swab irregularity?

[VINCENT]

ELEPHANT DANCE (Race 6 - 6 October 2002 race meeting)
17 October 2002
In accordance with the usual practice of the Hong Kong Jockey Club, all favourites which ran at the Sha Tin meeting on Sunday 6 October 2002 were required to provide a urine sample irrespective of their finishing positions. Accordingly a routine urine sample was taken from ELEPHANT DANCE, 4th placegetter, but first favourite in the race.
The Stewards have been advised by the Club's Senior Racing Chemist, Dr T S M Wan, that the sample provided by ELEPHANT DANCE on analysis was found to contain phenylbutazone and its metabolite gamma-hydroxyphenylbutazone. He also said the post-race blood sample taken from ELEPHANT DANCE was found to contain phenylbutazone. Dr Wan however has advised the pre-race urine sample taken from ELEPHANT DANCE did not contain phenylbutazone or its metabolite and has been declared negative.
Today Chief Stipendiary Steward John Schreck, Senior Veterinary Surgeon Dr Keith Watkins, Senior Veterinary Officer Dr Brian Stewart, Stipendiary Steward Tony Lam and Principal Investigator (Investigations) Neil Maloney visited the stable of Mr T K Ng, trainer of ELEPHANT DANCE and advised him of the analyst's finding. Mr Ng requested that the B sample be forwarded to an outside laboratory for independent analysis and it was agreed that this sample should be forwarded to Dr Y Bonnaire of the Laboratoire de la Fédération Nationale des Sociétés de Courses in France.
The matter is now adjourned to a date to be fixed.

[Scarper]

phenylbutazone is an anti-inflamatory as far as i can tell. What effect can it have on winning chance if administered just before a race?

[Horny Harry]

It wont make the horse run any faster, but it may mean that the horse will feel less pain in the legs.
Bute is very commonly given to horses in training...any swelling in the legs and they usually get a gob-full. Some trainers give it to horses after the races ( John Hawkes does this I believe)It relieves infalamation and associated pain. Trainers just have to be careful that it is not administered too close to raceday.

[Fat Bastard]

i could do with something to relieve swelling. everything i got is swollen except my old fella, which i haven't seen in years.

[cheesebeast]

Phenylbutazone
17 October 2002
Phenylbutazone is a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug which, simply put, acts to reduce pain, soreness and inflammation (e.g. swelling), such as that associated with fresh (e.g. knocks, bruises, strains), or old (e.g. arthritis), injuries to horses' legs. Whilst strictly neither a performance enhancing or diminishing drug in itself, it could act to improve the athletic performance of a horse with a musculo-skeletal injury by removing pain associated with exercise and by increasing limb mobility. It is mainly used in racehorses to treat problems associated with the muscles, tendons, ligaments, bones and joints which are common sites of injury in athletic animals.

[Monty Burns]

"Elephant Dance" Inquiry
31 October 2002
The Stewards today concluded the inquiry into the analyst's finding regarding the urine and blood samples taken from ELEPHANT DANCE subsequent to the horse running 4th in the Harbin Handicap at Sha Tin on 6 October 2002.
On 16 October 2002 Dr T S M Wan, Senior Racing Chemist of the Hong Kong Jockey Club, advised the Stewards that the sample he analysed was found to contain phenylbutazone and its metabolite gamma-hydroxyphenylbutazone. A blood sample he analysed was also found to contain phenylbutazone. It was established that the samples analysed by Dr Wan and reported as containing the substances above were taken from ELEPHANT DANCE.
Mr T K Ng, trainer of ELEPHANT DANCE, was advised of the analyst's finding and he requested that the B portion of the samples be forwarded to a laboratory in France for confirmatory testing. Mr Philippe Plou, who is the Head of Technical Division at the Laboratoire de la Fédération Nationale des Sociétés des Courses in Paris, has now reported the urine sample he analysed contained phenylbutazone and gamma-hydroxyphenylbutazone. He has also reported the blood sample he analysed contained phenylbutazone.
Evidence was taken today from Mr T K Ng, trainer of ELEPHANT DANCE, from Mr Leung Chi Wah, Stables Assistant who cares for ELEPHANT DANCE and from Ms Chan Fung Ha, Stables Assistant with Trainer T K Ng. Evidence was also taken from Dr K L Watkins, Senior Veterinary Surgeon, Dr T S M Wan, Senior Racing Chemist, and Mr Neil Maloney, Principal Investigator (Investigations).
Dr Watkins advised the inquiry that phenylbutazone is a prohibited substance in accordance with the Rules of Racing of the Hong Kong Jockey Club.
Mr Maloney provided the inquiry with evidence of having viewed the closed circuit television surveillance tapes at the relevant time. Mr Maloney and his staff had done this in the presence of Mr Ng.
During the inquiry, it was established that the pre-race urine sample which was taken from ELEPHANT DANCE in the early hours of the morning of 6 October 2002 was on analysis found to be free of any prohibited substances. It was further established that at about 1:10 pm on 6 October 2002, a blood sample was taken from ELEPHANT DANCE for the purpose of controlling the use of "milkshakes". The Stewards requested that Dr Wan re-test this portion of blood for the presence of phenylbutazone or its metabolites. Dr Wan said the testing of this portion of blood was done in a more sensitive method than that for post-race samples. He advised this sample of blood was free of any prohibited substances.
From the results provided to the Stewards by Dr Wan, it is clear that ELEPHANT DANCE must have been exposed to phenylbutazone within a time frame beginning at about 1 pm on 6 October 2002 and ending at approximately 3:45 pm on 6 October 2002 when the horse provided its post-race samples of urine and blood.
It was established that Mr Leung Chi Wah had returned to his residence after morning work, had slept in and was late getting back to the stable of Mr T K Ng to prepare ELEPHANT DANCE for its event that afternoon. The Assistant Stables Supervisor asked Ms Chan Fung Ha to help in the preparation of ELEPHANT DANCE. She bridled the horse and shortly after this Mr Leung arrived and took ELEPHANT DANCE for its pre-race weighing, then to the assembly yard. Ms Chan had been caring for a horse named KING LION (B91) which had recently injured a suspensory ligament and was to be retired, but before 6 October 2002 and on 6 October 2002 was being treated with phenylbutazone paste. Immediately before bridling ELEPHANT DANCE, Ms Chan had been tending to KING LION in the course of her routine duties.
Dr Wan said the concentration of phenylbutazone he detected together with the estimated time of exposure that the horse had to the substance being rather recent are, in his opinion, consistent with ELEPHANT DANCE having been exposed to only a small quantity of phenylbutazone. He also said in his opinion the findings he made were unlikely to have originated from a deliberate administration of phenylbutazone and were more probably due to the horse being exposed to a small amount of phenylbutazone paste of either an oral or topical route.
After considering all the circumstances of this case, the Stewards found Mr T K Ng to be in breach of Rule 140(1) in that as the trainer of ELEPHANT DANCE, he failed to ensure that a horse being trained by him was free of prohibited substances on 6 October 2002, a day on which it ran at Sha Tin.
For his breach of the Rule, Mr Ng was fined $75,000.
Hong Kong Jockey Club Rule of Racing 138(2) states that any horse which returns a positive test shall be disqualified for any race in which it has competed. Accordingly ELEPHANT DANCE was disqualified from the Harbin Handicap, the amended placings becoming 1st MONZA KING, 2nd NEW PLANET, 3rd DIAMOND TALENTS, 4th HAPPY FORTUNE and 5th HIGH SKY.