CHRB Again Under Fire For Transparency; Gonzales Frustrated By Handling Of CBD Case

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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New CHRB Transparency Issues Arise in McAnally CBD Investigation

Oscar Gonzales, the vice chair of the California Horse Racing Board (CHRB), wants to know why commissioners weren't informed earlier this year about a pending cannabidiol (CBD) positive complaint against Hall of Fame trainer Ron McAnally, a case that was in the midst of a six-month investigation by CHRB staff even as commissioners were being asked to approve a seemingly routine annual reclassification of drugs that included CBD.

“On that list of drugs that were to be reclassified was CBD, the drug that was detected in [the McAnally-trained Roses and Candy],” Gonzales said during Wednesday's CHRB meeting. “Why did it take so long to come up with the complaint that the stewards are going to be hearing? I'm pretty confident that when that list was compiled that both [CHRB executive director Scott Chaney] and [CHRB equine medical director Rick Arthur, DVM] knew that there was a positive test…

“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.'”

The May 19 assertions by Gonzales represent the latest salvo in a barrage of disclosure woes and internal conflicts that have encumbered the CHRB over the last three years and resulted in a significant turnover of commissioners and staff that at times has left the new version of the agency polarized.

At the root of the thorny nest of transparency barbs is the way the former makeup of the CHRB handled scopolamine findings in 2018. After 2 1/2 years of closed-session decision-making and a complicated court battle to publicly reopen the case over whether to disqualify Triple Crown winner Justify from the 2018 GI Santa Anita Derby, the case later hinged on whether scopolamine was a Class 3 or Class 4 substance at the time of Justify's positive post-race test.

The CHRB generally follows the Association of Racing Commissioners International (ARCI) Uniform Classification Guidelines for Foreign Substances and Recommended Penalties when establishing rules for drugs. But since California's Office of Administrative Law (OAL) doesn't allow the CHRB to change rules by automatically referencing another authority's code, the racing agency has to go through a drawn-out, sometimes years-long process to make even minute changes to drug classifications

This was the case for scopolamine in 2018 (which was in the process of being downgraded from Class 3 to the less-severe Class 4 but was not yet officially the rule when it was found in Justify) and for CBD last November (which was unclassified at the time of the Roses and Candy positive but was voted to be switched to Class 3 by the CHRB in February).

Complicating matters further with CBD is the fact that any unclassified positives in California by default are treated as Class 1, Penalty Category A violations, the most severe level of infraction that triggers the toughest penalties.

This means that the allegedly in-limbo nature of CBD's 1A or 3B distinction (as the CHRB awaits OAL approval of its latest list of classifications) makes the issue ripe for future litigation if McAnally's case ever gets pushed to court.

On May 18, CHRB spokesperson Mike Marten told TDN that the agency's staff will recommend to the stewards that they treat the positive as a lower 3B violation. One day later, at Wednesday's meeting, Gonzales told fellow commissioners he has concerns about CHRB staff making a recommendation like that to stewards prior to the hearing of a case–both in terms of the content and delivery of the recommendation.

“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. “I also want to make sure that the stewards know, as I read in the reports, that the CHRB staff is going to be making a recommendation. Well let me be just very clear, and I hope all stewards who are listening to this know that you do a good job. And we expect for you to act fairly and independently. I was not aware that CHRB staff weighs in on stewards' decisions. That was actually a surprise to me.”

When asked directly by Gonzales to explain why McAnally's CBD investigation wasn't disclosed to commissioners as they prepared to vote on the new schedule of drug classifications, Chaney answered by speaking to the time frame while Arthur chose to address the classification part of it.

Chaney–who preceded his remarks by saying that he couldn't talk about specifics on McAnally's case because the hearing is pending–explained that, “I know in this particular case a split sample was requested, and obviously that takes a few weeks. And then the investigative team does their investigation, and once that's complete we, you know, we file the complaint. That's typically the time between race day and filing the complaint…

“When the sample came back, as is always the case in my duty under [state] code, I informed the entire board, the commission, of the positive test. That is still true even today, although…the law has [recently] changed, in terms of confidentiality. So with respect to any test that occurred before Jan. 1, those are confidential unless and until we file a complaint… We now report positive tests either after 72 hours has elapsed from informing the trainer, or after the split sample comes back.”

Arthur kept his remarks brief. “Let me just get right to the heart of the issue,” he said. “Cannabidiol, which was not classified under the current standard of regulation, was proposed to be a 3B in August of 2020, three or four months before this violation.”

Arthur also said that a 3B classification is what the Racing Medication and Testing Consortium recommends, but he noted that the ARCI eventually settled on a different 2B recommendation as it retooled its recommendations. He added that with specific respect to California, the distinction between a Class 2 or 3 is not a hugely significant because any Class 3 or more severe positive results in a disqualification; the trainer's penalty is what gets derived based on the Category B designation.

But here's where another confusing twist in the case comes into play, and it involves what appears to be personal sniping among board members and CHRB staffers: When CBD's 3B classification–and an entire slate of other seemingly non-controversial reclassifications–finally came up for a vote at the Jan. 21, 2021, CHRB meeting, it was Gonzales himself who orchestrated a delay on that vote by one month.

Gonzales, at that Jan. 21 meeting, said the CHRB should not try to “ramrod” new rules through at a time when the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority is being formed to set its own regulatory framework. Gonzales's against-the-grain stance–some would call it petty–went against the recommendations of Arthur, Chaney, and CHRB chair Gregory Ferraro, DVM. To underscore the personal rifts, during that sometimes abrasive tele-meeting, Arthur could be heard muttering in the background that that Gonzales's point of view was “crap.”

The next month, when the CHRB did end up passing the drug classifications by a 6-0 vote, Gonzales was absent from the meeting.

On Wednesday, Gonzales asked chairman Ferraro to weigh in on his concerns about how the staff has handled the CBD classification and McAnally's positive for it.

“Regarding whether we as a commission were informed of pending positives prior to the change in regulations, I don't know if that's because we weren't informed, to be honest with you, or whether I wasn't paying enough attention to remember it,” Ferraro said. “So I hate to accuse or comment on that because it very well could have been presented to us and I simply don't have a recollection. But I do support your concerns regarding our transparency, and the fact that we need to strictly follow procedures.”

Gonzales summed up: “I also just want to make sure that under no circumstances are the stewards or staff to arbitrarily reclassify a drug of any kind unless it has gone through the full rulemaking process.

“More importantly, I want to say one thing,” Gonzales added. “Trainer Ron McAnally is one of the upmost citizens and outstanding horsemen that we will ever see. [In] my time as a backstretch worker, people lined up to work for his barn because he treated backstretch workers incredibly well. So I want to just make that known that this is not about Mr. McAnally. This is more about how CHRB management handled the situation.”

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McAnally Runner Tests Positive For CBD

The Ron McAnally trained Roses and Candy has tested positive for 7-Carboxy-Cannabidiol, a metabolite of cannabidiol, after a win at Del Mar on Nov. 22 last year, according to a complaint filed by the California Horse Racing Board (CHRB) Monday.

Because CBD is currently unclassified in California, a positive finding is by default a class 1, category A drug violation, requiring that the horse is disqualified and purse monies forfeited. Under CHRB rules, such a violation can also lead to a minimum one-year suspension or a maximum three-year suspension, with a maximum fine of $25,000 or 25% of the purse.

However, according to CHRB spokesperson Mike Marten, agency staff will recommend to the stewards that they treat the positive as a lower class 3 category B penalty. That's because the CHRB is in the process of making CBD a class 3, category B drug through a proposed rulemaking change.

A class 3 substance potentially requires the disqualification of the horse and the redistribution of the purse, along with a fine of no more than $10,000 and a minimum 30-day suspension for the first offense, absent mitigating circumstances.

According to McAnally's long-time assistant, Dan Landers, the finding is potentially a result of cross-contamination. When details of the positive emerged last year, Roses and Candy's jockey, Geovanni Franco, approached him to explain that he used CBD himself, Landers said.

“He came to me and he told me he'd used it on himself,” said Landers. “My best advice for him was to tell the investigator what he'd told me, which he did.”

Landers added: “We went upside down trying to find where this came from, and [Franco] was the only source that did say they'd used it, and that says a lot about him–he's an honest guy. I appreciated his honesty on that. He didn't have to say anything.”

Marten also pointed to the veteran trainer's fine regulatory record in California.

“McAnally has never had anything worse in his whole career than a class 4” drug positive in California, said Marten.

According to Landers, the barn's last positive in California was in 1996.

In 1994, McAnally was among five trainers whose horses tested positive for scopolamine. After a lengthy investigation, his fine was overturned, but the horse in question was disqualified and the purse money rescinded.

As CBD use in humans has sky-rocketed in recent years, the eyes of the regulatory world have turned to the inevitable spill-over into equine competition. Last December, the CHRB sent a notification to California-based trainers warning them of CDB use in horses and the possible consequences.

“My recommendation to the horsemen is do not use this product on a racehorse that is going to be subject to testing, which is basically all of them,” CHRB equine medical director Rick Arthur told the TDN at the time. “The risk is so out of proportion to the reward that it would be foolish to use this product on a racehorse.”

While derived from both marijuana and industrial hemp plants, CBD is non-intoxicating. Nevertheless, while CBD products are required to contain less than 0.3% THC, lack of regulatory oversight means that some CBD products contain much more THC than that. The ARCI designates a CBD product with more than 0.3% THC as a class 1, category A substance.

The purported benefits from CBD use in horses include treatment of inflammation, ulcers, laminitis, colic, and decreased anxiety. However, “None of these claims are substantiated with independent, peer reviewed research in the horse,” according to a Racing Medication & Testing Consortium (RMTC) cannabidiol bulletin from 2019.

Among some of the findings in published literature, CBD has been shown to help ameliorate the pain of osteoarthritis in dogs and ease anxiety in humans. One recent study out of Colorado found a potential correlation between CBD use in dogs and reduced seizure frequency.

Experts point to the wild west nature of the CBD market at present, however, with much variability in purity, strength, and safety of these products. A recent study out of Europe found that more than two-thirds of the 14 CBD products tested contained concentrations that differed by more than 10% from the label. As such, in its 2019 bulletin the RMTC offers no recommended withdrawal times.

McAnally, owner Deborah McAnally and Franco are scheduled to appear before the stewards at Santa Anita on May 22.

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CHRB Files Medication Complaints Against Hall Of Famers McAnally, Mandella

The California Horse Racing Board has filed medication complaints against trainers Ron McAnally and Richard Mandella, two members of the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame who have rarely been cited for violations throughout their careers.

McAnally was notified of a positive test for the Class 1 drug 7-Carboxy-Cannabidiol in Roses and Candy, winner of the third race at Del Mar on Nov. 22, 2020. A split sample confirmed the presence of the substance.

Better known as CBD, Cannabidiol is found in a number of equine products, including tincture oil, pellets, liniment spray and poultices. While it is believed to work as an anti-inflammatory there is limited research on the possible benefits of CBD in horses and its use remains controversial. Because it is not included in the CHRB's classification list of drugs, it becomes a Class 1/Penalty Class A by default, according to CHRB spokesman Mike Marten.  The Association of Racing Commissioners International lists Cannabidiol as a Class 2/Penalty Category B substance.

Marten said a proposed rule change to make Cannabidiol a Class 3/Penalty Category B drug is currently out for public comment and CHRB executive director Scott Chaney and investigators will recommend that stewards treat the alleged infraction as a Class 3 violation. It would still result in the disqualification of the horse, Marten added.

McAnally has not been sanctioned for any medication violations in California since 1998, Marten said. According to www.thoroughbredrulings.com, McAnally received a warning for a positive test for the Class D drug Cimetidine in Kentucky in 2009.

The CHRB filed a complaint against Mandella on May 7 after Jolie Olimpica – third in the Grade 3 San Simeon Stakes on March 13, 2021 – was found in a post-race sample to have 6.1 ng/ml of the Class 4/Penalty Category C drug methocarbamol – a muscle relaxant.  A split sample confirmed the presence of the drug.

Mandella was fined $500 in January 2018 after two anti-inflammatories were found in a post-race sample – his most recent violation. He was also fined $500 for a methocarbamol positive in 2011.

Stewards hearings will be scheduled for both trainers.

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