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07-01-2023, 04:28 PM
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#1
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Registered User
Join Date: Dec 2009
Posts: 997
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Ray Handal banned amid Zeranol usage allegations
Quote:
Handal provisionally suspended by Horseracing Integrity and Welfare Unit
New York-based trainer Ray Handal has been issued a provisional suspension by the Horseracing Integrity and Welfare Unit for the presence of a banned substance found in one of his horses who raced at Belmont Park on May 28.
The suspension, which under HIWU rules for banned substances could be for two years and carries up to a $25,000 fine.
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https://www.drf.com/news/handal-prov...d-welfare-unit
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07-01-2023, 11:26 PM
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#2
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Registered User
Join Date: Jan 2015
Posts: 915
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So with these provisional suspensions, is someone like Handal just stuck on the sidelines indefinitely until his time in court? If his case is adjudicated saying there's no evidence of intentional use & it was likely contamination, does he have any recourse to make up for lost earnings? Seems like a middle-ground should be suggested from the old ways & these new ones if trainers are going to get popped this severely before having a chance to defend themselves, especially ones with clean records.
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07-02-2023, 03:45 PM
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#3
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Registered User
Join Date: Sep 2005
Posts: 1,827
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I wish the media or HISA would put some guidelines together on these statements that can ruin a trainer's reputation. Did the horse have a 10,000 pico grams or 10 pico grams of the substance, if it's 10 then they really need to rethink some of these in my opinion.
__________________
Every time you are tempted to react in the same old way, ask if you want to be a prisoner of the past or a pioneer of the future.
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07-02-2023, 06:01 PM
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#4
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Registered User
Join Date: Jan 2015
Location: Beaverdam Virginia
Posts: 12,805
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I think you have to give someone with a clean record the benefit of the doubt. Allow him to conduct business as usual until a final decision is made.
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07-02-2023, 07:01 PM
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#5
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Registered User
Join Date: Dec 2021
Posts: 2,178
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Inner Dirt
I think you have to give someone with a clean record the benefit of the doubt. Allow him to conduct business as usual until a final decision is made.
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If Ray Handal is cheating, it is time to quit this game.
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07-02-2023, 09:50 PM
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#6
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clean money
Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: Maryland
Posts: 23,568
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the stuff that improves the performances are undetectable
so Zeranol and any detectable substances or whatever wouldn't be given to horses unless there was a long enough layoff.
Handal is a class act. This seems likely a case of feed contamination.
__________________
Preparation. Discipline. Patience. Decisiveness.
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07-03-2023, 01:53 AM
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#7
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Registered User
Join Date: Nov 2009
Posts: 3,060
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Robert Fischer
the stuff that improves the performances are undetectable
so Zeranol and any detectable substances or whatever wouldn't be given to horses unless there was a long enough layoff.
Handal is a class act. This seems likely a case of feed contamination.
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I don't think you can just dismiss this case as contamination based on that hypothetical. In fact, your hypothetical might explain how the horse tested positive for zeranol.
Firstly, remember that zeranol is a "banned" substance--as opposed to controlled--meaning that it cannot be possessed, administered, or present in a horse AT ANY TIME.
Secondly, zeranol is an anabolic drug & so can improve performance by promoting growth.
Thirdly, there is a test for zeranol.
So in what instance would someone knowingly administer a banned (& detectable) substance to a horse? As you said...if there was a long enough layoff period...and I would add, if there was a low probability of being tested during that time (e.g., sending the horse to a farm).
Sure enough, when the horse Barrage tested positive for zeranol on 5/28/23, it was the horse's first start in 4 months. Furthermore--and quite importantly--Handal wasn't the trainer of the horse when it last raced (in Florida).
If Handal wasn't in control of Barrage for the previous 3 months before he started working the horse in NY, he ought to make that known. In fact, it's a bit curious that he hasn't done so already (at least not in the press).
In addition, Handal was notified of TWO medication violations (one banned substance, one controlled), presumably from the same horse, but it was not clear from the article if that is correct.
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07-03-2023, 10:46 AM
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#8
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Registered User
Join Date: Jul 2009
Location: NJ
Posts: 3,831
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This is not a comment on this specific case, but it's endlessly fascinating how people complain constantly about drugs in horse racing and how we need stiff penalties for anyone caught, but the minute someone gets caught we hear, "Well not THAT guy" and "The dosage limits have to change".
Either the rules have meaning, or they have no meaning.
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07-03-2023, 12:19 PM
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#9
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Registered User
Join Date: Dec 2008
Posts: 946
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Quote:
Originally Posted by castaway01
This is not a comment on this specific case, but it's endlessly fascinating how people complain constantly about drugs in horse racing and how we need stiff penalties for anyone caught, but the minute someone gets caught we hear, "Well not THAT guy" and "The dosage limits have to change".
Either the rules have meaning, or they have no meaning.
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07-03-2023, 12:50 PM
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#10
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clean money
Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: Maryland
Posts: 23,568
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Spalding No!
I don't think you can just dismiss this case as contamination based on that hypothetical. In fact, your hypothetical might explain how the horse tested positive for zeranol.
Firstly, remember that zeranol is a "banned" substance--as opposed to controlled--meaning that it cannot be possessed, administered, or present in a horse AT ANY TIME.
Secondly, zeranol is an anabolic drug & so can improve performance by promoting growth.
Thirdly, there is a test for zeranol.
So in what instance would someone knowingly administer a banned (& detectable) substance to a horse? As you said...if there was a long enough layoff period...and I would add, if there was a low probability of being tested during that time (e.g., sending the horse to a farm).
Sure enough, when the horse Barrage tested positive for zeranol on 5/28/23, it was the horse's first start in 4 months. Furthermore--and quite importantly--Handal wasn't the trainer of the horse when it last raced (in Florida).
If Handal wasn't in control of Barrage for the previous 3 months before he started working the horse in NY, he ought to make that known. In fact, it's a bit curious that he hasn't done so already (at least not in the press).
In addition, Handal was notified of TWO medication violations (one banned substance, one controlled), presumably from the same horse, but it was not clear from the article if that is correct.
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The Palmers are good people, and good owners. A few horseplayer nerds start looking at performance and ROI following >30day layoffs for owners, and I think this all becomes very silly.
The trainers and owners and horses who have these program 'spacing' between races a problem in the game. I'm not saying that these programs all exploit drug clearance loopholes.
Then there is a reality that some horses simply do need time in between races.
However, the huge elephant in the room is the undetectables.
Undetectables has nothing specifically to do with this contamination per se.
It is taboo, if not practically 'banned' by common sense, and job security for anyone employed and with a voice in the industry that they not mention or stress the undetectables and the biomarkers.
Then you have all the things that happen with blackmarket market positons. Good market positions(dealing) get taken over by professionals..., then you have good/big clients..., rivals of good clients, wagering syndicate clients, other stuff, etc...
__________________
Preparation. Discipline. Patience. Decisiveness.
Last edited by Robert Fischer; 07-03-2023 at 12:56 PM.
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07-03-2023, 03:38 PM
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#11
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SaratogaFan1
Join Date: Mar 2022
Posts: 360
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Robert Fischer
the stuff that improves the performances are undetectable
so Zeranol and any detectable substances or whatever wouldn't be given to horses unless there was a long enough layoff.
Handal is a class act. This seems likely a case of feed contamination.
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Lots of that going around these days…
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07-03-2023, 06:03 PM
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#12
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PA Steward
Join Date: Mar 2001
Location: Del Boca Vista
Posts: 88,835
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So looking up this compound, it is a synthetic non-steroidal estrogen.
But if it's synthetic, how does it easily contaminate feed?
The only thing I could find to explain that would be this:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zeranol
Quote:
Zeranol may be found as a contaminant in fungus-infected crops.
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But again, how?
Last edited by PaceAdvantage; 07-03-2023 at 06:04 PM.
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07-05-2023, 10:35 PM
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#13
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Registered User
Join Date: May 2023
Posts: 31
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I have my own cheater meter. Once you pass the magical 15% win average as a trainer, you're on my list as a suspect. I am never surprised when one of those get caught later.
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07-05-2023, 10:42 PM
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#14
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Registered User
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: Long Island, NY
Posts: 1,489
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__________________
"A winning horse either sets or overcomes the pace of the race it runs against" - Ray Taulbot
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07-05-2023, 11:11 PM
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#15
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Registered User
Join Date: May 2004
Posts: 7,339
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Quote:
Originally Posted by IamNewt
I have my own cheater meter. Once you pass the magical 15% win average as a trainer, you're on my list as a suspect. I am never surprised when one of those get caught later.
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So where do you stand on Charlie Appleby since you're gravitating towards international racing?
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