Month: July 2023

Trainer Raymond Handal has been provisionally suspended by the Horseracing Integrity and Welfare Unit after Barrage, second-place finisher in a Belmont Park allowance/optional claiming race on May 28, tested positive for the banned substance zeranol. Approved for use as a growth promoter in livestock, zeranol is banned as an “anabolic agent” by the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority, whose Anti-Doping and Medication Control program went into effect in the U.S. on May 22. HIWU is the enforcement and testing arm of HISA.

Zeranol is also banned in human sports because of its supposed anabolic effects.

Handal confirmed that he was notified of positive tests on Friday for zeranol and a second substance, a controlled medication regulated under HISA rules that he did not immediately recall the name of. All of his horses entered this weekend were ordered scratched by the stewards and his stable has been turned over to trainer Hollis Ferry while he contests the suspension. Handal said officials tested every horse in his barn.

“We are working with (attorney) Clark Brewster on getting all the information together to show this is clear-cut contamination,” Handal said. “There's a lot of science between these two substances being found in food and corn and a bunch of different products. It's like a fungus.”

Handal apparently was referring to mycotoxins that can be found on corn or grain and which produce zearalenone. Zeranol is a metabolite of zearalenone.

Handal expressed surprise that the case was not handled under HISA's Atypical Findings Policy that may exonerate trainers if there is a convincing case made that the positive test resulted from contamination. “I thought there was a protocol for contamination,” he said.

Zeranol positives are extremely rare in equine and human sports. In one case, an American female 800-meters runner contested a positive test, saying meat she ate must have come from cattle who were fed the drug. In another, a Swiss mountain biker who tested positive had his provisional suspension lifted after four months after extensive followup testing failed to identify the drug.

“This could happen to anybody at any time,” said Handal. “I've never had a positive test and played by the rules. It sucks.”

Handal, who began training in 2014 after previously working for trainers Jonathan Sheppard, Michael Matz, Kenny McPeek, Christophe Clement, and Anthony Dutrow, has recorded 236 victories from 1,481 starts. He was on pace to having the best year of his caree in 2023, with 28 wins and earnings in excess of $1.5 million.

 

 

 

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