Throughout history, horse racing has captivated audiences worldwide. The beauty of the horses drew in some people; some enjoyed the excitement of the race, while others saw this centuries-old sport as an opportunity to make a fast buck from betting.
Unfortunately, like other competitive sports, horse racing has seen instances of cheating and unethical behaviour. One commonly seen issue in this discipline is doping, which includes using performance-enhancing drugs or other illegal substances to improve a horse’s performance.
Besides being an unfair way to win, doping can seriously damage the horses’ health. Furthermore, doping influences the betting industry by directly tamping the race’s outcome and diminishes even the best betting strategies experienced punters use.
To better understand how big of a problem doping can be, we’ll examine its history, explore doping types, and go over the potential reasons why one would get involved with this practice in the first place.
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Horse Racing Doping Goes as Far Back as 1533
Horse racing doping dates back to 480–406 BC, as unofficially claimed by Euripides. Allegedly, people fed their horses with human flesh at the time to enhance their performance and make them run faster. Yet, until the 16th century, there were no mentions of specific substances used as doping in horse racing.
Horse racing stimulants were first reported in 1533 when arsenic was likely to have been used. By 1666, the substance’s use became known to the public and eventually got prohibited at horse racing locations in the English town of Worksop.
It wasn’t until 1903 that the UK law made horse racing doping illegal, and it has stood by that decision to date, according to the BHA’s latest statement. The introduction of saliva tests followed in 1912 and tested horses for alkaloids like caffeine, morphine, theobromine, strychnine, and even cocaine.
However, other countries, such as the US, arrived at the party late and only legalised pari-mutuel betting in 1933. As expected, they also discovered doping substances and didn’t hesitate to use them on racehorses. This led to an increased number of horse injuries, and it lasted until the 20th century when anti-doping agencies finally set rules and banned the use of drugs in this sport.
But even though doping has been forbidden worldwide, it hasn’t been wholly discontinued. People have devised new ways to make horses stronger, faster, and more agile — they turned to legal therapeutic medications and performance-enhancing substances. Furthermore, medication abuse for doping today goes beyond races and applies to horse training and recovery periods.
Such practices cause more injuries and expose horses and jockeys to risk during the races. Doping use also takes hold of horse racing bettors. Even if you have access to the best betting operators, like those listed on www.bookiesnotongamstop.com, you won’t benefit from your wagering if a horse runs a record-breaking race under the influence of doping.
For this reason, governments worldwide have set thresholds for the allowed concentration of legal medications in equine blood, while the zero-tolerance policy applies to all illegal substances.
Types of Horse Racing Doping
Over the years, horse racing doping had become more sophisticated than when people used substances like caffeine or cocaine. Today, people use various legal drugs to improve the performance of racehorses, but overdose and inadequate application can cause terrible consequences. Let’s go over the most common options for doping in horse racing.
Performance-Enhancing Drugs
Performance-enhancing substances have been increasingly popular in horse racing. These drugs improve the animal’s stamina, making it faster, stronger, and more resilient.
Association of Racing Commissioners International lists more than 1,100 substances as performance-enhancing drugs. They fall under several categories, including stimulants, tranquillisers, bronchodilators, behavioural modifiers, and others. Using these drugs can cause deterioration of health in horses and often lead to death due to collapse during races.
Moreover, horse racing doping affects other related industries, including sports betting. In essence, doping gives a horse an advantage over other competing animals, thus directly affecting the race outcome. This is, by all means, unfair to bettors who aren’t aware of doping practices taking place, as they’ll unknowingly waste money without a chance to win anything back.
Painkillers
Although painkillers aren’t illegal and don’t serve a direct doping purpose, their misuse in horse racing has placed them in the group of harmful substances. Namely, many trainers nowadays use painkillers to enable injured horses to train hard and race despite their illnesses.
While the medicine makes the horse feel well before and during the race, it prevents the animal from feeling pain if the current injuries become even more severe. Thus, the horse will be in agony after the race as it’ll start feeling the consequences once the painkillers stop working their magic.
Reasons for Horse Racing Doping
Watching the magnificent equine creatures race to the finish line at some of the best horse racing locations in the world is exciting in its own right. Nevertheless, some people use horse racing for more than thrill and pleasure. Let’s review some of the most critical reasons horse racing doping occurs.
Financial Gain
Horse racing is just another sport that’s been heavily exploited money-wise. Horse owners, trainers, and jockeys can benefit significantly from winning a major race, so they are often tempted to cheat and use doping to improve their horses’ performance.
In addition to winning money through high-profile races, some people use doping for an even bigger financial gain through sports betting sites. Betting on horse racing is a multi-million dollar pastime that can pay off tremendously if you have reliable information about the horse with the best winning chances.
In other words, if you own, train, or ride a horse given doping substances, you can put money on it knowing it’ll outperform other equine participants. National Geographic explains it nicely in a detailed article if you’d like to read more on horse racing doping.
Reputation
There are also people involved in horse racing who aren’t in this business solely for the money prizes. They are also interested in their horses earning a stellar reputation and using the positive result in one race to qualify for the next one. As a follow-up, a horse with a rich portfolio becomes more desirable for breeding as it is considered to have better genes than the rest of the competitors.
Unsurprisingly, these people’s hidden agenda also calls for performance boosters. They turn to dope to ensure their stallions keep winning races and stay valuable even after they stop competing.
What Is the Stance of the British Horseracing Authority?
The British Horseracing Authority is well aware of the potential harm caused by doping in horse racing. Using harmful and illegal substances can lead to catastrophic consequences for humans and equines and threaten the sport’s integrity. The organisation regularly takes active measures to keep everything in order and maintain the trust of horse racing participants, fans, and bettors.
The BHA invests in a strict anti-doping program to ensure safe, clean, and fair racing. The regime includes timely routine testing so the results can be as reliable as possible. Also, the organisation can act on tip-offs, but only after proper analysis of the collected intel. However, the BHA can’t rush this process as it may be counterproductive and alarm those involved in the doping scheme.
Overall, the BHA seems to have done everything possible to protect horses, riders, and everyone who enjoys betting on exciting horse races. By informing people involved in this sport about doping-related prosecutions, the BHA currently holds everything under control with current laws and anti-doping practices. Hopefully, we’ll see the industry improve even further in the future.
