The War on Baking Soda, an Update

Well, call it a retroactive update. I just happened across this little gem from August 5 of last year. Not being one to say "I told you so" (usually), I'll leave my readers to peruse the attached article from the Texas Thoroughbred Association's newsletter without comment. NOTE: "TRC" refers to the Texas Racing Commission. My original comments appear here: "The War on Baking Soda".

ONLY ONE HORSE HITS BOARD IN TRC’S RANDOM SAMPLING FOR MILKSHAKE USE.

Dr. Stewart Marsh, the TRC’s chief veterinarian, produced a surprising statistic during an industry meeting last Tuesday when he provided an updated report on the Commission’s random sampling for milkshake administration. He stated that only one horse, which would have been called a “positive,” finished as well as fourth. In total there were 9 horses that showed a millimole count higher than 38, the threshold level for calling a “positive,” for bicarbonate of soda in their system.

The meeting had been called to consider protocol to address milkshake administration in Texas. However, two problems surfaced during the discussion among representatives of breed and horsemen’s organizations, Texas tracks and Commission staff. First, from a legal perspective, since sodium bicarbonate is present in a horse’s system, its presence at high levels could not be treated as a positive under present TRC rules. Second, Dr. Marsh stated that his research had failed to turn up any literature within the past 10 years that showed speed and performance had been affected by milkshake administrations.