Re: Asmussen gets 6 months (651 Views)
Posted by:
manning (IP Logged)
Date: June 27, 2006 01:59PM
TGJB Wrote:
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> Asmussen trains a bunch of horses that I bought
> for Parra and help manage, but we're not really
> friendly-- only met him twice, I work with Parra
> directly. Have to say, though,the stuff they got
> as a positive is a local anesthetic and does not
> move horses up. Also, it can only be a screw-up,
> since it's something everybody knows they test
> for. There are serious things going on out there,
> this is not one of them.
It is (or, at least, could be) serious enough. Mepivacaine and other related LA's can be & are used as nerve blocks. The easy excuse here (and in the Dutrow/Pletcher cases for the same drug positive) is that stitches were given for some minor cut and a dosage mistake was made. That may or may not be the case, and if it's not....
Stating that this type of drug doesn't move horses up isn't quite correct though. It may not be EPO (or similar blood-doping type stuff that is the real problem - my opinion) but this stuff, in larger doses, is used for major spinal surgery, not to mention epidurals, on humans. In horse racing, it's (sometimes) used to block pain in one or more limbs & allow lame horse's to run right thru it.