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Hall Of Fame Trainer Fighting Testosterone Positive For Harness Racing Champion

Perfect Sting, named 3-year-old male pacing champion of 2021 by the U.S. Harness Writers Association when Dan Patch Award winners were announced on Dec. 20, was subsequently found to have failed a drug test from the $148,332 Pennsylvania Sire Stakes at The Meadows that took place six months earlier.

The ruling, published at the United States Trotting Association website on Dec. 31 and reported at HarnessLink.com, stated that Perfect Sting tested positive for testosterone at a level of 3,765 pg/ml. A split sample subsequently confirmed the finding at a level of 3,635/pg/ml.

Trainer Joseph Holloway has been suspended 15 days from Jan. 17, 2022, through Jan. 31, 2022, and fined $500. Perfect Sting, who was elevated to first place in the Pennsylania Sire Stakes via disqualification of the original first-place finisher, has been disqualified from his win, with $74,166 in purse money ordered returned and redistributed.

Perfect Sting, also the champion 2-year-old pacer in 2020, was harness racing's richest performer in 2021 (prior to this ruling). Holloway, a member of the Harness Racing Museum Hall of Fame, was recipient of the Dan Patch Good Guy Award in 2021.

Holloway, who has appealed the ruling, contends Perfect Sting was never given testosterone, according to a report in HarnessLink.com. Instead, he suggests, the testosterone level of Perfect Sting – an intact horse – may have spiked naturally through proximity to an in-heat mare or other reason. Levels for testosterone for females and gelded males are more predictable than full colts and stallions.

“Stallions can have seasonal highs and lows for testosterone levels,” said Dr. Mary Scollay, executive director and chief operating officer of the Racing Medication and Testing Consortium. “That's why RMTC does not recommend a threshold level for testosterone.”

Pennsylvania may be the only racing state that has a threshold level for testosterone for intact male horses, apparently set at 3,000 pg/ml.

Holloway told HarnessLink.com he has sent hair samples from Perfect Sting to a laboratory in the United Kingdom that he said “can tell whether the testosterone at that time was given to him, or it is just natural in his system at such a high level.”

‘It’s A Bit Strange’: Equine Hermaphrodite Faces Disqualification From Group Race

Germany's reigning champion trainer Henk Grewe faces losing a Group race in Italy because the filly who won the race, Flamingo Girl, is actually a hermaphrodite – having both male and female characteristics.

The extraordinary discovery emerged after Flamingo Girl, officially described as a 4-year-old daughter of Soldier Hollow, tested positive for the male hormone testosterone after winning the fillies-only G3 Premio Elena E Sergio Cumani at Rome's Capanelle racecourse in September.

The initial finding by Italy's Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Forestry suggested the case could involve a doping offence. An immediate two-year disqualification was imposed on the horse – but subsequent tests in Germany have revealed Flamingo Girl is not totally female.

“I came across something like this 15 years ago when I was with Mario Hofer and the same doctor who made the test on that horse carried out the test on Flamingo Girl,” said Grewe.

“In Germany it is called a Zwitter [German for hermaphrodite]. It's a bit strange. The filly was always a bit masculine. She had a bit of the character of a colt. I just thought she was a bit strong for a filly, but nothing more. It's crazy, but we can't change it.”

Flamingo Girl, who has run again since finishing down the field in a Listed race in Hannover, is expected to be disqualified from the Group victory in Italy and her future racing career must be in doubt.

Flamingo Girl has a record of three wins from 16 starts, including a Listed race in Dusseldorf in May 2020, Until last month she had never tested positive for testosterone.

“We have a meeting next week with Deutscher Galopp when we will clear everything up,” said Grewe. “This was not my fault. Parts of her are both male and female. She was tested at the beginning of her three-year-old campaign but it seems the male characteristics have developed later.”

This story was reprinted with permission by Horse Racing Planet. Find the original piece and more content here.

The post ‘It’s A Bit Strange’: Equine Hermaphrodite Faces Disqualification From Group Race appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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Why Do Some Mares Behave Like Stallions?

Though it's rare, mares can occasionally demonstrate behavior that people commonly associate with stallions — acting aggressively, dominating herdmates and even teasing or mounting other mares. Dr. Patrick McCue tells the American Quarter Horse Association that there are several possible causes for these behaviors.

These include:

Ovarian tumors – The most common ovarian tumors are granulosa cell tumors. About 40 to 50 percent of granulosa tumors contain theca cells, which produce large amounts of testosterone and can cause a mare to act like a stallion. Testosterone levels will remain high until the mare has the tumor surgically removed.

Pregnancy – Pregnant mares have elevated testosterone levels while their fetus produces gonads; the testosterone crosses the placenta into the mare's bloodstream and can affect her behavior. Mares begin to have increased testosterone levels around their fourth month of gestation and these levels peak around month seven. By the last trimester of pregnancy, as testosterone levels decrease, mares tend to become less aggressive.

Mares that aren't pregnant can experience testosterone fluctuations during their estrous cycles.
Steroids – Anabolic steroids can suppress estrus and increase stallion-like behavior, including aggression. These behaviors resolve once steroid use is terminated.

Pseudohermaphrodism – Though rare, pseudohermaphrodism in horses occurs when a horse looks like a mare, but has the genetic makeup of a male horse. These horses have testes instead of ovaries; they are cryptorchids that don't produce spermatozoa, but the testes produce enough testosterone to affect the horse. Horses that are pseudohermaphrodites may have female genitalia. Removing the testes will eliminate stallion-like behavior.

Study: South African Swine Vaccine Can Limit Castration Complications

Surgical castration of intact male horses is common throughout the world, but the routine surgery isn't always complication-free. A South African study led by Dr. John Birrell investigated the use of a GnRH vaccine (sold under the name Improvac by Zoetis in South Africa) prior to castrating 19 colts. The study sought to determine if the vaccine could reduce testis size and therefore minimize the risk of surgical complications.

GnRH is an immunocontraception vaccination – it's a birth control that uses an animal's immune system to mount a response against the reproductive process.

The colts were divided into three groups. Two groups received the GnRH vaccine and were castrated 57 and 100 days after receiving the two-part vaccine while the third group acted as a control. The testis of each horse was measured for length, width and height on days 0, 28 and 57 or 100 depending on when the horse was gelded. The horses were also monitored for 10 days after the surgery for complications like swelling, surgical site discharge and depression. The horses also had both their testosterone concentrations and anti-GnRH titers measured.

The GnRH vaccinated colts had no fevers, swelling or lameness after vaccine administration. They also had a decline in testosterone levels after the first vaccination; testosterone was undetectable 28 days after the second dose. The vaccinated horses had a 50 percent reduction in testicular volume prior to castration and they also had no post-surgical complications.

The study team concluded that GnRH vaccine administration reduced testicular size and was helpful in controlling post-surgical complications. They noted that the GnRH vaccine could be used to control undesired behavior in stallions.