Talk Veuve to Me disqualified from Keeneland win due to medication violation

Talk Veuve to Me, the winner of the 2018 Indiana Oaks, has been disqualified from an April 11 allowance victory at Keeneland after testing positive for aminocaproic acid, a prohibited race-day adjunct bleeder medication, Kentucky stewards announced Sunday. Her trainer, Rodolphe Brisset, was fined $500, and the purse was redistributed, resulting in Treble, the initial runner-up, now declared the winner.

Aminocaproic acid, known by the trade name Amicar, is a lesser “Class C” prohibited medication. Originally approved for use in humans, primarily to curb bleeding after surgery, it was commonly used in Kentucky on racehorses in combination with Lasix, a diuretic, to limit respiratory bleeding before the state shifted to allowing only the use of Lasix earlier this decade.

Brisset attributed the presence of aminocaproic acid in Talk Veuve to Me’s post-race blood sample, which was confirmed in a split-sample test, to a barn or veterinary mistake, believing Talk Veuve to Me may have been treated with it accidentally. His stable uses the medication at times with horses between races, which is legal, he said.

“For me, it’s a learning experience,” said Brisset. “We were already very, very careful, and now we need to be even more careful. It’s a mistake that cannot be made again.”

Talk Veuve to Me, a 4-year-old daughter of Violence owned by Team Valor International, Stephen McKay, and Brisset, became a Grade 3 winner in the Indiana Oaks. She also ran second in both the Grade 2 Eight Belles and Grade 1 Acorn last year.

She has started just twice in 2019, beginning her season in the aforementioned Keeneland allowance race, in which she crossed the wire 2 1/4 lengths in front at odds of 1-2. She then finished seventh after chasing the pace in the Grade 1 Humana Distaff at Churchill Downs on May 4.

Brisset said she entrapped her epiglottis in the Humana Distaff, limiting her airflow, after which she had corrective surgery. She is in training at Saratoga, where she worked last Saturday, and is being pointed toward an allowance race there.