ALBUQUERQUE, New Mexico (AP) — New Mexico horse racing regulators are disciplining trainer John Stinebaugh because four horses tested positive last July at Ruidoso Downs for a prohibited drug that is an ingredient of Viagra.

Racing Commission Executive Vince Mares says the Sunland Park board of stewards ordered that Stinebaugh be suspended for 16 years, fined $40,000 and be required to forfeit US$8,000 in purses. Stinebaugh can still appeal the ruling issued last Monday by the Sunland Park board.

The Viagra ingredient given to the horses was sildenafil, which increases cardiac output, giving increased endurance and faster race times for the horses.

“That drug has no business being in a horse. It has no medicinal or therapeutic value in a horse,” said Racing Commission executive Vince Mares.

While Stinebaugh can still appeal the ruling made last week, Mares said he wanted the suspension to serve as an example to others who would think of injecting horses with performance-enhancing drugs.

“It is just a more proactive approach to… the doping problem in New Mexico.”

Horses haven’t been the only creatures given Viagra to improve performance. The Israeli defence ministry medical corps recently ordered 1,200 tablets of 100mg sildenafil citrate, the main ingredient of Viagra.