http://harnessracingamerica.com/cobalt-positives-rock-souloy-stable-europe/
Four horses in trainer Fabrice Souloy’s stable tested positive for cobalt, the Swedish Trotting Association announced Friday afternoon. Lionel, Un Mec d’Héripré, Your Highness, and Timone EK are cited as the impacted horses. France-based Souloy manages a large stable, including many Group I level trotters. The 49-year-old has 1,125 career wins to his name, including 49 this year from 344 starts.
Cobalt is a naturally-occurring element in all horses and is not considered to be harmful at normal levels. It can be found in many horse feeds and vitamin supplements. However, administration of high doses of cobalt salts to horses has the potential to enhance athletic performance in a manner similar to blood doping agents and can cause detrimental effects on a number of body systems.
According to a release from Svensk Travsport, all four affected horses tested positive for elevated cobalt levels after competing at Bjerke Travbane in Norway June 12.
The Swedish Trotting Association immediately handed Souloy a suspension from racing in Sweden and other Nordic countries as a result of the cobalt overages. They also notified the European Trotting Union UET of the suspension for enforcement throughout Europe.
According to Svensk Travsport, representatives of the Swedish and Nordic Trotting Associations visited Souloy’s stable Thursday, September 8 in an effort to further investigate their case.
“You never want to have positive doping test, but at the same time, this is a proof that our work is working. This has been a very good cooperation across borders. Our ambition and desire is to have a clean harness racing,” Swedish Trotting Association Veterinarian Antti Rautalinko said.
Sweden and Norway are investigating the case together and the case will then be handed over to the Scandinavian Doping Committee.
see also for same doping (cobolt) - Jan 2016 in Australia
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-01-...se-trainers-banned-over-cobalt-doping/7099976
2015 in the US
http://www.thoroughbreddailynews.com/cobalt-how-big-a-problem-in-us-shared-archive/
"For decades, cobalt has been known to be effective in humans for fighting anemia by stimulating the production of red blood cells (erythropoiesis). Prior to the development of synthetic “EPO” in the 1970s, Benson said cobalt was what a person in kidney failure might be prescribed.
Increased red blood cell production leads to better oxygenation of the blood and, consequently, better endurance and decreased muscle fatigue. So sometime in the mid-twentieth century, humans began experimenting with the ingestion of cobalt chloride (powdered cobalt “salts”) to improve athletic performance.
But according to the National Center for Biotechnology Information, “although cobalt is an essential trace element, toxic effects of excessive administration have been described in humans and animals, including organ damage, impaired thyroid activity and goiter formation.”
Presumably, those frightening side effects were why human athletes gravitated to synthetic EPO abuse around 1990. Horse racing too, eventually had its share of EPO dopers and began testing for it. But word got around that jurisdictions didn’t test for cobalt, which could either be fed or injected into horses. "
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