Ontario leading the race
HORSE RACING
Posted By SCOTT ROWE
Posted 2 months ago
The Ontario Racing Commission has posted a press release which quotes comments made recently by two horse racing officials on a fact-finding mission from Australia.
As part of an ongoing international tour of various jurisdictions, Chief Steward Terry Bailey and Brant Dunshea, general manager of Racing and Integrity for Harness Racing Victoria, have visited Ontario and studied the ORC's efforts to prohibit and control substance abuse in both thoroughbred and standardbred racing.
Both gentlemen have visited laboratories used for drug testing, studied fines and suspension programs, and observed strategies used by the commission to identify and remove the undesirables in the sport. Such strategies include out of performance testing at training centers and retention barn rules before racing.
Bailey commented: "What we have learned with our ongoing contact with Ontario has been invaluable in the fight to stay ahead of those who wanted to use prohibited substances to gain an unfair advantage."
In the forefront of these state-of- the-art programs viewed by Bailey and Dunshea is the new methods used to detect recombinant erythropoietin, commonly referred to as EPO. In humans, EPO is a hormone produced by the kidneys which, by travelling through circulating blood, controls the production of red blood cells. By artificially raising the levels of EPO and increasing red cells, there is a measurable increase in endurance performance by carrying more oxygen to the muscles.
Tampering with these levels is both immoral and dangerous. It is believed that as many as 20 cyclists have died from complication of EPO doping, as the over-enriched red cells have led to fatal clotting of the blood. Understandably, the problem is a chief concern of both Olympic and international human sports organizations, as well as the overseers of horse racing.
Dunshea stated that the Ontario Racing Commission has pioneered the fight against EPO, saying: "The guidance of the ORC has led to change the way we test for EPO and other illegal medications."
It is a disturbing and undeniable fact that the use of performance enhancing drugs is a problem faced around the world, in both human and equine sports fields.
The ingrained patterns of coaching and upbringing which teach that winning is everything tempt our young athletes to seek illegal help, while greed factors into the practices of a small group of unethical trainers in the horse world.
At least in the racing industry, it is somewhat reassuring to know that Ontario is considered in the vanguard of this battle and progress is most assuredly being made.
Scott Rowe is the former chairman of the board at Georgian Downs.
