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The Pennsylvania Horse Racing Commission has told all the Standardbred trainers who received positive tests for the Class 2 drug Lobeline over a peroid that began last spring that because it has been determined by Dr. Lawrence Soma at the Pennsylvania State Toxicology Lab that they were caused by hay contamination, no further sanctions will be taken and the matter has been dropped.

A rash of lobeline positives began last April and eventually numbered nearly 80, including approximately 35 in Standardbreds. Lobeline is used in nicotine patches to help people quit smoking. In order to induce an adrenaline rush in horses, it reportedly would have to be given in very high doses. Because the positives suddenly were being called on tests done on horses whose trainers had totally clean records, the validity came into question. Botanists from Penn State University were called in to assist with the study to determine if the horses were ingesting the drug from feed or field grasses.