First, let me say that I would have benefitted greatly if Medina Spirit was off the board. But before bashing any trainer for an alleged positive, I explore possible ways a human prescribed drug may get transmitted. In addition to equine version “BetaVet”, for example, many people are prescribed betamethasone in the form of gels, ointments, lotions, foams, sprays and more, for many common disorders. I am not a doctor. I am not a veterinarian. But I am someone who has been around racehorses for many decades.

Let’s think of all the people that are in contact with the horse. Every handler in the barn. Transportation personnel. The jockey and their valet. The horse identifier in the paddock. The assistants who help saddle the horse. The personnel that put the tongue tie on the horse. How about the people that pat the horse after a win and before it gets sent to the test barn?

If anyone looks at important instructions and cautions for the ointments or gels for skin conditions that dermatologists prescribe, one will see that it can easily be transmitted to others. This drug, I believe, may have a half-life of 6 hours in humans. So half is still in you 6 hours later ( total 12 hours). It is excreted in urine. I have known many people who have pissed in horses’ stalls. Imagine if they were prescribed this med, didn’t wash their hands and continued to touch the horse’s nostrils, mouth, hooves, etc.

I try not to judge too quickly.