Olympic Horses Disqualified For Banned Substances

Four horses were banned from today’s individual equestrian competitions after the four-legged mammals were found to have banned substances in their pee-pee.

Following news of Lantinus’ positive drugs test, Horse Sport Ireland said that Lynch had admitted using a product called Equi-block, which contains capsaicin, on his horse.
Capsaicin, derived from chilli peppers, can have hypersensitising effects or act as a pain relief that, in both cases, can improve the performance of the horse.
It has always been an illegal substance but the technique to discover its use has only recently been developed.

“Denis Lynch explained to the tribunal that he commonly applies Equi-block to the horse’s lower back prior to exercise,” said a Horse Sport Ireland spokesman.
The Irish official added that a urine sample from the horse had been submitted to a voluntary screening testing on the horse’s arrival in Hong Kong and the results of this test were negative.

Only thing we’ve got here: we’d hate to be the guy holding that cup. Yeesh!
Olympic horses fail drugs tests [BBC]
Image [TribuneIndia]