Home /
News /
Drugs In Horse Racing Affects Both Horses And Punters /

Drugs In Horse Racing Affects Both Horses And Punters

Horse racing is an expensive business. With the breeders, owners, and trainers all after a slice of the gambling pot, it's no surprise that the horses end up as the loser. In order to maximise the owner's profits, many race horses will be doped up to their ears. This not only makes them run faster, but also can masked the pain from other injuries. Furthermore, thanks to the pressures that come from betting big money, doping is also used to make horses run slower and thus throw a race

Rate this news

Drugs In Horse Racing

Drugs in horse racing? Really? It’s simple to grab your attention with stories of illegal doping and drug usage in sports and other jackpot games. So that’s an easy battle won. But take a moment to picture the horse racing industry. With all the trainers, owners, and runners. And with huge amounts of cash being bet at every meeting. So in some ways, it should be no surprise to anyone that the whole business is rife with the abuse of drugs. And it’s both the horses who suffer physically and the punters who suffer financially.

Introduction: Drugs In Horse Racing

According to a reporter for the New York Daily News, “The thoroughbred racehorse is a genetic mistake. It runs too fast, its frame is too large, and its legs are far too small.” In fact, race horses run on tracks at speeds of over 30 mph despite weighing over 1000 lbs and being supported by ankles the size of a human’s. And they also carry a person on their backs. Herein lies the problem. It appears that more than just grass and oats are required to run this enormous and complex racing machine. Unfortunately, yet unsurprisingly, there’s a sizable “dark side” to the multi-billion dollar industry of horse racing. This involves drugs in horse racing, injuries, race-fixing, and inhumane death in the slaughterhouse. Of course, there’s a necessity for medicines in horse racing. But there should be both limits and proper enforcement for the sake of these horses.

It’s All About The Money

Remember that a racehorse might cost millions of dollars on average. Many owners are syndicates that can have any number of members. Then there is the racing-related industry as a whole. From the handlers and vets to the trainers, owners, and jockeys. And all of that is supported by gamblers, many of whom use a betting site like 22Bet Sportsbook in the hope to win the jackpot online. All of this adds up to a ton of cash, especially considering how frequently there are races in different nations, and how often the horses move between them.

Drugs In Horse Racing: Lots Of Pressure To Perform Well

So there is a lot of pressure from a huge number of different sources for a racehorse to win. As a result, the horse’s body is continually performing at its limits. This process begins in their early years when they begin intense training. Unfortunately, each year in the US, 700 to 800 racehorses are hurt or die. According to the Equine Injury Database of the Jockey Club, 10 horses a week passed away at American racetracks in 2018. For instance, 23 horses passed away at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, California, in a span of three months.

Racehorses must constantly compete and, ideally, win because they are very expensive to maintain. According to a Kentucky newspaper, not all owners are willing to consider simply putting one out to pasture, injured or not. The annual expense of caring for one horse might reach $55,000.

Bet on horse racing at the 22BET Sportsbook

An Industry In Crisis

Right now, drugs in horse racing are nothing short of a crisis. Both legal and illicit doping use has a number of drawbacks, not the least of which are negative effects on the horses and the riders who use them. A number of medications enable horses to increase their pain thresholds or disguise lameness, increasing their risk of injury or worse. These include such substances as cobalt chloride and anabolic steroids.

Then there are the medications that enable elderly horses to run, causing damage that may end in fatalities or severe injuries. There are the sneaky medications they give to a horse to mask previously administered medications, allowing the animal to pass pre-race examinations. The amount of new medications entering the market is simply too great for official drug testing labs to handle. Common sense tells you that no horse should be on the racing schedule if it requires any medicines to compete. Yet for many, this is the only way to increase your jackpot winning chances, whether you’re a punter or the owner.

US Laws vs The Rest Of The World

The overprescription of therapeutic drugs has become a huge headache. Despite being a global issue, the US is where it is most rampant because of the country’s laxer drug regulations. For instance, let’s look at the typical painkiller Phenylbutazone (commonly known as Bute). In the UK and Ireland, this has a seven-day withdrawal period; however, in the US, it can be utilized up to 24 hours prior to a race. Furosemide is yet another medicine (Lasix). In the UK and Ireland, it has a two-day withdrawal period, while in the US, it can be taken up to four hours before a race.

Drugs In Horse Racing: Try To Find A Clean Horse Anywhere

When they shouldn’t even be racing, racehorses can develop addictions to the medications that their trainers and even vets give them to keep them on the race course. It would probably be impossible to find an American racehorse trained on standard hay, oats, and water, one news reporter observed. Numerous horses are given Corticosteroids, Phenylbutazone (an anti-inflammatory), and Lasix (which helps reduce pulmonary hemorrhage) (for pain and inflammation).

Although these substances are technically lawful, they can make a horse go faster or conceal pain in horse racing. And all in the hope of increasing the best sports betting jackpot for the owners and their fans. Since each state in the US has its own set of restrictions when it comes to drugs in horse racing, there are many dishonest and unethical trainers who move their horses from one to the other in quest of the states with the loosest regulations. Consider what transpired with the Triple Crown.

Drugged To Lose A Race

In certain cases, the use of drugs in horse racing is not to win but to lose. Certain betting patterns benefit from this. With 22Bet Sportsbook, you can examine betting trends and odds. A favorite called “Ladies First” tested positive for a beta-blocking medication in October 2018. This occurred on September 21 at the Flame Bathrooms Fillies Handicap at the Newcastle meeting. After losing by 22 lengths, it appears that the horse was medicated to perform poorly. Naturally, there is also the question of what happens to a racehorse when its brief racing career is over. However, that is a sad and heartbreaking story for a different day.

Improving The Horse Racing Industry

It’s fascinating to notice that racehorses nowadays have fewer starts and shorter racing careers despite all the technological breakthroughs over the past 50 years. There is a growing body of opinion that claims that all of these medications are covering up breed-specific flaws. In order to avoid using any drugs in horse racing at all, the German horse breeding association is exploring new strategies. They have a system in place where stallions are labeled “authorized,” which means that there have never been any medicines delivered to the horse throughout its whole career.

Horses that have approval are eligible for German breeder premiums and other rewards. And the program, which is almost 20 years old, is currently generating some fantastic outcomes. Perhaps there is still hope. But don’t hold your breath—you know how the US works.