Racehorse TALK

Also making headlines in the UK overnight, trainer Matt Gingell who was warned-off for 2 years last week after becoming the 1st person in British racing found guilty of using a "milkshake", has claimed the practice "is widespread among trainers," reported racingpost.com. Gingell told the British Horseracing Authority disciplinary panel "milkshakes" were "commonplace in British racing" & that he used them because he generally had low-grade horses & he wanted a "level playing field". Milkshaking "which is thought to have been widespread in the US for years, but never previously confirmed in Britain, involves passing alkaline substances - such as sodium bicarbonate - into a horse's stomach; this increases blood CO2 levels, which in turn triggers the expulsion of lactic acid from the muscles & so enables the horse to run for longer without feeling fatigued".