EPOGEN - Horse Racing Forum - PaceAdvantage.Com

karlskorner · 02-26-2003, 09:24 AM

After reading several articles on the new drug Epogen, I spent sometime in research, the following is a capsule of what I have found.

Epson is a life-saving human drug that has been turned into life-threatening illegal blood doping on the race track. Authorities are concerned not only because of the unfair advantage it affords in the short term but also because of the deadly consequences of its abuse. Heralded by the human medical community as a life-saving drug, Epson has been turned into a life-threatening drug on the racetrack. While it is an effective performance enhancer, it also causes extreme disruption of the horse's blood chemistry-enough to cause death.

Given in low doses over a period of weeks, Epogen's effects are not noticeable until about 3 weeks into the course of treatment. There is no way of knowing how the dosage administered will affect an individual horse until it is too late to reverse the effects. The horse's spleen holds a large reservoir of packed red blood cells-a sort of natural blood-doping mechanism. The horse gets a jolt of adrenalin when it is startled, frightened, or pumped up for competition, and at the same time the spleen dumps a concentration of red blood cells into the circulatory system to enable the horse to run faster and longer. Simply, it is the chemical basis of the "flight response".

Epogen abuse cannot be detected by current post-race testing procedures because it is virtually impossible to distinguish it from
the naturally produced hormone EPO.

EPOGEN is not something a bottom-level trainer would be able to afford, at $200 a pop. Enlisting a veterinarian to put his license on the line to obtain the drug is another issue.

Does any of this ring familiar to what's going on at GP and other tracks ?

rrbauer · 02-26-2003, 10:12 AM

Karl wrote:
"Epogen abuse cannot be detected by current post-race testing procedures because it is virtually impossible to distinguish it from
the naturally produced hormone EPO."

Comment:
Six positives at Sam Houston last month.

From Dallas Morning News (Gary West)
"Horse racing is about to kick out the cheaters, or at least try. This is something that would have happened long ago if only the sport had the necessary muscle. But armed with a new test for erythropoietin, commonly known as EPO, horse racing is preparing for a fight. "

cj · 02-26-2003, 12:27 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by karlskorner

...
EPOGEN is not something a bottom-level trainer would be able to afford, at $200 a pop. Enlisting a veterinarian to put his license on the line to obtain the drug is another issue.
...

I agree totally Karl. Anyone thinking these guys aren't cheating is living in fantasy land.

As for the above quote, I disagree. If you are winning a lot races, it is definitely worth the $200 a pop. Especially when you consider the profit being raked in on wagers on these horses by the connections in addition to the purses.

CJ

karlskorner · 02-26-2003, 04:49 PM

From what I can gather it's not a one shot deal, but requires "numerous" low dosage shots over a period of time, at $200.00 a pop it is something the low-end trainer cannot afford, but if you own a Mortgage Co. it's well within your budget

Some of what I quoted was from an article written in 2000, according to Richard Bauer's post a method has been found to detect it, or at least 6 cases. What's bothering, is how come only Sam Houston can come up with a positive test, are we to believe that the rest of racing is pure as driven snow, or is it the case again of those in charge really don't care.

cj · 02-26-2003, 05:40 PM

Karl,

I know you are a Florida regular. How have you handled the Shuman-Gill horses? The races where he claims horses and plunges them immediately scare me out of betting. Usually, I dive in against these types, but so many of his are winning, I just pass the races.

CJ

Figman · 02-26-2003, 05:41 PM

Drs. Ken McKeever of Rutgers Univ. & Dr. George Maylin of Cornell Univ. will be on a panel entitled "THE HUNT FOR RED OCTOBER: FINDING THE UNDETECTABLES on Thursday, March 13th at the annual HTA/TRA/Racetracks of Canada joint meeting at the Westin Diplomat in Hollywood, Fla. Drs. McKeever and Maylin are the ones that have jointly developed the new testing methodology for Epogen antibodies. A great deal of information should result from this presentation.

so.cal.fan · 02-26-2003, 05:44 PM

Would you be kind enough to keep us posted on this, Figman?
I for one would be very interested in this panel discussion.
Thanks for posting.

Whitehos · 02-27-2003, 06:33 PM

Hey CJ
I only play horses in order to win. Just like everyone else. I don't know what Shuman uses nor do I care. I don't dope horses. I just bet them. I am making money off of Shuman"s horses. Should I apologize? Should I feel guilty. I have had my own horses stiffed and had them doped without my knowledge. Its a nasty game and I love it.

karlskorner · 02-27-2003, 08:44 PM

From the public's view point, I think the days of wine and roses are over for awhile for Gill/Shuman. For the past week or so opening line for their horses have been 1/2 or there about, slowly climbing. As usual everyone now wants a piece of the action, but it's to late, they should have caught them when they started at CRC and moved to GP

Today was usual for the dynamic duo

Race 1 Closing odds 1/2 lost
Race 3 Closing odds 1/2 won
Race 4 Closing odds 1/2 2nd
Race 9 Closing odds 2/1 came in 7th

With the loss of 2 of their Vets things are about to change, you can't ignore them, but you can't bet them blindly. When a horse is claimed for 25K and dropped to 10k next out as the Godfather said, you have to show a little respect.

Whitehos · 02-27-2003, 10:20 PM

I am certain that there are honest veterinarians. Unfortunately for me , after more than a half century of dealing with both large and small animal practicioners, including members of my own family I have NEVER known an honest veterinarian. To take this one step farther I know a veterinarian who is also a figure skating judge. I listened to someone complaining about a race being fixed the same day an appeals judge blew his brains out after being caught taking a bribe to write the RIGHT decision in civil cases. There has never been a major dog show where the winner was not predetermined. Wanna talk about who benefits from war with Iraq. ...."say it aint so, J

hughie · 11-07-2005, 03:45 PM

Any idea what the dosage of epogen for a horse is?

11-07-2005, 04:17 PM

Hughie: Welcome to the board, and congratulations on digging up a two year old thread for your first post.

speedking · 11-07-2005, 11:21 PM

Is Gill getting out of the business again? I saw Shuman running ads seeking new owners about a month ago?

speedking

cash2 · 11-13-2005, 07:42 PM

wow, didn't know this thread was so old when i started reading it.

re gill: i just saw an ad in the back of the form for a training center for sale in oxford pa, just across the line from del and md. it's a big operation and i'm pretty sure it belongs to gill. so i guess he really is getting out or at least scaling way down. hey! anybody heard of richard englander these days?

46zilzal · 11-13-2005, 08:12 PM

Epogen increases production of red blood cells thereby increasing the ratio of cells to plasma (the hematocrit)...can blood clots be far behind?

Akin to taking growth hormone when all your boney epiphyses have closed..Ever look at Andre the Giant's features before he died in his 40's?? Acromegaly