Trainer Graham Motion has appealed a suspension handed down to him by the Kentucky Racing Commission for an overage of the muscle relaxant methocarbamol–also known as Robaxin–detected in a sample taken after Kitten's Point (Kitten's Joy)'s victory in the GIII Bewitch S. at Keeneland last April. The leading conditioner, who has never before had a medication violation during his 23-year career, was suspended five days by the KHRC and fined $500. George Strawbridge homebred Kitten's Point has been stripped of the $90,000 she earned for first place in the contest, and runner-up Cay Dancer (GB) (Danehill Dancer {Ire}) has inherited the victory.
Robaxin is considered a controlled therapeutic substance, with a limit of 1.0 nanograms per milliliter in the state of Kentucky and a recommended 48-hour withdrawal time. Kitten's Point's sample showed 2.9 ng/ml of plasma despite Motion's insistence that her final dose of Robaxin came a full week before the Bewitch.
“While I always realized the possibility of a violation despite the highest degree of diligence and understand the need for penalties, in these circumstances I am convinced that my staff and I followed all the required protocols and I plan to appeal the decision for a variety of reasons, all of which were presented at the stewards' hearing,” Motion said in a statement on his website.
When reached Wednesday by the Thoroughbred Daily News, Motion added, “I strongly feel that the system, the way it is now, is not working. My biggest concerns are that testing has become so sensitive, and that the racing jurisdictions and commissions aren't being held to the same standard that we are as trainers… A nanogram is a billionth of a gram. My point about what's going on at Keeneland is that the room that handles our samples doubles as the outriders' tack room [until approximately two days before the beginning of the Keeneland meet]. To me, that doesn't make sense. If we're measuring nanograms, I don't think they should be held in that kind of environment.”
Motion also called into question the accuracy and research behind suggested medication withdrawal times on which trainers rely.
“We have to, as trainers, have guidelines,” Motion said. “If we can't follow the guidelines that are issued–if there's no science behind the guidelines–then I'm not quite sure how we're supposed to operate. Clearly there is no science behind a normal racetrack dose of Robaxin. No one's bothered to do the science behind it. We don't really know. Forty-eight hours is clearly not enough to withdraw from this medication–I withdrew seven days out and it still wasn't enough. It makes it very hard to operate under those conditions.”
Click here for the official KHRC ruling.
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