Cody Autrey Suspension

[Cannon Shell]

Originally Posted by citycat

The problem I have with calling the suspension a joke because it has not be justly proven to enhance horses performace is his intent. Guanabenz is not something that is just around the barn (like lidocaine which is used for many purposes). He intentionally obtained guanabenz to try to get a drug induced advantage. THIS is where I have a problem. I would like to see the horse suspended also then maybe some of the owners would wake up and take responsibility and send their horses to trainers who do not cheat.

I have never heard of anyone using Guanabenz for any reason other than as a hop. I have never heard it prescribed as a medication for a problem in a horse. As a matter of fact I did not even know it was legal for use in this country. It has been around for a while and there was talk a few years ago that the rise of a certain trainer in NY was directly related to use of this. It seems like a strange penalty for a class 2 drug

[citycat]

I fully respect your responses on this issue "Cannon Shell" and I am not really asking you to "call out" one of your collegues. As a long time owner, the fact that guanabenz was being used seems to indicate to me that there was "intent" to gain a drug-induced advantage.

As you have said in many other posts we are all in this together. The owners need to take responsibility as well as trainers and vets. If this happened to one of my horses they would be gone from the trainer in a heartbeat.

I would hope that owners/trainers have some sort of dialogue about how a horse is trained and exactly what they use their vet for. When "selecting" a trainer we had long conversations about exactly what type of "vet" work I would accept.