COCAINE GOING TO THE DOGS

End of the line for greyhound racing patriarch: Florida trainer is suspended after five of his dogs test positive for COCAINE

By Timothyna Duncan

Daily Mail
May 6, 2017

A dog training veteran has had his license revoked after five of his greyhounds tested positive for cocaine.

Malcolm McAllister, 70, from Florida - who has had a nearly 40-year career - was permanently suspended after state employees took urine samples of his dogs following races at Derby Lane, the world’s oldest continuously operating greyhound track in the world.

His license was revoked on April 24 after tests showed his dogs had cocaine metabolites, including benzoylecgonine - the compound the drug forms within five days of exposure - in their system, according to records from Florida’s Department of Business and Professional Regulation.

Racing dogs are routinely tested after races and the trainer on record is supposed to take responsibility for any banned substances found in the racing dogs' system.

While McAllister hasn't argued against the test results, he insists he was not responsible because he was in the process of hiring a new trainer.

In a letter he wrote in response to the ruling, he blamed one of the four new trainers he had hired.

He said: 'It is with great sadness and disbelief this very serious charge has been brought against me.

'In the four -week period in question my name was entered 'Trainer of Record' whilst hiring a new trainer.

'My awareness at age 70 is at fault to where I had four different helpers in this time frame, one of these undesirables had to have either dropped or administered the 'cocaine'. My only plea is that it was not me.'

According to the Tampa Bay Times, McAllister's greyhound Flying Tidalwave was the first to test positive for cocaine and benzoylecgonine on January 11.

Just a week later, P Kay Sweetmissy tested positive for benzolecgonine and ecgonine ethyl ester - a cocaine metabolite that shows there was simultaneous consumption of cocaine and alcohol.

On January 21, urine samples taken from four of McAllister's dogs — Kiowa Wellington, Roc A By Sevenup, Flying Microsoft, and Flying Tidalwave — would also test positive for cocaine metabolites, the Floridian newspaper reported.

Co-founder and executive director for the racing watchdog group, GREY2K USA, Carey Theil, told the paper this incident 'raised serious questions' about accountability in dog racing.

'I’m not sure which is worse, that these were attempts to fix races or that individuals who are responsible for the dogs are doing cocaine,' he said.

'Both of those are very grave scenarios and raise serious questions about the welfare of the dogs and the integrity of the races at Derby Lane.'

Once celebrated as the 'wonderful patriarch of the industry', McAllister began his dog racing career in Phoenix.

In 2005 he moved to dog racing capital Florida in 2005 with his wife Barbara, who died in 2014.

The pair took the industry by storm, winning more than 5,400 times and garnering more than $900,000 in prize money.