Colonel John R. Stingo reminescing to AJ Liebling about the birth of a tout service founded by George Grahm Rice as recounted in The Honest Rainmaker.
(The tout service was getting tips from a Frank Mead in New Orleans)

"It was then Mead furnished them with the name of a mare named Brief, owned by a man named Mose Goldblatt, handy with a needle and syringe. Racing at winter tracks then was not so sanctimonously supervised as under the aegis of the august Jockey Club in New York. Visiting a race track in Puerto Rico only a couple of years ago, I was infomed by one of the stewards: "We do not discourage the use of helpful medicines." That is 1901, was the practice on the mainland.
"The favorite was Echodale, strictly a hophorse, trained and owned by the notorious Bill Phizer. Echodale close that afternoon at sixteen to five and Brief wen only mildly supported at six to one, with eight to one available in spots. Both went to post frothing and preening like unto De Quincey's opium addict you read about. It was a competition in stimulative medication. Brief, a stretch runner best ridden by Jockey Redfern, just did get up to beat Echodale on the post by a head. At the precise moment of passing under the imaginary winning wire, Brief toppled over dead."


When it comes to drugs in racing I know two things. First they've been around a long time. And two, unless you're serious about getting rid of the "legal" drugs you're not serious about getting rid of the illegal drugs. After all, Lasix is a diuretic. It helps wash illegal drugs out of the system.