Within the horseracing industry, “milk shaking” or, technically— administering a mixture of bicarbonate, sugar and other substances in an attempt to enhance the performance of a racehorse—continues to be a controversial and oft-debated subject among horsemen, racetrack management and government agencies.

Since 1990, when milk shaking was first brought to the forefront of horseracing as the latest speed-enhancing “fad” among trainers, TCO2 testing has become a mainstay at racing venues in the United States and abroad.

While the machines or “black boxes” that do the testing have become more sophisticated over time, the basic TCO2 test is the same 21 years later.

And so, too, are the basics of milk shaking.

Neutralizing Lactic Acid

Horses that are given specific amounts of baking soda prior to a race suffer less fatigue and muscle soreness during and after the event, due to the alkalinizing properties found in sodium bicarbonate. The alkalization neutralizes the build-up of lactic acid in the muscles and thus delays both fatigue and muscle soreness. Lactic acid is a naturally occurring result of physical exertion, and by stopping or delaying the build-up of it, fatigue and muscle soreness is also delayed and stopped. It’s that simple—stop the lactic acid—and you stop the fatigue.

State racing agencies have established guidelines for TCO2 tolerance levels and penalties during the past two decades, and many jurisdictions continue to work at evolving those rules and regulations. However, testing procedures vary from state to state, and often depend upon the state’s funding for these procedures.

The TCO2 (blood gas analysis) test measures the amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) in a horse’s blood. National jurisdictions have agreed on a standard of 37 milliomoles per liter for both a non-Lasix and Lasix (Salix) horse as accepted tolerance levels, in line with the Association of Racing Commissioners International’s model rule on TCO2 testing levels. Outside the United States the threshold for TCO2 is 36 milliomoles per liter.

Establishing Protocol

Elliot “Doc” Narotsky, racing secretary at Chicago’s sister harness tracks of Maywood and Balmoral, was the first person to initiate TCO2 testing when he became aware of milk shaking in 1991.

“It was evident that milk shaking going on, and it was determined that it should be stopped,” Narotsky explained. “We worked with various testing procedures and found what we felt were appropriate levels. The tracks and horsemen’s groups agreed to test a few races—and it soon became obvious who was milk shaking horses and who was not. Together, track management and the horsemen’s associations established guidelines along with a sound testing program. The decision to start the testing program was uniform among all Chicago racetracks.”

From 1991 to 1997 at Maywood and Sportsman’s Park, every Standardbred in every race was tested, Narotsky acknowledged.

“We never had a high test that we weren’t able to get to the bottom of. If a trainer couldn’t explain why his or her horse had a high test, we were able to go back to the animal’s previous test to compare levels,” he said.

Narotsky maintained a database of all the horses that raced at both tracks and their tests, and he tracked the results. He also worked closely with Dr. Kevin Kline at the University of Illinois.

“Although Dr. Kline did have one horse (a retired broodmare) that maintained a high level, I believe that a fit Standardbred at rest will show normal levels and will not—on their own—show high levels,” Narotsky stated. “When we first began testing, we believed that 33 to 34 was a normal range, with 35 being high. If a horseman was close to the high end of a normal range, we addressed that issue with him or her.”

An avid runner of 10k events and triathlons, Narotsky admitted he was familiar with the use of alkalizing agents in human athletes.

“I heard rumors in the mid-1980s, of some of the runners using alkalizing agents to help improve their performances,” he said. “This was way before we were testing horses.

“In bicycle racing, they test an athlete’s hematocrit level, and if it’s above a certain level, they’re deemed unhealthy and are not allowed to race,” Narotsky noted. “I think we should test both the hematocrit and the TCO2 levels in racehorses. In both cases, if the levels are higher than the appropriate standard, the horses should be deemed unhealthy to race, and be scratched. These are quick and easy tests and resolve a lot of problems.

Deviation from the Norm

Studies have shown that TCO2 levels in a horse’s system will not deviate from their normal range unless the diet of the horse is altered.

“I do believe that there are trainers out there trying to keep their horses high, some for the right reasons, and some that are just plain crooks,” Narotsky stated. “For instance, if a trainer has a horse that is prone to tying up, it is natural that the trainer would want to put the horse on a high alkaline diet, such as putting baking soda in the water and using a high concentration of electrolytes on a daily basis.

“This type of program doesn’t necessarily mean that a trainer is trying to be dishonest,” he acknowledged. “However, there are definitely those trainers out there who use baking soda and other alkalizing agents to gain an advantage. It seems that no matter what, the crooks are always ahead of the scientists, laboratories and researchers.”

Studies have shown that a horse on pasture can have a normal TCO2 level of anywhere from 26 to 32. If the same horse is brought in to a controlled environment and is fed commercial feed along with processed hay or hay cubes, his levels tend to rise slightly from 27 to 33. Obviously, a horse in a racing or racetrack environment would be affected even more under normal circumstances. A higher protein feed, additives and daily supplements could theoretically raise levels another point or two. Also, one must take into account the horse’s training regime, and whether or not the horse is stabled at a farm, training center or racetrack, accounting for a variety of stress levels.

As well, it is widely whispered among horsemen—though few will admit it publicly—that many of the most successful trainers in North American have their own “black boxes” at their disposal.

“It doesn’t surprise me that trainers would have their own black boxes,” Narotsky said. “A lot of trainers want the ‘edge.’ If the limit is high, and you don’t want your horse to go over that limit, and that near-limit gives you the advantage you’re looking for, well, then that trainer needs to be as accurate as possible in the amount of prohibited substance given to the horse.”

“The levels that were raised (from 35 to 37) were just an invitation to add a few more ounces of soda,” Narotsky revealed. “It allows for a greater margin of error.”

Margin of Error

And who suffers the most from this margin of error? Without of a doubt, the horse, who has no say-so in the administration of any substance, and of course, there’s the often-forgotten wagering public, who is not privy to this information.

When milk shaking goes wrong, it goes very wrong. The most obvious problem occurs when a horse drowns from the incorrect insertion of a tube. As well, some horse’s systems are just not able to handle the bicarbonate overload on their systems. Pound for pound, horses have more body cavity pressure on their hearts than any other animal. If the horse’s system cannot handle the bicarbonate overload, it puts a great deal of stress on the heart and cardiovascular system, with often-disastrous results.

“The year before we started testing, in 1990, we had two horses drop dead in a race (the same race) at Maywood Park from apparent heart attacks,” Narotsky admitted. “The state did an autopsy on both horses and found their stomachs to be full of baking soda.”

The Test

While the test for milk shaking has remained basically unchanged over the years, the type of alkalinizing agents utilized for the process has evolved.

“Essentially the test is the same,” Narotsky explained. “The instruments are better—but in comparison with standard drug testing, which is much more sophisticated, there has been little variance in the TCO2 test. However, I think the crooks have evolved in their ways of using alkalizing agents. I’ve heard that everything from Tums and other forms of calcium carbonate are being used. The only way to have everyone on a level playing field is to have zero tolerance for offenders.”

“I don’t think that milk shaking started later in the thoroughbred industry,” Narotsky stressed. “It’s just that the honest people in the harness industry recognized the problem before the honest people did in the thoroughbred industry. Clearly, all racing jurisdictions are on the right track with their rules.”

Perhaps one of the reasons that bicarbonate overloading in the thoroughbred industry took longer to get noticed is the fact that the thoroughbreds don’t race set distances as is commonplace in harness racing. Studies have shown that in sprint racing the build-up of lactic acid is not as pronounced and has less or little affect. Add to the equation the distinct difference in training methods between thoroughbreds and Standardbreds.

In 2005, David Fitzpatrick, DVM, reported to the Illinois Racing Board (IRB) on the results of his tests of Lasix and TCO2 increases. Fitzpatrick stated he observed a noted increase in TCO2 levels when Lasix was given in doses higher than 5cc. It was upon these findings that the IRB changed their procedures back to post-race TCO2 tests for winners and one random horse (known as the “special”).

Pre- or Post-Race

Conflicting opinions exist among equine professionals as to what constitutes a more accurate TCO2 reading—the pre- or post-race test—and arguments abound for both.

Frank Zanzuccki, Executive Director of the New Jersey State Racing Commission, said he believes that post-race TCO2 tests are far more effective than pre-race tests.

“Initially, we felt that milk shaking was only a problem in the Standardbred industry because it was only useful for horses that were going longer distances. However, we later came to believe it’s become prevalent in Thoroughbred circles too.” Zanzuccki said.

The Garden State implemented TCO2 testing in 1993 for the first time, utilizing a pre-race test for Standardbreds, and adopted a TCO2 pre-race test for Thoroughbreds in October 2007. The current TCO2 standards were adopted in 2008, when there was no longer be a distinction made for horses racing on Lasix (Salix).

“We take a post-race test for the Standardbreds, because we feel that it’s a better indication of whether the horse has been given an alkalizing agent. We felt that a pre-race test result was much more easily manipulated, and that a post-race test—taken at least an hour after a horse has raced—results in a more accurate blood gas reading.”

“The previous rule had a level of 39 millimoes per liter for Lasix horses and we removed that rule,” Zanzuccki noted. “There’s no distinction for horses racing on Lasix any more—they are on the same level as non-Lasix horses—37 millimoles per liter.”

In June of 2007, the Bluegrass State adopted a new policy in regards to TCO2 testing. Marc Guilfoil, Director of Standardbred Racing for the Kentucky Racing Commission, explained that change now allows the state to pull blood for both pre and post-race TCO2 testing.

“We now test several races per day of both breeds at random,” Guilfoil noted. “As new information becomes available, we’re accessing new technology.”

The Ohio State Racing Commission (ORC) also tests both breeds, but pre-race only.

“We test pre-race, on-site, as opposed to post-race testing,” said former OSRC Deputy John Izzo. “We saw that other states were testing pre-race and decided that Ohio should be adopting a pre-race testing procedure, too.”

In January 2006, the New York State Racing and Wagering Board adopted TCO2 pre-race testing for both harness and thoroughbred tracks, with blood samples being sent to Cornell University’s Equine Drug Testing Lab. Previously, only Standardbreds had been tested post-race after TCO2 testing was enacted in February 2005.

Conflicting Results

George Karam, president of the Saratoga Harness Horse Person’s Association, described an epidemic of conflicting TCO2 tests that plagued Saratoga in summer 2007.

“We started getting a rash of positive TCO2 tests,” Karam recalled. “It seemed they were coming in groups. We’d go five or six weeks with no high levels, and then there’d be two or three of them all at once—many coming from well-respected horsemen, who’d never had so much as a Bute overage.”

At Saratoga, both the state and the track perform pre-race, TCO2 testing.

“After some investigation and research, we found that the track was not using the proper collection protocol,” Karam explained. “One of our horseman—veterinarian Dr. Harvey Stein—used to run the TCO2 tests at Cal-Expo before he relocated to New York. After he watched the way the test was performed at Saratoga, he spotted a discrepancy, and gave his professional opinion to track management. As a result, the racetrack changed their testing procedures.”

The California Horse Racing Board (CHRB) had adopted TCO2 tests in September 2005, with the University of California at Davis as the primary testing laboratory.

Karam said Saratoga had tested a horse, resulting in a high TCO2 level, and the state had tested the same horse, but came up with a normal reading.

“Saratoga tests the blood right there in the paddock, whereas the state sends their samples out to a separate lab,” Karam noted. “Both samples were taken pre-race, with vastly different results. So it was apparent something was amiss.”

“With Dr. Stein’s help, we found out that the track was taking the blood, placing it in a tube and testing it, but they weren’t using a heparin tube,” Karam continued. “The heparin tube gives you a much more pure reading. It really wasn’t the fault of anyone at the track—they just didn’t know. As a result, a lot of innocent horse people were getting false positives and unjust charges.”

A heparin tube is used almost exclusively for blood collection, anticoagulation and biochemistry analysis. It is preferable because it can be used in a wide range of temperatures, without separation of proteins and enzymes, critical to accurate test results, unlike standard collection tubes.

“Since Dr. Stein’s testimony, and his recommendations being adopted by the tracks, there’s been a more reasonable amount of positives,” Karam said. “We had been complaining that the testing wasn’t accurate for about two and a half years, because the positives would come when there were extremes in weather—either excessive heat or excessive cold.

“We’ve always been consistent in that we want a fair test and if someone is guilty, then so be it,” Karam added. “Ultimately we all want the same thing—fair racing for ourselves and the public. I’m confident now that our testing is accurate.”

In Conclusion

In the Prairie State, the Illinois Racing Board (IRB) performs post-race TCO2 testing on the winning horse and several random horses per racing program and random pre-race tests—rules that took effect on April 16, 2005. Blood samples are sent to the University of Illinois at Chicago Animal Forensic Toxicology Laboratory for analysis. Illinois also allows trainers to quarantine horses to determine if a horse has a naturally high TCO2 level.

“Statistically, there are horses that will always test above the threshold levels,” IRB Executive Director Marc Laino acknowledged. “The best we can do is to hope our testing deters people from trying to gain an unfair advantage.”

Bruce Murray, vice president of Standardbred racing for the Woodbine Entertainment Group that runs Woodbine and Mohawk Raceways said that testing either pre- or post-race is conducted on a random selection basis by the ORC judges.

“Pre-race TCO2 tests are normally done on two horses per race, up to 24 tests per card,” Murray noted. “We’ve developed a system that allows for horses to be selected completely by random. Further, there is the option to test any horse for up to 90 minutes after a race if the judges deem it necessary.”

Murray added that all horses in major stakes are pre-race TCO2 tested, and that the ORC also conducts out-of-competition testing on horses in Ontario that are of interest to them. As well, the winner of every race and at least one other horse selected by the ORC judges is tested post-race via urine, according to Canadian Pari-Mutuel Association rules.

Clearly, milk shaking is one issue in racing that just won’t go away. TCO2 testing equipment and procedures continue to advance as scientific and physiological developments evolve, and as funding allows.

Who would have ever thought a little box of baking soda could cause this much fuss?

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