Ron Burke, "We have 1950 rules with 2023 testing. It just doesn’t work anymore."

[Stan durbread]

All these motherfucking cheaters with their excuses. The best one was the glaucine positives...Oh, it was contamination positives from wood shavings. LOL!! Did any of these cocksuckers stop using shavings? Of course not. I knew the guy who was processing and delivering shavings to the farms where the trainers came up positive and I said to him, "I guess you will be losing some business because of the glaucine in the wood shavings", and he laughed for 5 minutes and said "business as usual".

I agree with you on the glausine. At Gaitway several of the smaller barns split the sawdust. R. Johnson had 3 very high positives. (Bearding for Bongo before little Jen became a trainer). Silva had no positives using the same load of sawdust. More importantly Rubber Duck won the Yonkers open for fun the night he tested positive. After he couldn’t win a NW of 20k. Oh and look at S. Elliot’s long term suspension in NJ. One of the products list from the barn search was…glaucine. ?

[JENNY FROM THE BLOCK]

Here is an interesting tid bit. Virgil Morgan races a shit ton of horses all over the country. We don't see him with multiple positives? What do you think the difference is?

[bond]

Again Im no expert-but I read and listen to real experts.

 The Glaucine positives were swept under the rug because of big names(Burke) involved. Experts stated that Glaucine came from the tulip tree sawdust-and contained similar alkaloids-to glaucine-easily detected. So if a horse was actually treated with just Glaucine-and no other alkaloids present in the test-IT WASNT FROM EATING PISSED ON SAWDUST. I visit my horses regularly-and --Ive never seen them eat shitloads of sawdust.  So all these trainers received 0 penalty-( One small trainer with v high levels was made the scapegoat) the others walked.(Burke)

I do agree with Burke on one point---a few PICROGRAMS of anything cannot and does not-affect a horses performance--so a waste of resources to call these a positive and a blight on the Industry.
--but Lawyers and administrators love it.

 

[seen2much]

What makes no sense to me is each groom rubs 5 horses. If it is contamination why only 1 of the horses? I'm sick of everyone using the contamination excuse.

[bond]

What makes no sense to me is each groom rubs 5 horses. If it is contamination why only 1 of the horses? I'm sick of everyone using the contamination excuse.

True--but just someone touching a horse--or another horses sniffing it with its nose etc--will transfer a few Picograms.(one trillionth of a gram)-so small you would need an electron microscope to see it. Even a mouse couldn't see it.
The machines they use today are ridiculously sensitive. Needs to stop and start calling real positives only.

[MIKE CAMPBELL]

True--but just someone touching a horse--or another horses sniffing it with its nose etc--will transfer a few Picograms.(one trillionth of a gram)-so small you would need an electron microscope to see it. Even a mouse couldn't see it.
The machines they use today are ridiculously sensitive. Needs to stop and start calling real positives only.

There is no valid reason for a horse to have any trace such as a picogram or less of non FDA approved equine drugs in their system. My opinion is the blocking agents they are using are sometimes not 100% effective so a minute amount gets detected. Also, why should a trainer get a pass because the "detected" amount is not performance enhancing. Several of these drugs that trainers are coming up positive with are street drugs and are illegal in any quantity to possess. It you get pulled over by a cop and he finds a trace of meth or fentanyl on your person, you're headed to jail.

[bond]

Mike--I agree no horse should have any non FDA drug in its system. However there are mitigating circumstances and now HISA has seen the light and is throwing 90% of these out. Take one non  approved equine drug-Gapapentin. It can stay in a horses system FAR longer than any therapeutic effect Im told. eg-Burke was on a Farm in Plainridge and the owners old horse was on cancer treatment for pain -with Gapapentin pills in its feed. This horse then became a source of contamination because the owner simply touching a feed bucket or water bucket-or  touching Burkes horse-or the horse simply being in the neighborhood--he got a positive of 5 picograms. Same with Nancy Takter---Manchego--another one-along with others all of a sudden in OHIO. Since then rules have changed and there is now a threshold because it has been determined that these were in fact-contamination positives. Ypu dont destroy careers and horses-by these BS positives.
You put people in jail or stop cheating--by wiretaps or out of competition testing--drug testing for the most part--didnt put the current crop of cheaters in Jail.
Furher Mike--there is no way on earth any masking drug you refer to-"hiding" oxy fentanyl etc--impossible--and thats straight from WADA.

[JENNY FROM THE BLOCK]

maybe the burke brigade should start testing their help. other companies and employers do this in order to get a job.

[MIKE CAMPBELL]

Mike--I agree no horse should have any non FDA drug in its system. However there are mitigating circumstances and now HISA has seen the light and is throwing 90% of these out. Take one non  approved equine drug-Gapapentin. It can stay in a horses system FAR longer than any therapeutic effect Im told. eg-Burke was on a Farm in Plainridge and the owners old horse was on cancer treatment for pain -with Gapapentin pills in its feed. This horse then became a source of contamination because the owner simply touching a feed bucket or water bucket-or  touching Burkes horse-or the horse simply being in the neighborhood--he got a positive of 5 picograms. Same with Nancy Takter---Manchego--another one-along with others all of a sudden in OHIO. Since then rules have changed and there is now a threshold because it has been determined that these were in fact-contamination positives. Ypu dont destroy careers and horses-by these BS positives.
You put people in jail or stop cheating--by wiretaps or out of competition testing--drug testing for the most part--didnt put the current crop of cheaters in Jail.
Furher Mike--there is no way on earth any masking drug you refer to-"hiding" oxy fentanyl etc--impossible--and thats straight from WADA.

Believe what you want, they are masking drugs like oxy and fentanyl.

[Parked]

Now its an owner with cancer touching a feed tub !!!  That ranks right up there with a horse eating 2 1/2 bu of sawdust.   

[shotgunner]

What makes no sense to me is each groom rubs 5 horses. If it is contamination why only 1 of the horses? I'm sick of everyone using the contamination excuse.

All 5 horses aren't tested every week.

[Parked]

They have more excuses than a shirt pocket

[Whatchutalkinboutwillis]

What a BS article. The reason the testing is so stringent is because assholes like burke are stealing purses from other trainers and owners by manipulating the horses body chemistry. When strange shit shows up in blood and urine naturally you are now going to get questioned. You can't win almost half the races you enter every year with grooms and second trainers that barely know how to put the equipment on without some sort of advantage. He brought it on himself, how long can he take all the money and think nobody's looking. I know people that have worked for him and I know one person who pulled an empty vial he tossed.

TRUTH. Spot on.

[ROOSTER COGBURN]

Methamphetamines, a class 1 drug that is pretty easy to detect is being used to mask something more nefarious? So if I’m on a ton of drugs I just gotta take a speed ball and I’ll pass a drug test? That’s the logic you’re going with?

there’s almost no overlap between a lot of the barns that have been getting the positives beyond they race and are stabled in Ohio. Also it’d be pretty easy for whoever is making this new pre race to realize that they are causing positives. Also if it’s metabolizing as methamphetamine then the source is probably highly regulated.

So are you saying you believe its trace residue from mere contact, by a groom passer by or pissing in a stall?  No I'm not saying take a 8 ball to pass a drug test. What I am saying is, that too many positives for meth are coming up, all over. So YES its being used in some substantiate for or fashion, and NO its not a therapeutic. Its outright getting a horse high to run off the charts.

[White Rabbit]

Mike--I agree no horse should have any non FDA drug in its system. However there are mitigating circumstances and now HISA has seen the light and is throwing 90% of these out. Take one non  approved equine drug-Gapapentin. It can stay in a horses system FAR longer than any therapeutic effect Im told. eg-Burke was on a Farm in Plainridge and the owners old horse was on cancer treatment for pain -with Gapapentin pills in its feed. This horse then became a source of contamination because the owner simply touching a feed bucket or water bucket-or  touching Burkes horse-or the horse simply being in the neighborhood--he got a positive of 5 picograms. Same with Nancy Takter---Manchego--another one-along with others all of a sudden in OHIO. Since then rules have changed and there is now a threshold because it has been determined that these were in fact-contamination positives. Ypu dont destroy careers and horses-by these BS positives.
You put people in jail or stop cheating--by wiretaps or out of competition testing--drug testing for the most part--didnt put the current crop of cheaters in Jail.
Furher Mike--there is no way on earth any masking drug you refer to-"hiding" oxy fentanyl etc--impossible--and thats straight from WADA.

If that’s how it happened which it didn’t , that’s Burke’s fault, trainer responsible, failure to guard your horse. He makes 20 million a year and can’t have his own employees taking care of his horses. Have his employees feeding them taking care of them. He’s always going on and on about he’s the beast and no one else could do what his done but he can’t manage something as simple as his people having the only access to his horses.
Try this from 1950 harness racing, grooms traveled with there horse slept outside the stalls had full control and took full care of them on the road. Guess what they didn’t have these kinds of things happen then
But when something happens we come up with horse dying of cancer did it.
That’s has clsssic as banana in the tail pipe.