Trainers Give Horses ‘Frog Juice’

Some racehorses may be getting an extra kick from a potent frog extract that helps them run faster. In the past week, more than 40 horses have tested positive for a substance called “frog juice,” which contains a painkiller more powerful than morphine. So far no trainers have been formally charged for giving their horses the drug, but racing insiders say they expect a crackdown on the slime soon enough. Experts suspect horse owners have been paying chemists to extract the chemical, known as dermorphin, from the skin of a particular South American breed. “That would be an awful lot of frogs that would have to be squeezed,” Dr. Steven Barker told reporters. “There are a lot of unemployed chemists out there.”