It is disappointing for racing that the media are portraying this latest scandal in a far worse light than they actually should. Yes, morphine is a banned race day drug, but the administration of it is not banned during training. It is usually used for pain management when horses have had joint or tendon problems/surgery. It is not overused because of the side effects that can occur....excitation being one of them....which would partly explain Estimates behaviour prior to the Ascot Gold Cup. One thing morphine is definitely not is a performance enhancer, so the comparisons with the Gerard Butler and Al Zarooni cases are very wide of the mark. In these instances, horses were found with anabolic steroids in their system that had been purposely administered to improve the performances of the horses. The feed company are being held responsible in this instance, as traces have been found in a high energy food supplement given to the horses by their handlers. I just believe that it does racings image no good whatsoever when inaccrate, sensationalistic journalism causes the uneducated to believe that there is a greater problem than there really is. Horse racing is a lot straighter than we are led to believe. The vast majority of winners can be found in the form book. Its a shame that most people havent got the discipline, patience and understanding required to find them.
Posted on: Wed, 23 Jul 2014 14:18:29 +0000
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