All Things Medication: Q & A With Dr. Rick Arthur

re: All Things Medication: Q & A With Dr. Rick Arthur

Eli — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 23:15:32 GMT

the thing that stuck with me most from the interview was that the great doctor had worked in the past with Frankel, Mandella, and Ron Mac....coincidentally over the last 2 years those three trainers are struggling mightily to win a race...Frankel and Mandella have been reduced to 10% winning trainers, and Ron Mac, its more like 5%

re: All Things Medication: Q & A With Dr. Rick Arthur

Householder — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 02:13:39 GMT

Thank goodness for the BC Blog. Lots to talk about like Zenyatta, synthetic racing surfaces, and favorites that get beat.

re: All Things Medication: Q & A With Dr. Rick Arthur

Racefan66 — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 00:45:37 GMT

Former Fan: I agree that the goal should be that fit horses should be able to train and compete clean. But given the strenuous nature of the sport and training, I think that there are appropriate applications for some medications during training. To me, a horse using Lasix/clenbuterol is along the lines of a kid with asthma using an inhaler while training to allow them to train regularly. I'm oversimplifying things with that example, but it's not SO far off so in my opinion it's hard to say that there isn't an appropriate application for lasix or clenbuterol during training/racing. I also think that some anti-inflammitories have appropriate applications during training too (just like human athletes get to have their Motrin for training aches), but with a set withdrawl period before race day. If you need theraputic levels of anti-inflammitories in your system on race day, you're not fit to race.

re: All Things Medication: Q & A With Dr. Rick Arthur

Karen2 — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 23:29:59 GMT

timeforachange: This is a blog about horse racing, not a place to spew out your political issues. I agree with your display name though. It is time for a change. Its time to look at the real issues poisoning the industry we love. They may not be as big as the worlds problems but they are big never the less for some of us.

re: All Things Medication: Q & A With Dr. Rick Arthur

kkatsan — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 21:02:09 GMT

I'm with Jordan, but I'm stumped on the Princess Rooney, see you at the BC blog, and by the way that was sarcasm in my post to Draynay. I've been reading for months.

re: All Things Medication: Q & A With Dr. Rick Arthur

jshandler — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 20:48:33 GMT

JordanA: Yes, the Breeders' Cup Chat blog is now up and running - thanks for the plug. Triple Crown Talk will return in January. For now, let's move the discussion over to the BC Chat and yes, test our handicapping skills against one another.

re: All Things Medication: Q & A With Dr. Rick Arthur

FormerFan — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 20:44:58 GMT

They have been breeding for speed for well over 50 years. I keep saying it, Go get a book called "The First 100 years of the Kentucky Derby" by Author Peter Chew. This breeding for pure speed has been around much longer than you think and when you read this book, by a very credible author, you will be surprised, as I was.

re: All Things Medication: Q & A With Dr. Rick Arthur

JordanA — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 20:40:40 GMT

Draynay, The old time trainers used to RUN their horses once a week sometimes with even less rest on Wednesday then again on Saturday. Dutrow has been known to run on 2 days rest. Public uproar would be unbelievable if trainers still trained the way they used to even if the horses could still do it and if they weren't still doing a good job they would be out of business, doing whatever you or I do. Part of the reason for not working more than once a week, which is wrong because gallops, jogs and untimed works (usually done while it's still dark) all fall under unpublished works. If you're at the track you can watch them if not you don't even know they did them. But anyway the reason for not having two published/fast works per week is just what your argument says, they are bred for speed and not so much stamina and durability. What would you do have the horse train themselves or maybe the fans train? I think some of your epic battles on here with certain people has colored your thinking, we're not so obtuse that we don't know who you're taking your shot at. Everyone should come over to the Breeders Cup Blog and join in, that way we can see who knows more about the handicapping side of the game. I'm working on mine, the Smile Sprint, hmmm!

re: All Things Medication: Q & A With Dr. Rick Arthur

timeforchange — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 20:38:09 GMT

Congress has far more important things to deal with than horse racing. Let's worry about the war, the economy, the illegals from the south, the corporate tax breaks, and oh yeah how bout we finally go get bin-laden (got a bit side tracked there GW with the lies and iraq war didn't we?). The racing industry is dominated by the filthy rich just like the policies of this administration. No Bush-McCain Administration is going to go after their rich counterparts. Don't hold your breath on reform unless we get some real change.

re: All Things Medication: Q & A With Dr. Rick Arthur

draynot — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 20:22:21 GMT

Draynay, Training has changed. Look at how many new drugs they have to inject into the horses as compared to yesteryear. Big Brown is a perfect example of that. Without the juice he would be just another nag like he showed in the Belmont. Wait a sec, he WAS without the juice there. The proof is in the juice (or not).

re: All Things Medication: Q & A With Dr. Rick Arthur

katsan — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 19:45:27 GMT

Maybe the breed needs to change back, like a lot are saying, breed for stamina and durability again although one equine geneticist says there hasn't been enough time to actually tell if the breed has changed that much. Mr.Draynay, how often do you work your horses? Do you gallop them and then breeze them and how often do you breeze tham from the gate. Are you training yours agressively or do you give them frequent layoffs? What are the majority of horses in your barn? Are they sprinters or distance runners and do you have a lot of 3 year olds or are they older horses? Are you finding that a lot of them lose weight when worked especially hard or have you got a really good supplement that helps keep them in the feed bucket. I know we used to cook their feed with oats and a handmade mixture and they used to do really well on that.

re: All Things Medication: Q & A With Dr. Rick Arthur

draynay — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 17:50:20 GMT

Maybe....just maybe part of the problem is trainers. Many of them seem to train horses the way it was done 30 to 50 years ago. Horses have changed ... they are bred for speed and you train speed differently. Can you imagine a sprinter training the same way for the Olympics as a miler would? Where is it written you can only work a horse once a week? The breed has changed maybe training needs to change with it.

re: All Things Medication: Q & A With Dr. Rick Arthur

FormerFan — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 15:47:08 GMT

Tigger, I know what you mean about the higher echelon race horses that train sporadically and run once every three months. Ever heard of Ghostzapper.? there is your example of a horse that trained sporadically and ran once every 3 months, probably more like every 4 or 5 months. Put it this way, Ghostzapper raced for 4 years, made 11 lifetimes starts which comes out to 2.75 starts per year. And they gave this mule a Horse of the Year award. Pathetic. He wins a race at Lone Star Park, then runs in some $300,000 one mile event in New York as his final start instead of going to Dubai to run for $6,000,000 in the World Cup because his connections were afraid he would lose. His last race he runs a mile in like one minute and thirty three seconds and change. Big deal, it has been done many times before, so they give this horse an eclipse award I guess for not breaking down which is what would have happened had he followed Roses in May to the World Cup. I'm sorry if Ghostzapper is your favorite horse, I really am, but I continue to be flabbergasted that they gave this horse a horse of the year award, and remember, that is 4 years of racing equating to 2.75 starts per year. Come on!

re: All Things Medication: Q & A With Dr. Rick Arthur

FormerFan — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 15:35:01 GMT

I own horses, and compete in shows occasionally so I understand when they are training and competing injuries can happen and it is necessary to medicate them depending on their problem. However, I've never shown or ridden my horses when medicated. I allow them to heal then get them off the meds. The one question I have to ask is a simple one, Why does a healthy race horse need anything in their system to race.. For example, if a healthy horse needs lasix to run, then wouldn't that horse be considered unhealthy or unfit to race, and with that said, an unhealthy/unfit race horse does not need to be on the track, right? A healthy athlete, period, should be able to perform clean, with nothing in their system. IMO, Any other scenerio is cheating. Clean or unclean, there should not be any in-betwen.

re: All Things Medication: Q & A With Dr. Rick Arthur

Tigger — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 03:34:53 GMT

I remember a time when horses were TRAINED to be aggressive and trained hard for their races. The training was taxing because they needed to be able to physically withstand the stress of a race. I see so many horses now, particularly the "upper echelon" as people like to call it, who gallop 1 1/2 miles and work sporadically and only race once every 3 months--whenever a "big" race comes up. The focus is all on running for the big purse money and not on keeping the horses fit and READY--REALLY READY for the stress of a race. Trainers give steroids to help the horses "recover" from serious training--when they should be training seriously and effectively so the horse has the stamina and muscle strength to recover on their own without the help of drugs. They baby these expensive horses due to the fear of injury and cross their fingers on the "big day" that everything will work out. An Olympic athlete doesn't coast on light training and then expect to compete at world class levels on the "big day"--they train hard and risk injury daily to be at their best conditioning on the "big day." That's how trainers used to train their horses--Secretariat didn't jog his way to a Preakness win and sure as hell didn't "slow gallop" his way to the Triple Crown--he trained hard and ran hard!