UK Dawn Raids

[cheesebeast]

Pipe Slams Jockey Club Visits (http://www.racingworld.com/Home.asp?CodeId=2&)
Story from Sporting Life
27 February, 2002 PIPE SLAMS JOCKEY CLUB VISITS - by sporting life.
Martin Pipe today hit out at an "underhand" swoop by testers from the Jockey Club on his stable.
The nine-time champion jumps trainer was angry at the unannounced visit to his Somerset stable which he claimed upset preparations just a fortnight before the Cheltenham Festival and "looks bad for racing".
But Jockey Club press officer John Maxse stressed that the action by its veterinary department is a sign of racing's regulatory body's determination to deal seriously with the issue, and he believes the moves will back up a belief that drug abuse is "minimal".
Five stables in all were visited by teams from the Jockey Club, who took around 350 equine blood samples for analysis.
Yards were chosen either at random or on the basis of "intelligence received" and Pipe was one of the first to admit that his stable was involved.
He said: "We had a dawn raid at 6.45am - six people turned up with a letter of authorisation from the Jockey Club saying they were going to blood test all the horses.
"I wouldn't think this was very good for the horses involved - we've got nothing to hide so we've got no problems at all.
"But I'm upset at the way everything has been done. It's just two weeks before Cheltenham and our work and morning has been messed up. It's silly.
"This looks bad for racing and I wonder what other yards are going to be raided? What are they looking for?
"I believe that 300 tests were taken from all the yards involved, and I suspect about half of those are from Pond House."
Pipe's Somerset neighbour Paul Nicholls plus Ross-on-Wye-based Venetia Williams and Lambourn trainer Alan Jones also revealed their stables had been visited, with the last-named believing he was chosen due to his knack of improving horses.
"I got a call at 7.00am to say they were at the gates of my yard and wanted to blood-test my horses," Jones said. "It was a bit of a surprise and I don't know what they were looking for.
"I think they came because when I was assistant to Norman Mason I improved a lot of the horses to win by wide margins - Red Marauder won by 30 lengths one day.
"And I have had a couple of horses finish second after being backed from 66-1 so I think they chose me because of their improved performances.
"I understand why they are making investigations but I have got nothing to hide. At the end of the day I don't train horses on drugs."
Keen to play down any sinister aspect to the affair, Jockey Club press officer John Maxse said: "The message that needs to be shouted out and that is in danger of not being heard is that our veterinary director Peter Webbon expects these tests will back up our belief that drug abuse in British racing is minimal.
"People will try to portray these as 'dawn raids' but the five trainers were all extremely cooperative and our belief is that this will show we are in a very strong position.
"I hope that this is a marker set down to show our determination to deal with the issue. It will be controversial but I cannot see a downside.
"On the one hand if all the tests are negative it will show drug abuse is minimal. On the other hand if there is a positive it is better to find out before a meeting like the Festival and we can bring people to justice."
The Jockey Club has had the power to test horses in training since 1998, though this is the first time its teams have arrived at stables unannounced.
There is bound to be speculation linking today's moves to recent claims over the abuse of erythropoietin (EPO), a drug which raises the red blood cell count and helps performance in endurance events.
But Maxse said: "People are free to speculate but the tests today were for many different substances, not just one."
Nicholls confirmed his stable had been one of those visited this morning and he was happy to aid the Jockey Club team.
He told Teletext: "I was happy to help and made all my horses available.
"I had 90 horses tested and I fully anticipate that there will be 90 negative results."
Miss Williams, whose stable was also visited, had no comment to add.
Trainer Lenny Lungo later confirmed that his Carrutherstown yard was one of the five that were visited by the Jockey Club teams.
He said: "Yes, we were one of the yards.
"It was announced a long time ago that the Jockey Club would occasionally test horses so we knew that it was in the pipeline for a while.
"Today was just one of those days. It's just part of a screening programme to prove that racing is clean and to help watch the integrity of the sport.
"We were happy to help them. One vet and two security officials came and three of us gave them a hand. We must have tested nearly 80 horses in an hour and a half so it was a good team effort.
"We won't hear any more about it because we know our horses are clean.
"They have all got a job to do and it's good to check so racing's image remains clean. We have nothing to hide."
Channel Four racing pundit John McCririck also applauded the Jockey Club moves and was full of praise for the operation.
He said: "It's a brave and decisive action by the Jockey Club. They're setting an example to sports bodies, not just in this country, but worldwide.
"A fortnight before Cheltenham is the time when anything that was amiss could be detected.
"Hopefully all the horses will now be cleared and the public can go to Cheltenham confident that doping is not happening here and at the Festival.
"Bravo the Jockey Club."
[ February 27, 2002: Message edited by: cheesebeast ]

[cheesebeast]

Quite a number of stories relating to these dawn raids on http://www.racingpost.co.uk
Vet says chances of catching offenders are slim
by David Yates
THE chances of EPO cheats being caught by the Jockey Club's dawn raids are “extremely small” because of the timing of administering the drug, a leading Lambourn vet said on Wednesday.
However, despite the slim chances of success - and all five trainers whose horses were tested on Tuesday were given the all-clear by Portman Square - Australian-born surgeon Tom Ahern said he applauded the Jockey Club venture.
EPO can be detected in humans “two to three days” after injection, according to Ahern, so catching those using the drug on horses depends on testing taking place within a similar timescale to its administration.
“Realistically, if someone is using it, the chances of catching them out are extremely small,” said Ahern.
“In humans there is a period of two to three days after injection that you can detect EPO - there could be a situation where a drug has been used but not recently, so you can't pick it up.”
Ahern gave the Jockey Club policy his full backing, claiming it would act as an effective deterrent to those considering using the drug.
“I would say it is admirable and they should be applauded,” he added. “It is something that other bodies in other countries should have done.
“The Jockey Club comments were that they don't expect positive swabs, but hope to clear the air for the public.
“They have sent a clear message to the racing industry that they won't tolerate the use of a performance-enhancing drug, and they are prepared to do broad-based testing, which is fantastic.
“They are saying: ‘We intend doing this so if anyone in the future decides to play with this, be warned.’
“People are realistic and they know with anything that involves money, there are people that try to take short cuts.
“But for people who may even consider playing with these things, the Jockey Club has made the risk of playing Russian roulette much greater.”
Ahern further claimed that trainers should welcome Jockey Club officials to test their horses in order to rule out any suspicion of wrongdoing.
“The ones who have been tested can absolutely demonstrate to the public that they are clear,” he said.
“Apart from a few complaints about the disturbance of their routine, the response should be fantastic.
“If their contribution is a little bit of disturbance of routine, that is a very small sacrifice.
“They can hold their heads up high.”

[cheesebeast]

Surprise Drug Tests in Britain Prove Negative
by The Associated Press
Date Posted: 2/27/02 11:37:42 AM
Last Updated: 2/27/02 11:37:42 AM
Surprise drug tests on more than 400 race horses belonging to some of the leading stables in Britain all came back negative, the Jockey Club said Wednesday.
Jockey club veterinarians conducted unnanounced dawn raids at five stables Tuesday to carry out blood tests following allegations that horses were being injected with the banned endurance- boosting drug erythropoietin, or EPO.
The stables of champion trainer Martin Pipe, Paul Nicholls, Venetia Williams, Len Lungo and Alan Jones were all targeted.
Jockey Club veterninary director Peter Webbon said Wednesday that results from the 408 tests were all negative.
"This was principally an exercise to deal with the well-publicized allegations of the use of EPO in racehorses," he said in a statement. "I hope that these results will serve to reassure the racing public."
The Jockey Club, which regulates horse racing in Britain, launched the surprise drug checks after trainer Charlie Mann voiced allegations of EPO abuse in December.
Pipe, one of the biggest names in British horse racing, was incensed at the surprise tests.
"It would have been polite to know in advance," Pipe told the Racing Post. "Why come to this yard? It looks as though they are acting on unfounded accusations. It totally disrupted our morning's work."
Jockey Club spokesman John Maxse said the negative results should help restore confidence in the credibility of horse racing - which attracts a huge betting industry in the country.
"The results have proven they (trainers) had nothing to be fearful of," he said. "Rather than saying this is a bad thing for racing I think this should be a massive boost in confidence for racing."
"I wouldn't say this is going to happen on a regular basis but we will continue with a program of unannounced testing of horses in training and will visit both large and small yards."
Steeplechase racing has one if its biggest weekends, starting March 12, with the Cheltenham Hunt Festival, including the prestigious Champion Hurdle.
EPO is a hormone produced by the kidney that promotes the formation of red blood cells by the bone marrow. Red blood cells carry oxygen around the body.
EPO injections are used to treat anemia, a condition caused by an abnormally low number of red blood cells. Recombinant EPO is a synthetic version of the hormone.
http://news.bloodhorse.com/viewstory.asp?id=8307
[ February 28, 2002: Message edited by: cheesebeast ]

[hobbes]

Top stables in the clear after dawn raids
27 February, 2002 18:43 GMT
By Emma Ross-Thomas
LONDON (Reuters) - Racehorses at five stables have tested negative for the blood-boosting drug EPO after an unprecedented dawn-raid by Jockey Club drug-testing officials.
"It's as expected," Jockey Club Veterinary Director Peter Webbon told Reuters on Wednesday. "We're very relieved."
The regulatory body's move to test horses on Tuesday, without alerting their trainers, followed calls to racing's regulatory body to take a tougher stance against doping.
"This was principally an exercise to deal with the well publicised allegations of the use of erythropoietin (EPO) in racehorses," Webbon said in a statement.
"Samples from 408 horses were collected yesterday -- about eight percent of the National Hunt horses currently registered in training -- and, following the use of well-proven screening techniques, the Horseracing Forensic Laboratory (HFL) have informed us that all the samples tested negative for
EPO.
"I hope that these results will serve to reassure the racing public."
The Jockey Club's radical policy-change -- the body has carried out regular testing since 1998 but has always forewarned trainers -- brings British racing in line with its European counterparts.
UNDERHAND MEASURES
Champion trainer Martin Pipe, whose Somerset stables were among those targeted, described the measures as underhand and said the jockey club went about it in the wrong way.
"They've got the wrong way of doing things," Pipe told Sky News television.
"They've now tested five, I don't know why they've tested those five...It's supposed to be random but I rather doubt that," he said.
"If they don't test other trainers I wonder why they've tested those five trainers."
Horses trained by Venetia Williams, Len Lungo, Paul Nicholls and Alan Jones were also tested, a Jockey Club spokesman said.
"The Jockey Club will continue its programme of unannounced visits to trainers yards, both large and small, for the purposes of testing horses in training and we shall continue to monitor samples for the presence of EPO," the Jockey Club statement said.
At the end of last year trainer Charlie Mann said EPO, a blood-boosting drug also taken by athletes, was being used regularly in British horse racing.
Vets are divided as to whether EPO actually enhances horses' performance.
POLICY CHANGE
The Jockey Club's policy change comes less than a month after ex-SAS head Major-General Jeremy Phipps became chief of security at the organisation, which controls the licensing of trainers.
The move, just two weeks before jump-racing's premier Cheltenham Festival, is also a response to urgings from European regulatory bodies to get in-line with their testing procedures.
The Jockey Club, a founding member of the European Horserace Scientific Liaison Committee, has been a leading light in harmonising regulations, but had been lagging on the spot-testing issue, Jockey club spokesman John Maxse said.
"It was a clear that the consensus view in Europe was that testing should be unannounced," Webbon said. "We do set store by harmonisation with our European colleagues."
One trainer, who declined to be named, hailed the move as a step in the right direction but said it looked more like a public relations stunt than a genuine effort to root out drug-use.
"I suspect the Jockey Club wants to be seen to be doing something. But it's a step in the right direction." he told Reuters.