Vice Chair of the California Horse Racing Board, Oscar Gonzales expressed frustrations Wednesday with a lack of transparency in the handling of the recently-revealed CBD complaint against trainer Ron McAnally, reports the Thoroughbred Daily News.
Roses and Candy, trained by McAnally, tested positive for CBD after winning the third race at Del Mar on Nov. 22, 2020. A complaint against the trainer was officially filed Monday after a six-month investigation.
Meanwhile, the CHRB has been in the midst of changing the classification of CBD. It is currently not classified in California, meaning a positive test would be treated as the most severe, Class 1/Penalty A. The Association of Racing Commissioners International lists Cannabidiol as a Class 2/Penalty Category B substance.
On Jan. 21, the CHRB pushed back the proposed rule change to make Cannabidiol a Class 3/Penalty Category B drug to the February meeting, at which point it went out for public comment. California's Office of Administrative Law (OAL) will have to approve the drug classification before it becomes official.
However, CHRB spokesman Mike Marten said executive director Scott Chaney and investigators will recommend that stewards treat the alleged infraction as a Class 3 violation.
“Part of what's gotten this board in some real challenging circumstances is when we arbitrarily try to move or shift a drug [classification] before a rule is completed,” Gonzales said at Wednesday's meeting, referring the the handling of Justify's scopolamine positive in the 2018 Santa Anita Derby.
“Given what we know, I believe the board would have handled this if we had the power to do [so],” Gonzales continued. “But what does not sit right with me is that the board was not given a proper heads up that as we went about approving a list of medications… that there very well could be some pending cases. And after that [Jan. 21 meeting] we gave it a full month, and not once did anybody say, 'This list that you're voting on, be aware that there are some cases pending.'”
Read more at the Thoroughbred Daily News.
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