that, it shows how much they are missing the point on horse safety," he said. Asmussen said there are other more effective options than forcing horses onto the veterinarian's list. "We're required to have a negative Coggins on every horse. How about to race anywhere you're required to have a negative hair follicle? Who wouldn't pay for that?" he said, referencing a test to identify any previous medication use. "Why avoid the obvious—why don't we do all this testing before they run? How about a negative hair follicle on every horse before they're allowed on the grounds of any racetrack. "But instead they want to play 'gotcha.'" Desormeaux said the impact on Fair Grounds is the tip of an iceberg that could do substantial damage to Louisiana's racing and breeding industries. He also cited problems that will surface with trainers qualifying for worker's comp through the Louisiana Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association and damage to the market value of Louisiana-breds if they are restricted from racing in high-profiles stakes out of state. "I've only just started to think about all the issues," he said. "I can tell you I'm scheduled to go to OBS next week to buy a couple of horses for a couple of guys in New Orleans. I'm waiting for them to call me and say, 'I don't want these horses if I can't run them in Louisiana.'" Even though stall applications for Fair Grounds' next meet are not due until Nov. 1, Desormeaux said he has to start working out his options for the winter now. "I'm thinking I need to sell my house in Louisiana and send my horse to Santa Anita for the winter," he said. "The trainers are not going (to Fair Grounds) under these rules. It is a no-brainer, and Louisiana started this all. They opened the door and allowed HISA to punish them. HISA can destroy Louisiana with their power, and they will." Dallas Stewart, who regularly races in stakes throughout the country off of races at Fair Grounds, said he is hoping for a quick resolution. "Hopefully cooler heads will prevail, and they'll sit down and work this out," he said. —Byron King and Frank Angst contributed to this story.