The Bangalore Turf Club is locked in a controversy over an alleged doping scandal after a horse was tested for a local anaesthetic. While the complainant, a 53-year-old horse owner who approached the police, insisted that this pointed to the use of stimulants, opponents within the club say it is a “false allegation based on a routine test”.
Veterinarians, too, after reading the report said the dosage of anaesthetic administered to the horse was well within the internationally-followed threshold.
At the centre of the controversy in the club, founded in 1920, is the barely-three-year-old ‘Queen Latifa’, a filly owned by Enthusiast’s Racing Syndicate and bred at the Kunigal Stud Farm.
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Urine from the horse was collected after its win, and samples were sent to the National Dope Testing Laboratory (NDTL) in New Delhi. The brief report states: “Adverse analytical findings for local anaesthetic: Procaine”.
Procaine is an anaesthetic that is administered along with antibiotics injections to relieve pain in a horse. A member of the club said the issue was being “blown up” by a group whose horse had lost the race.
Referring to procaine as a stimulant, H.S. Chandregowda, the complainant,said:“Stimulants were were found in three horses, and inquiries were launched against two. However, the file with Queen Latifah’s test was closed. The authorities of the Club have not taken action and we suspect a cover-up.”
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S.M. Karthikeyan, Chairman of the Veterinary Commission at the Drugs Authority of India, said the procaine found was barely 1.22 nanogrammes per ml of plasma, while the internationally-followed threshold is 10 nanogrammes per ml.