Bad Vitamin Killed Polo Horses: Team Captain

(NEWSER) - The Florida pharmacy that prepared vitamin supplements for the 21 polo horses that died last weekend has admitted that the mixture was faulty, the Palm Beach Post reports. Franck’s Pharmacy in Tallahassee said today that the level of one ingredient in the supplement—which the polo team says was Biodyl—was incorrect. The druggist said it is cooperating “fully with the authorities as they continue their investigations.” More»

(NEWSER) - Exactly what killed 21 polo horses in Florida is not known, but details of their enigmatic owner are emerging in spades. Victor Vargas has succeeded at the tricky proposition of banking in Hugo Chavez’s Venezuela, and tried the US market—with less-than-stellar results. In 1993, he had to settle with the Fed for $1.5 million, and can’t invest here without government permission. Time takes a look at the secretive multimillionaire. More»

(NEWSER) - Florida has opened a criminal investigation into the deaths of 21 polo horses over the weekend in Palm Beach, USA Today reports, aiming to find out if negligence or foul play might have been behind the incident. “We would be looking at any and all possible leads,” said a spokesman for the Florida Department of Agriculture. More»

21 animals lost in mystery affliction

(NEWSER) - The death of 21 horses in Florida for the US Open Polo Championship yesterday remains a mystery, but a veterinarian for the Venezuelan team that owned the horses said it was unlikely they were killed by a bad reaction to steroids, the Palm Beach Post reports. "Almost certainly they don't use anabolic steroids," he said. “I’ve been in practice 50 years. I’ve never seen anything like this.” Necropsy results could come as soon as today. More»

Sources believe they reacted to tainted steroid cocktail

(NEWSER) - A mystery death claimed the lives of 14 horses from a Venezuelan team yesterday shortly before they were to compete in the US Open Polo Championship in Florida. The $100,000 horses suddenly struggled to breathe as vets fought to revive them, the Palm Beach Post reports. Onlookers wept after the animals "dropped to the grass," said a witness. Test results are pending, but sources believe the horses may have reacted to a tainted "steroid cocktail" illegally administered by the team vet to enhance performance. More»