Re: How fast was it? (621 Views)
Posted by:
lfe2211 (IP Logged)
Date: August 02, 2007 09:23AM
Miff,
Thanks much for the informative response.
It seems like the board (like the racing industry) has become so polarized on drugging issues that simple requests for information are automatically interpreted as attacks and/or gripes against trainer XYZ for using illegal drugs. When I first posed my question, I should [i]not[/i] have used TAP/Lawyer Ron as a preface to asking the question.
I'm a biochemist so I do know a little about how one tests for entities like rEPO. In the course of researching the question of blood doping in horses on my own, I discovered that "Lassie Viren style" blood doping (transfusing one' own frozen away highly oxygenated red blood cells back into the circulatory system on race day) does not work in horses because of equine physiology. When horses exert themselves, their massive spleens automatically inject huge amounts of highly oxygenated hemoglobin into their circulatory systems, in effect, "blood doping" themselves. So, this leads me to be perplexed on the actual positive value of rEPO on horse racing performance unless that horse has an anemic condition. That's what rEPO is used for in humans--to boost red cells as a result of anti-cancer (or other) drugs with cause anemia as a side effect.
Anabolic steroids are a different matter. They will definitely produce a " Bondsian" effect on horses if used appropriately.
Dr.Fager 1:59.40/135 lbs