BHA Notices Section

Procaine

Procaine is a constituent of several licensed veterinary drugs, either combined with penicillin to increase the duration of action of the penicillin, or alone as a local anaesthetic. In either event it can be detected in urine as a Prohibited Substance and has appeared in a small number of post-race samples. One injection of procaine penicillin may give a positive test at least 6 weeks after the injection and importantly, in some individual horses, the detection time may be even longer. The British Horseracing Authority strongly advises avoiding the administration of procaine penicillin, both by injection or as an ointment, to horses in training which are likely to run, particularly as there are other antibacterial agents which should be equally effective and are not Prohibited Substances.