SPORTS: Doctor weighs in on reported Oaklawn positives
A numbing agent detected in two of trainer Bob Baffert’s three Oaklawn Park winners May 2 is an unlikely performance enhancer, a national racing official said Tuesday.
Lidocaine was discovered in post-race samples taken from Charlatan, first-division winner of the Grade 1 Arkansas Derby, and Gamine, an allowance winner on the closing-day Oaklawn card.
A split sample was sent to an independent testing lab after the May 26 announcement that a prohibited substance was detected in each horse’s system. The Arkansas Racing Commission has not announced the positive rulings, which The New York Times reported Monday came from an anonymous source. Both horses risk disqualification and loss of purse money from their May 2 races.
“Commission has not gotten any ruling from Stewards on any horse that I know of I’ve seen things on Social media but that’s all so far,” ARC chairman Alex Lieblong responded to a Twitter message from The Sentinel-Record on Tuesday.
Charlatan, like second-division Arkansas Derby winner Nadal, is off the Kentucky Derby trail because of injury. Gamine, a 3-year-old filly who like Charlatan is 3-for-3 lifetime, comes off an 18 3/4-length Grade 1 victory in the Acorn Stakes at New York’s Belmont Park.
Association of Racing Commissioners International guidelines list lidocaine as a Class 2 violation calling for a Class B penalty — both second-highest on the scales.
“Lidocaine would be, in my assessment, not a go-to substance for illicit activity. It would not be the drug of choice to block one on race day in order to get an unsound horse out there,” said Dr. Mary T. Scollay, executive director and chief operation officer for the Racing Medication and Testing Consortium of Lexington, Ky. Interviewed for the website Bloodhorse.com, Scollay said, regarding the use of lidocaine, “It would be a foolish decision to think you would not get caught. Everyone knows the labs will find it.”
In a statement issued Monday on Baffert’s behalf by Lexington attorney Craig Robertson III, the lidocaine positives were attributed to contamination. Robertson said an employee suffering from back pain was wearing a Salonpas brand pain relief patch, and lidocaine from the patch may have transferred from the employee’s hands to the horses when he applied their tongue ties.
The Bloodhorse.com story said lidocaine helps numb an injury with sutures or staples and is valuable in determining the source of lameness. The medication also is used to treat skin abrasions and sores so a horse won’t rub the injured area and impede recovery.
“The area might be on the shoulder or where the girth goes where you can’t put a bandage,” Scollay said. “If you put that ointment on the horse, then he might lick it off and then would it depend on how much he consumed and how close it was to testing. There are ways mistakes can be made following the legitimate use of lidocaine.”
Postrace tests showed Gamine with 185 picograms per milliliter in her system and Charlatan with 46 pg/ml. Both exceed the permitted level of lidocaine in plasma or serum in Arkansas, matching the guidance provided by the RMTC, of 20 pg/ml, the online report said. Lidocaine has a withdrawal guideline of 72 hours to ensure it doesn’t impact racing.
Charlatan is pointing to a possible fall return. Gamine’s options include the Grade 1 Kentucky Oaks Sept. 4 at Churchill Downs. Nadal, with an ankle injury similar to that of Charlatan, was retired with a 4-for-4 record after his Arkansas Derby victory. Nadal won Oaklawn’s Grade 2 Rebel Stakes March 14, the Blame colt’s first start outside California. None of the three Baffert trainees raced as 2-year-olds.