The Calder Soccer League again has six teams made up of grooms, exercise riders, hot walkers and Calder employees. The teams play every Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday evenings on the training track field.

As well as the Soccer League, Chaplain LaPointe’s His Place Ministries also runs a pool tournament that also has six teams competing for prizes and trophies. There is also an individual pool competition.

The Ministries are feeding 20 families a week that are struggling financially during these tough economic times. Also there are 20 individual men and women being fed on the backside with food Chaplain LaPointe receives from the Food Bank. Every Wednesday, Chaplain Tom gives out 500 sandwiches along with fruit and cake to anybody who wants them.

Five computers are set upon in the chapel for people to surf the web or email family members. Computer class are offered to those that need them.

As always, Chaplain Tom and his assistants keep signing up those backsiders who qualify for Primary Health Care medical coverage. Recently a number of those fighting serious illnesses have been signed up and their bills are covered by this Federal Program.

I recently was told that Calder had already made a $100,000,000 on slots through July 31, 2010, and they were only paying out a small amount to purses. A good story but like most emanating from the backside, not to factual. In fact, Calder’s net revenue for the year won’t get close to $100,000,000. Through July 31, 2010, Calder’s net revenue was only a tad over $35,000,000 of which the state took over $16,000,000 and about $2.8 million was earmarked for overnight purses only.

These revenue numbers and tax amounts are readily available online courtesy of the State of Florida, Division of Pari Mutuel Wagering.

Since July 1st, overnights are now receiving over 12% of Calder’s new slots revenues. Understand that net is defined as dollar value in, minus dollar value out, less promotional values, plus unclaimed vouchers. That number each day is divided by number of machines to get the drop per machine. Overnights are now getting over 12% of drop or basically that percent of gross machine profit.

On July 10th, Calder again held the 1.35 million dollar Summit of Speed or the SOS. The Summit of Speed consisted of seven sprint races of six furlongs or less comprised of one Grade 1, two Grade II’s and one Grade III stake races. In the past, Calder horsemen for the most part believed the acronym SOS stood not only Save Our Ship or Save Our Souls but more to the point Subsidize Our Shippers or Steal Our Shekels.

Happily this year the acronym SOS stood for something closer to Slam Our Shippers or Skunk Our Strangers as Calder horsemen won 83% of the stakes monies paid out or close to 1.1 million dollars in stakes earnings.

The only win by an invader was in the $100,000 Bob Umphrey Turf Sprint by Mike Dubb whose favorite, Tahoe Warrior scored by close to three lengths. The Umphrey, named in memory of the long time Calder Racing Secretary, was the first stake of the day and probably had Calder horsemen bracing themselves for more dominance to come from the out-of-towners.

If just never happened. The Shippers had won their only race.

In the next two stakes Calder Trainers, Stan Gold and Dave Fawkes, registered victories for the home team. Fawkes unleashed Big Drama’s little brother, appropriately named Little Drama, who won the Frank Gomez Memorial by 10 widening lengths as if showing off for his big brother who was to run later.

The Grade III Azeala saw Joe Calascibetta’s Pica Slew driving clear by two lengths over co favorites trained by Eddie Kenneally and Bob Baffert.

The grade II Carry Back was expected to be a successful homecoming for Calder graduate, D’Funnybone who went off at 1-10, but was run down late by Coffee Boy from the powerful Marty Wolfson stable.

In the Grade II Smile Sprint, Big Drama, older brother of Little Drama, bested Phil Gleaves’ Mambo Meister by 1 ½ lengths for David Fawkes, In the wake of these Calder horses were horses trained by Kirin McLaughlin, Bill Mott, Mike Trombetta, Rick Dutrow and Todd Pletcher.

The Grade I Princess Rooney ended the parade of seven consecutive stakes races with yet another winner for Wolfson to tie him with Fawkes with two stakes wins on the day. Jessica is Back got up to win going away by 2 lengths in the Princess Rooney at almost 9-1, the longest odds of any stakes winner. In her wake were four horses trained by Eddie Kenneally, Bret Calhoun, Bob Baffert and Todd Pletcher that all went off at odds of 5-1 or less.

Calder’s top purses may not rank with the best, but their horses certainly do.

Some 400 years later, I’m sure Shakespeare’s Prince Hamlet didn’t foresee his famous words being used in the topic of a panel discussion between those who advocate maintaining the phenylbutazone threshold of 5 mcg/ml in the thoroughbred race horse and those that wish to see it lowered to 2 mcg/ml. This forum held during the National HBPA Convention in Minneapolis on July 23rd was, if not one of the best ever hosted by the NHBPA, certainly the all time largest in number of panel members. Ten panelists made their own presentations plus two other presentations for panelists unable to be present due to last minute emergencies.

The ten panelists and twelve presentations were split evenly between those wishing to see the threshold remain at 5 mcg/ml and those wishing to reduce it to 2 mcg/ml for the administration of bute at 24 hours prior to post time.

The supporters of the present 5 mcg/ml threshold were:

Dr. Steven Barker, Lab Director and State Chemist Louisiana State Racing Commission

Dr. George Maylin, Director New York State Wagering Board Drug Testing and Research Program.

Dr. Steven Selway, Equine Surgeon with clinics at Belmont and Gulfstream Park.

Dr. Dan Shields, Equine Practitioner in Southern California, founder and CEO of Statison Medical.

Dr. Thomas Tobin, Professor, Department of Veterinary Science, Gluck Equine Research Center.

Darrell Vienna, Trainer and attorney in Southern California, Vice President of the California Thoroughbred Trainers.

The proponents of reducing the bute threshold to 2 mcg/ml were:

Dr. Rick Arthur, Equine Medical Director, California Horse Racing Board, RMTC Secretary.

Matt Iuliano, Executive Director and Vice President of the Jockey Club.

Dr. Tom David, Equine Medical Director, Louisiana State Racing Commission.

Dr. Mary Scollay, Equine Medical Director, Kentucky Horse Racing Authority.

Dr. Lawrence Soma, Professor of Anesthesiology and Professor of Large Animal Veterinary Medicine, New Bolton, University of Pennsylvania.

Dr. Keith Soring, Director of Racing for Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission, previously an equine practitioner in the Midwest and Florida.

This important forum with a panel that was a virtual who’s who of racing medication, testing and regulations experts, unfortunately, got no media coverage with the exception of an article after the convention in the Thoroughbred Times which correctly quoted the HBPA press release, which stated in part:

… it is clear that the scientific community is not unanimous in its opinion that the preponderance of scientific evidence demonstrates that there is an effect on the athletic performance of the horse at the 5 mcg/ml regulatory threshold… It is understood that while the vast majority of horses test below the 2 mcg/ml level, the 5 mcg/ml level simply provides a safety margin to avoid inappropriate positives.

This last part is important because no consideration was given at the RMTC for the horse who trains on bute pills then stops at 48 hours prior to post time and has an IV administration of bute at 24 hours prior to post time. Since oral bute builds up in the horse’s system, this horse is very likely to go over the proposed 2 mcg/ml threshold. Also remember the new level is the 2 mcg/ml not the 2.2 or 2.6 mcg/ml previously used by some supposed “2 mcg/ml states”.

With more bute overages to refer to as “positives”, the media will have a feeding frenzy and Congress will soon be inviting us back to discuss our ever increasing number of drug “positives”.

But let’s get back to the Thoroughbred Times online and hard copy articles which quoted little from the forum about studies on bute at both the 2 and 5 mcg/ml levels in the two states that had used both levels, Iowa and Virginia. But both articles did quote Dr. Scot Waterman’s numbers presented a month previously at the “Welfare and Safety of the Racehorse Summit” from two unnamed states that showed a rather dramatic increase in catastrophic breakdowns at the 5 mcg/ml threshold. The Thoroughbred Times hard copy, after quoting Dr. Waterman’s numbers in detail, did mention in passing that a study presented at the convention suggested there was no statistically significant change between the two levels.

The catastrophic breakdown numbers in one state (Virginia) according to Dr. Waterman went from “0.69 per 1,000 starts to 2.26 after the change” to 5 mcg/ml. Unfortunately, Dr. Waterman must have stopped his 2 mcg/ml years at 2001 (Virginia has excellent records back to 1997 on catastrophic breakdowns) when there were no catastrophic breakdowns, as 2000 had 3 of them. At least that is the only way I came up with numbers similar to Dr. Waterman’s.

When Dr. Tom Tobin did his study with Dr. Rich Harden, Virginia Racing Commission Equine Medical Director, they discovered that 2005, which had over 3,000 starts and just two catastrophic breakdowns, was actually run at the 5 mcg/ml threshold level and not the 2.6 mcg/ml level, and that that incorrect information had been given to Dr. Waterman. This changed the numbers rather severely. If one examines ’05 to ’08 which were run at 5 mcg/ml with ’03 and ’04 run at 2.6 mcg/ml and ’09 and ’10 at 2 mcg/ml you get two four year periods that show “no significant difference” in catastrophic breakdowns regardless of whatever statistical evaluation method (Fisher, ANOVA, etc.) is used.

In the unnamed state that turned out to be Iowa, Dr. Waterman correctly used the numbers that Dr. Soring’s presentation contained, which were that from 2000 to 2006 at 2.2 mcg/ml the catastrophic breakdowns were 1.31 per 1,000 starts, and from 2007 to 2009 at 5 mcg/ml it increased to 1.95 per 1,000 starts. The year with the highest incidences of breakdowns was 2004 (2.2 mcg/ml) followed by 2009 (5 mcg/ml) with the next highest catastrophic breakdown numbers a dead heat between 2006 (2.2 mcg/ml) and 2008 (5 mcg/ml).

It was pointed out by a Racing Form chart caller and several trainers from Iowa in the audience that the racing surface there has had issues for the last decade. In fact when Dr. Soring’s numbers were given to a statistician, the two lowest years of number of breakdowns were removed and again the data proved “no significant difference between 2.2 and 5 mcg/ml” using Fisher’s Extract test and the Negative Binomial Regression Model.

I don’t pretend to understand how any of these statistical evaluation tests work, but I do understand the phrase “no significant difference”.

A number of the other presentations, while very interesting, were heavily loaded with anecdotal information, but were short on science, except for the fact that the horse could be under a slight pharmacological effect from the bute at the time of the pre race veterinary examination. But let’s look at Iowa’s time of pre-race inspection, usually between 7 and 9 a.m. Post time is 3:30 p.m. on weekdays and 6:30 p.m. on weekends. Does anyone see a problem here?

Couldn’t that horse in a late race on the weekend actually end up being examined 14 or 15 hours before he runs, or just 9 or 10 hours after bute was administered?

Why not do something radical like move the pre race exam to 12 to 2 p.m. on weekdays and to 3-5 p.m. on weekends?

Is this really about the horse or the examining veterinarian?

For thirty years the 5 mcg/ml threshold has worked successfully, but now the Jockey Club and some Medical Directors want it changed, apparently with or without scientific evidence to support the change. Why?

Fortunately this three hour forum was video taped and sent to the ARCI Model Rules Committee for their review and is available for anyone else who wants it. Hopefully, ARCI will bounce the proposed 2 mcg/ml rule back to the RMTC for more adequate scientific evidence that proves a change to 2 mcg/ml is warranted.

The week of April 12, 2010 was a very interesting week in Lexington and not just because the 800 lb gorilla, Keeneland, was in action once again. For me it was most interesting because the Racing Medication and Testing Consortium (RMTC) had their meeting followed by the Association of Racing Commissioners International and the National HBPA executive committee meeting. The RMTC Board of Directors met on Monday and immediately discussed the proposed NSAID model rule which has become quite the hot topic since Dr. Tom David from Louisiana brought it up at our spring meeting a year ago.

Dr. David appeared before the RMTC Board then and strongly suggested the following which was in a letter he presented; “Illegal drugs are not the problem it’s the so called legal therapeutic medications that are over used and abused.” Sorry, Stan Bergstein, but apparently it wasn’t actually “rocket fuel” after all.

Dr. David who is the medical director for Louisiana strongly felt horses that he and others checked during pre race vet exams were definitely under the therapeutic influence of Bute. He contended that Bute made detection of inflamed joints, muscles and mild lameness difficult to detect, because at the time of the pre race exam the horse could have over 5 micrograms per mcg/ml of Bute in its system. The RMTC/ARCI model rule threshold for Bute is 5 mcg/ml, and this is the national threshold in all but a few states.

Bute is to be administered 24 hours prior to post time so, therefore, the horse when it races will have a blood sample that when tested will be under 5 mcg/ml. If the horse races in the last race or at night, the pre race exam might take place 5 to 10 hours prior to racing, thus making it possible that the pre race vet exam is done at 14 to 19 hours after the administration of Bute which could then still have a pharmacological effect on the horse at the time of examination.

Dr. David wanted the time of the administration of Bute or any NSAID moved back to 48 to 72 hours prior to racing. The RMTC’s Scientific Advisory Committee’s consensus was to go back to the 2 mcg/ml level threshold at 24 hours prior to the race as it supposedly was previously in some states. But did those states really have a 2 mcg/ml threshold?

In 1998, I did a comprehensive study of Bute rules within the United States that was printed in the NHBPA Medication Guide. The only state with a 2 mcg/ml Bute threshold was Illinois which mandated that 2 warnings be given before horsemen could be assessed a fine not to exceed $500. By the way, 150 starts in a calendar year bought the trainer one more warning before a fine. In 1998 Maryland was at 2.6 mcg/ml with a warning from 2 – 2.6 mcg/ml. New Jersey and Delaware were both 2.6 mcg/ml before a fine.

It seemed that the 2 mcg/ml “train” was not going to be stopped and a 30 year old threshold was about to be brought down by a single medical director (there were more than one medical director involved later). Interestingly two of these three medical directors were long time practitioners on the backside whom I never read or heard that they ever suggested that the 5 mcg/ml level be lowered while they were practicing veterinarians.

I asked that at least the threshold be set at 2.6 mcg/ml with a possible phase in period before penalties. I was met with silence and a denial of the 2.6 mcg/ml threshold. Several of the practicing vets present at the meeting said that lowering the Bute threshold to 2 mcg/ml would only increase the use of corticosteroids which are worse for the horse. There was also a question of the buildup of daily oral bute in the horse’s system plus the IV injection of bute at 24 hours prior to race time causing the horse’s bute level to exceed 2 mcg/ml.

Nevertheless, the motion was made for a 2 mcg/ml recommendation from the RMTC and it passed 16 to 2. In my memory, it was the first time ever at an RMTC meeting that a threshold passed with dissenting votes. In one year at the behest of a single medical director, later joined by others, the level on Bute and probably other NSAIDs changed while horsemen everywhere have waited 5 years for promised thresholds on Glycopyrrolate (Robinul), Pyrilamine (Equihist), Methocarbamol (Robaxin), Detomidine (Dormosedam), Butorphanol (Torbugesic), Lidocaine (Xylocaine), Mepivacaine (Carbocaine) and Acepromazine.

The above eight therapeutic medications will all have a threshold at some time in the near future below which level no call or detection of any of them will require a penalty of any kind. But guess what? A detection of any of the eight at any level currently will mandate a minimum penalty of a 15 day license suspension, a $500 fine and a loss of purse. This means that good old “zero tolerance” is back in play for testing all these therapeutics. Nowhere is a steward or regulator notified in the Model Rules that a threshold is soon due for all eight.

For five years I have begged the RMTC that the forty plus therapeutics waiting thresholds be put in bold print or have an asterisk printed by them in the ARCI Classification Guidelines for Foreign Substances. This would permit Stewards either to not penalize at all or penalize in moderation for low detections of any of the therapeutics in question.

Obviously, I have had no success in this endeavor.

More surprises awaited us at the ARCI Model Rules and Practices Committee Meeting. The committee members sat at a U shaped table with a little table at the top of the U for those who wanted to present something to the committee members. It seemed quite formal and daunting at first to a shy horseman, but Chairman Larry Eliason, does a good job of running his committee fairly and openly and putting audience participants at the little table at ease. (I particularly like his cell phone rule…if it rings you buy everyone in the room a drink).

Discussion began on the proposed RMTC model rule on Out of Competition Testing. This rule left the RMTC with the horsemens’ groups in lock step that this rule be used only for detecting blood doping and gene doping agents which unlike other drugs can’t be detected in a post race test. We feared that regulators would try to open it up for other drugs and the witch hunt would begin for testing for a plethora of other drugs with the poor owner once again footing the bill. A ten year license suspension was strongly suggested for anyone caught using these blood or gene doping agents.

A regulator from a major racing state suggested that their state was going to open the Out of Competition Testing rule up to all Penalty Class A drugs and not just blood and gene doping agents and suggested the ARCI Model Rule Committee do the same. The example given was that a trainer could be using amphetamines to train on before a race, and regulators can’t prevent them from doing it.

I immediately went to the small table and stated, that out of competition testing was only for gene and blood doping which must be done at least five days before a race to be effective and which would not be picked up in a post race test. I was asked if I was stating that I condone the use of amphetamines five days or so before a race. I replied that I do not but that while amphetamines were a Class 1 drug and should never be used on a horse, Class 1 drugs numbered only about 48 and I thought that there were over 250 penalty Class A drugs. In other words, not all Penalty Class A drugs are Class I drugs, and far from it. It turns out I was wrong, there are over 450 Penalty Class A drugs and 79 of them are for Class III drugs.

Next to speak was the past president of ARCI, Joe Gorajec, from Indiana who stated, “I find myself in a most unique and surprising situation. I actually agree with Kent Stirling on this.” I also was in the surprising and unique situation of having a top regulator agree with me on medication. I certainly hope this doesn’t negatively impact Joe’s career.