DOPING OF HORSES.

Waikato Times, Volume 105, Issue 17605, 9 January 1929, Page 11

DOPING OF HORSES.

GOOD FOR A BAD ONE. BAD FOR A GOOD ONE. Although the doping of horses in England was in its infancy in 1 896, when it was introduced from America, it increased rapidly, and in 190-3 was described as a scandaL by the lion. George Lambton. He wrote in Ins book “Men and Horses I Have Known’ that he was sceptical about any dope making a bad horse into a good one, but said that very strange things occurred, and one constantly saw horses who were notorious rogues running and winning as If they w'ere possessed of the devil, with eyes starting out of their heads and the sweat pouring off them After veterinary surgeons had told him that the practice would be the ruin of horsebreeding, and ought to be stopped. Mr Lambton told a steward of the Jockey Club what had been said, and said that he intended to dope some of his horses and see the result. He obtained SIX dopes, which were not injected with a needle but were just given out of a bottle Their effect on a horse was astounding. He used five of them, and had four winners and a second. Not one of the live horses had shown any form during the year. By the following year doping was made . a criminal offence, the penalty being “warning off.” Air Lambton a’ddo that a dope undoubtedly had a wonderful effect on a bad horse, but he was told it acted in just the contrary way on a good, honest one. In the bad horse it supplied the pluck and energy needed, and in the good one it overdid it, with the result that the horse would run himself out quicker.