In every doping case there is a human story. In this case it was a fairytale.
Denis Lynch arrived in Beijing with the best horse in the world. His
partnership with Lantinus had changed his life. Only a couple of years ago
Lynch was a dirt-tracker on the European showjumping circuit, turning a buck
by improving young horses and selling them on for a profit. He was a
small-print name in a sport where every successful rider needed a
resourceful owner with an open wallet.
That’s where Thomas Straumann comes in. He is a Swiss millionaire with a
passion for horses and not long after he met Lynch he became his patron. The
horses that Straumann bought for Lynch made him a player at the top shows
but Straumann’s dream was to have a horse for the Olympics. So, at the end
of last year, he paid €1.5m for Lantinus. The horse’s talent was well known
but nobody had unlocked all of his potential and it was clear that he could
be a difficult ride. Lynch conquered that.
This year Lantinus and Lynch have been the star pair on the showjumping
circuit. In mid-season a sheikh offered Straumann €5.5m for the horse but
Straumann didn’t need the money and this horse wasn’t about profit. It was
about the Olympics. That was the dream.
To engage with a doping story, though, you must bury names and faces, their
trau-ma and their back story. When the samples arrive in the lab they are
identified by nothing more than a code and that is the only way to view a
case such as this: without sentiment or prejudice. Lynch was quick to assert
his innocence and his story is perfectly plausible. But the only measure of
Lynch’s story is whether it can stand up to serious doubt. For his claims to
have any substance they must be tested.
When the FEI announced that four horses had tested positive for capsaicin they
didn’t specify which purpose they believed the substance was being used. The
distinction is crucial, however. If it was being applied to hypersensitise
the shins of the horses so that they would jump more cleanly, then that
amounts to cheating and each of the riders faces a suspension of up to two
years.
If they believed it was being used as a pain-relieving measure then that is
much less serious and the potential suspension is a year - or much less if
the doping committee were satisfied that its illegal use had no
performance-enhancing motive.
The difficulty is making that distinction. At their preliminary hearing in
Hong Kong on Thursday it was indicated to the Irish delegation that the
results of the urine sample could not determine whether the substance had
been applied to the leg of a horse or to another part of its body. Lynch
insists that he applied a product called Equi-Block to the back of his horse
as a regular part of its warm-up routine and this is how the substance
appeared in Lantinus’s sample; the presence of capsaicin in Equi-Block is
quantified at 0.025%.
The concentration of the substance found in the urine samples is no aid to
making this distinction. It is applied typically as a cream and whatever
amounts are absorbed into the system through the horse’s skin don’t linger
for very long.
Yet the FEI clearly targeted this substance for these Games and were extremely
careful not to flag their intention. Four years ago they trained their
sights on certain substances but they issued warnings. In 2004 their
intelligence was that riders were using human psychotic drugs, unlicensed
for use in horses, to calm what are known as “hot” horses. They quietly
began testing for these substances in April 2004 and sent emails to all of
the national federations alerting them to their concerns. Before the Athens
Games started they issued a clear warning on the doping control pages of
their website. In their trawl Waterford Crystal and Cian O’Connor were
caught in the nets and stripped of the gold medal.
This time there were no warnings. Nobody was tipped off with a word in the
ear. When the riders arrived in Hong Kong they were offered what is termed a
postarrival elective test for their horses. No obligation. Lynch decided
that Lantinus should have the test. The urine sample had to be submitted
within 12 hours of the horse landing in Hong Kong and the team vet, Marcus
Swail, waited seven hours before Lantinus issued a sample. The samples were
screened for more than 60 substances but not capsaicin.
Evidently the FEI’s reasoning was twofold. They wanted to catch horses in
competition and weren’t prepared to send up a flare with the postarrival
elective test. They also believed that capsaicin was primarily being used on
the circuit as a hypersensitising agent and not as a pain reliever. Their
best chance of catching offenders was in competition on the day when, they
believed, it would be applied to the horse’s shins. Only 20 showjumping
horses were tested at these Olympics and four tested positive for this
substance and this substance alone. By any criteria it is an extraordinary
strike rate.
This issue has dogged showjumping for a long time. Hypersensitising is a
formal term for what is known in Ireland and elsewhere in the equestrian
world as “rapping”.
This refers to an illegal training practice where the horse’s shins are
brought into contact with a pole or a stick as he’s jumping, to make him
jump higher.
However, horses in competition are regularly checked for evidence of this. The
shins of sport horses are a constant focus of scrutiny for possible
wrongdoing. For years skin swabs used to be taken and that gave way to
thermal photography which, for some reason, was absent from these Olympics.
More commonly riders are asked to submit their horse to a “boot check” after
they leave the arena. The leather or plastic boots that protect their lower
legs are removed by the horse’s groom and the steward examines the shins for
any abnormalities or discolouration. He will also smell the boot for any
chemical odour. After both of Lantinus’s qualifying rounds in Hong Kong he
was subjected to a boot check and was passed by the steward.
If, as Lynch claims, he used Equi-Block on Lantinus’s back then he has paid a
heavy price for a small offence. As a pain reliever Equi-Block has a very
limited range. It is an over-the-counter product readily available without
prescription in tack shops - roughly speaking, an equine version of Deep
Heat. But if your horse has a serious pain or a niggly injury and you need
him to compete, Equi-Block is not going to make much difference. Lynch says
that he used it to warm his horse’s back and that would be a common
application for the product.
Equi-Block is distributed by MiracleCorp of Dayton, Ohio and on Friday The New
York Times tracked down a spokesman for a comment on Lynch’s situation. He
was emphatic: “There should not have been a problem with it.”
On the front of the container it clearly states that Equi-Block contains
capsaicin but not in a quantity that would incur a positive dope test.
Should that not have made Lynch at least ask what this substance was and
wonder if he should be concerned? Products similar to Equi-Block that don’t
contain capsaicin are on the market and would have suited Lynch’s purpose
just as well. In fairness, it is not clear if Lynch had spotted that notice
on the Equi-Block container before Swail pointed it out to him.
It is believed that a test for capsaicin has been perfected only in the past
two years and it is speculated that the equine lab in Hong Kong is the only
place where screening for this substance can be successfully carried out.
Lynch says he has been using this product on Lantinus for as long as the
horse has been in his care and as a regular winner at the major shows this
season the horse is very familiar to the testers. But the testers weren’t
looking for capsaicin. They seem to have been saving that test for the
Olympics.
All horses need medication from time to time for various injuries and many of
those treatments would excite a positive drugs test if they appeared in a
horse’s system during competition. To allow for that, riders have the
facility to declare these medicines before competition as well as the
condition for which the horse was being treated. If it all stacked up in the
drugs test, no action would be taken. On Thursday the Irish delegation asked
what the outcome would have been if Lynch had declared his use of Equi-Block
before the competition started and they were told he would have been
disqualified. End of story.
Analysis of the B sample began yesterday and a result is expected within 48
hours. For the Olympics the FEI have put an accelerated process in place and
Lynch could have his case heard in the next week or 10 days. Lynch was happy
to waive testing of the B sample and bring his hearing forward but that
option wasn’t available.
He accepts that a banned substance was found in his horse and he says he knows
how it got there. He knows that the FEI has a policy of strict liability
where the presence of any undeclared banned substance must result in a
punishment for the rider.
But Lynch insists that he wasn’t cheating. The FEI’s doping control committee
will make a judgment by the end of September. Somehow they must decide
whether Lynch applied Equi-Block to his horse’s legs or his horse’s back.
Their verdict on his motive hangs entirely on that question.
Compound with two uses
Capsaicin is the compound that makes chilli peppers feel hot on the tongue,
lips and skin. It is also an ingredient in painkilling drugs for humans.
When applied to a horse’s legs it causes hypersensitivity, so if the horse
hits a fence or pole when jumping it will increase the pain. This encourages
the horse to lift its legs higher. Capsaicin is also known as the equine
Deep Heat and is used for pain relief.
Although banned by the FEI, only in the past two years has equipment become
sophisticated enough to detect it. Riders and team managers were all warned
that the Hong Kong Jockey Club’s laboratory, which tested the samples, had
the most up-to-date and efficient facilities in the world.
What happens now The B-samples will be analysed shortly. If the result
is positive, evidence and written submissions will be requested from the
rider and a three-member FEI panel will be appointed. This panel should
quickly decide on sanctions and hold a hearing as necessary.
