Industry Critics and Defenders Appear on L.A. Radio Program

By now you've all read the articles about California race horse doping in in the Orange County Register (part 1, part 2, and part 3), now listen to the author, CHRB Vet Rick Arthur, and Ed Halpern discuss some of the points made. The Los Angeles NPR station KCRW had all three as guests during their Which Way L.A. program on Tuesday December 12th.

I think Arthur and Halpern could have done a better job of explaining why a "positive" in California is different than a "positive" in New York or Illinois, as we have a more graduated system.

What was left wholly unaddressed was Arthur's failure to implement a sensible plan when it comes to TCO2 tests.

With regard to the TCO2 test, the problem is in the design itself. Dr. Rick Arthur was previously a private racetrack vet who worked for many trainers. Somehow he has ingratiated himself with the CHRB brass to secure an extremely high paying cushy government job with little oversight. He designed the TCO2 test and the thresholds, but his methodology has not been peer reviewed. He draws the conclusion that banned alkalizing agents have been administered to a horse within 12 hours if that horses test returns a ~37 or higher. This does not follow. I have spoken to a CHRB vet personally that believes the test as designed is fundamentally flawed. Also, there's even been horses that tested over the limit (Doug O'Neil trained one) then were placed in a detention barn and tested again, AND WERE STILL OVER THE LIMIT. This proves that the conclusion drawn from the test results is faulty. If someone performed a double blind study, there's no doubt in my mind that Arthur's methods and design would be discredited. Alas, it hasn't happened.

A further problem created by the CHRB's incompetence is a false bifurcation of the discussion. Horsemen who complain of the CHRB's failure in design and implementation of testing standards are labeled as soft on medication violations. Conversely, If you support more strict medication rules, clearly you must also support Ingrid Fermin's & Rick Arthur's design and methods, no matter how flawed. This does nothing to advance the debate.

As an industry we need to develop methods and systems, which represent sound science, that accurately and fairly address medication issues. The vast majority of this work has been done, but the CHRB is unable or unwilling to implement a sound program.