WellBeing International WBI Studies Repository 1982 Horse Racing and Drug Abuse: Untangling the Issues Involved Dana Murphy Follow this and additional works at: https://www.wellbeingintlstudiesrepository.org/acwp_ewp Part of the Animal Studies Commons, Other Anthropology Commons, and the Sports Studies Commons Recommended Citation Murphy, D. (1982). Horse racing and drug abuse: Untangling the issues involved. International Journal for the Study of Animal Problems, 3(1), 14-19. This material is brought to you for free and open access by WellBeing International. It has been accepted for inclusion by an authorized administrator of the WBI Studies Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected]. ,1 Finally, some individual entrepre­ From the racing industry, and from What the Bill Says bred Racing Association, the total num­ neurs have been considering the initia­ some other quarters, there has also been First, it is important to keep in mind ber of racing days rose from 6,242 in tion of their own tentative studies. Pro­ cirticism that the provisions of the bill what the proposed bill actually says. Its 1978 to 7,515 in 1979, a 20.4 percent in­ vimi, the largest U.S. manufacturer of represent simplistic thinking. It is argued specific provisions, discussed previously crease. Thus, either more horses are milk replacer feed for veal calves and a that regulation of racetracks is a matter in the journal at some length (1 (1 ):53-54, needed, or else the available horses veal meat packer, had planned to in­ for individual States to determine since 1980), include: must race more often, even when they vestigate the effect of the Quantock racing conditions differ from one State 1. Prohibition of all pre-race ad­ are not in the best of shape. Therefore, group pen method (as compared with to another (more about this matter later). ministration of medications capable of the racing industry argues that drugs confinement in individual crates) on· the Second, they feel that the bill is short­ affecting a horse's performance at the play a vital role in ensuring that there is general health and well-being of veal sighted in addressing only the symptoms time of the race. a sufficient supply of horses to fill the calves. This was the result of public feel­ (that is, the use of drugs and other pain­ 2. Prohibition of numbing an ani­ racing calendar. ing that the crate method is unnecessari­ killing measures) of the problems confront­ mal's legs with ice, dry ice or any other However, supporters of the proposed ly cruel. However, the latest word is that ing the various segments of the racing in­ chemical agent on the day of the race, bill wonder about the economic wisdom Provimi, having gained a respectable dustry, rather than the actual problems, and elimination of the practice of per­ behind this longer racing season. During yield of favorable PR about the en­ such as longer racing seasons and the manent numbing through surgical neu­ the same period, total attendance rose deavor, has decided to dispense with the high annual cost of maintaining a race­ rectomy. only from 51.5 million to 55.1 million (a actual performance of the study. There­ 7 percent increase). So, for some reason, horse- currently about $15,000 per year. 3. Establishment of uniform pre-rac­ fore, Quantock Veal, of England, will the number of individuals at the track on ing inspection and drug testing programs. soon begin the test, on its own, in the However, Marc Paulhus of The HSUS a typical day appears to have declined. 4. Strict enforcement of penalties United States. argues that their position is not based on This decline may be a result of a de­ for persons convicted of wrongfully a primitive kneejerk reaction, arising crease in available funds to spend at the drugging or numbing a racehorse. solely from righteous indignation at the track. It may also represent a growing thought of injured horses being drugged The Context of the Racing Industry lack of confidence in the integrity of the so heavily that they run until they col­ The gut-level reaction of the racing sport of racing as more and more bettors, lapse. Rather, it is based on a sophisti­ industry to the provisions of the bill has looking at their racetrack programs, begin cated analysis of the many factors in­ been negative. This feeling is, in part, to wonder just what the asterisks beside Focus volved in creating the necessary condi­ simply a manifestation of the general sen­ the names of many horses, which indi­ tions so that horseracing will become (a) timent being expressed in so many ways cate that the horse is running on "bute" safer for the horses, their jockeys and around the Nation: that "big govern­ or Lasix, actually mean in terms of per­ trainers, (b) economically sounder for ment" is growing too fast and crowding formance. owners and racetracks, and (c) more trust­ the lives of individual citizens (and in­ Further complications in sorting out Horse Racing and Drug Abuse: worthy for bettors. In particular, the dividual businesses) a bit too closely; racing industry motivations arise from Untangling the Issues Involved thinking behind the bill assumes that a that a knowledge of local conditions the fact that, for better or worse, the ban on drugs will encourage a reassess­ gives State and municipal governments world of racing is very inbred. As re­ Some time during mid-january, hear­ ment on the part of owners and trainers insights that the Federal Government ported in a New York Daily News series, ings on a new bill, intended to stop the concerning the best way to breed and cannot possibly achieve; and that a "Scandals Poison Horse Racing" (April misuse of drugs in racehorses, will be train faster and healthier horses. Recent snobbish "do-gooder" elite of bureau­ 1981), the racing industry itself is riddled held in the U.S. Senate. The Humane So­ studies by Tom lver (manager of Olym­ crats and planners presumes far too with complex patterns of conflict of in­ ciety of the U.S. (HSUS) wholeheartedly pic Stables in Greenwood, Delaware) on much if it believes that is has the right to terest. Many racing commissioners are supports the bill and, in fact, worked the optimal methods for training horse­ dictate how people in Peoria should live also horse breeders and make frequent with the American Horse Protection As­ athletes, computer-monitored investiga­ and think. bets at the track. Many track veterinari­ sociation as one of the co-authors of its tions on the precise dynamics of the In the minds of the State racing ans own and race horses, often against specific provisions. But to many sectors stresses involved in the movements of a commissioners and track owners, this other horses that they are treating. There­ of the racing industry, the bill is ana­ running horse done by George Pratt of kind of thinking translates to a consen­ fore, when the racing industry argues thema. They believe that enactment of MIT, and new developments in knowl­ sus that the provisions of the proposed against one or another provision in the this legislation will surely spell financial edge of the intricacies of horse breeding bill manifest a cavalier lack of knowl­ proposed legislation, it is hard to tell ruin for the racetracks of America, given genetics can make it possible to pro­ edge about the industry's financial and who is speaking for precisely what inter­ the costs that will be entailed in forego­ duce and condition horses in much the political circumstances. est groups, and to ferret out what moti­ ing the alleged benefits of drugs, and in same way as human athletes. Techniques Racing industry spokesmen point vations lie behind the p·articular argu­ setting up the drug analysis labs which like aerobic conditioning can be used in out that one important aspect of the cur­ ments advanced. will be a required part of checking to horses to provide the animals with the rent racing situation is the recent in­ But perhaps the most important make sure that no unsound horse enters same kind of endurance and resiliency crease in the length of the racing season, factor in the racing industry's unease a race temporarily fortified by pharma­ under stress as, say, a Frank Shorter ex­ in most of the 30 racing States. Among about any changes in the status quo ceuticals. hibits in a grueling marathon race. the 54 tracks included in the Thorough- stems from worry about any factor that 14 /NT I STUD ANIM PROB 3(1) 1982 /NT I STUD ANIM PROB 3(1) 1982 15 ,1 Finally, some individual entrepre­ From the racing industry, and from What the Bill Says bred Racing Association, the total num­ neurs have been considering the initia­ some other quarters, there has also been First, it is important to keep in mind ber of racing days rose from 6,242 in tion of their own tentative studies. Pro­ cirticism that the provisions of the bill what the proposed bill actually says. Its 1978 to 7,515 in 1979, a 20.4 percent in­ vimi, the largest U.S. manufacturer of represent simplistic thinking. It is argued specific provisions, discussed previously crease. Thus, either more horses are milk replacer feed for veal calves and a that regulation of racetracks is a matter in the journal at some length (1 (1 ):53-54, needed, or else the available horses veal meat packer, had planned to in­ for individual States to determine since 1980), include: must race more often, even when they vestigate the effect of the Quantock racing conditions differ from one State 1.