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The Week in Review: In Its Best Fillies, Racing Does Have Lasting Stars

The announcement last week that GI Kentucky Derby and GI Breeders’ Cup winner and likely Horse of the Year Authentic (Into Mischief) had been retired was disappointing, but very much expected. It would have been nice to see him run another year, but it was never going to happen. From the business side of the sport, there was no other call, not when you have a son of super sire Into Mischief who will stand for $75,000 and likely go to 200-plus mares.

Unless there is a seismic shift in the economics of racing and breeding, the elite male horses will continue to have short careers, many of them not racing after their 3-year-old years. It wasn’t just Authentic. The Classic was the last start for Improbable (City Zip), Maximum Security (New Year’s Day) and Tom’s d’Etat (Smart Strike). Global Campaign (Curlin) is also headed to stud, but may first start in the GI Pegasus World Cup at Gulfstream Park. Among the top five choices in the Classic betting, only Tiz the Law (Constitution) is scheduled to run next year.

But that doesn’t mean that the sport can’t cultivate stars. It just needs to look elsewhere.

While marquee males can’t be retired fast enough, the opposite trend is now taking place with the elite fillies and mares. We are seeing them come back at four, five, even six. Again, it’s a matter of economics. Even the very best broodmares aren’t worth anywhere close to what the best stallions are worth. With a rich slate of races available to them, it can make sense to keep the fillies racing.

Never was that more apparent than with the decision to bring Monomoy Girl (Tapizar) back. At just about the same time that Spendthrift Farm was formulating plans to retire Authentic, it was reaching into the ring at Fasig-Tipton November to buy Monomoy Girl for a whopping $9.5 million. Much of that investment will eventually be recouped through the breeding of Monomoy Girl but, first, she will return next year and race at 6. For good measure, Spendthrift also purchased Got Stormy (Get Stormy) for $2.75 million at the Fasig-Tipton sale and will race her next year, also as a 6-year-old.

Monomoy Girl, Valiance (Tapit) and Dunbar Road (Quality Road), the first three finishers in the GI Breeders’ Cup Distaff, are scheduled to race in 2021. So is Swiss Skydiver (Daredevil), who will be named 3-year-old filly champion. To start 2021, Monomoy Girl and Swiss Skydiver will be the sport’s two brightest stars.

They continue a pattern that started to take hold with Zenyatta (Street Cry {Ire}). She raced through her 6-year-old season. Then came Beholder. Also owned by Spendthrift, she was a champion at two, three and five and still came back for her 6-year-old campaign in 2016. In one of the best Breeders’ Cup races ever run, she landed still another Eclipse Award when nosing out Songbird (Medaglia d’Oro) to win the 2016 Distaff. It had been 18 years since a mare five or older had won the Distaff. Fast forward to 2020 and four of the last five Distaff winners have been five or older and two have been six.

It could also help that the connections of both Swiss Skydiver and Monomoy Girl either have or are ready to embrace the challenge of facing males. Swiss Skydiver already did it twice, finishing second in the GII Toyota Blue Grass S. and winning the GI Preakness S. The 2021 racing plans for Monomoy Girl have yet to be revealed, but trainer Brad Cox has said there is a possibility she could be tested against the boys next year.

The most important, most scrutinized horses in training will probably always be the dirt males, particularly the 3-year-olds who spend five weeks under the glaring spotlight of the Triple Crown. But, considering the trends, the sport should do a lot more to promote racing for fillies and mares. The best place to start is by creating a filly Triple Crown. That’s a no-brainer. After losing so much in on-track revenues this year because of the pandemic, the Breeders’ Cup probably isn’t in a position to raise purses any time soon, but when it is, the first place to look at is the $2 million paid out in the Distaff. It’s far too important a race to have one-third the purse of the $6-million Classic.

We all wish horses like Authentic, American Pharoah (Pioneerof the Nile) and Justify (Scat Daddy), would keep going well after their sophomore seasons are behind them. It’s just not going to happen, which is why the industry needs to do what it can to promote its distaff stars.

Revisiting Casse’s Remarks on Clenbuterol

If anyone thought trainer Mark Casse was guilty of exaggerating when he wrote a Mar. 2 editorial for the Thoroughbred Daily News that called Clenbuterol “the most abused drug in our industry,” they need to take another look at this controversial subject.

The bronchodilator was back in the news last week when New York State Gaming Commission Equine Medical Director Dr. Scott Palmer revealed that tests taken on horses trained by the individuals indicted in March for allegedly using performance-enhancing drugs revealed that 77% of those horses had Clenbuterol in their systems.

“In the Thoroughbred breed, 77% of those horses [initially] had levels of clenbuterol in their blood,” Palmer said. “[We then] asked for the medical records on these horses. We haven’t gotten through them all yet, but we haven’t found any that had clenbuterol administration listed in their medical records. That’s a strong indication that this drug is being given for purposes other than the normal prescribed reason for giving clenbuterol.”

Casse and others have said that trainers use Clenbuterol for its steroid-like effects, which causes horses to artificially build muscle. Palmer’s findings strongly suggests that both the Thoroughbred and Standardbred trainers that were indicted were using the drug for something far more nefarious than its ability to treat asthma and respiratory diseases.

To its credit, the sport is clamping down on the use of the drug, but half measures aren’t going to be good enough. Casse had called for a total ban on its use throughout North America. Considering Palmer’s findings, that can’t happen soon enough.

A Gratuitous Plug for TDN Writers’ Room Podcast

The 2020 finalists for America’s Best Racing’s Fan Choice Awards have been announced and the TDN Writers’ Room podcast is among the choices in the Favorite Radio Show/Podcast category. Everyone at the TDN is proud of the podcast and would be honored to receive this award from the fans. The competition is stiff, so we welcome all the help we can get. To vote, click here.

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Report: 77 Percent Of New York Thoroughbreds From Indicted Trainers Were Positive For Clenbuterol After Arrests

At a press conference this week, New York State Gaming Commission equine medical director Dr. Scott Palmer revealed that the majority of New York-based Thoroughbreds with trainers under federal indictment tested positive for clenbuterol in the weeks after the March arrests that rocked the racing world.

Standardbreds and Thoroughbreds that were trained by anyone named in the March indictment of more than two dozen trainers, veterinarians, and drug distributors in an alleged doping scheme were put on the veterinarian's list for 60 days and had biological samples taken for testing. Palmer said this week that the horses were tested at least twice during this period. Of nearly 100 Thoroughbreds based in the New York at the time, Palmer said 77 had levels of clenbuterol in their blood.

Though Palmer is still compiling veterinary records for some of those horses, so far he says none of those records show administration of clenbuterol. That leads him to suspect the drug was not being given as part of a legitimate treatment for a diagnosed condition, but rather for its side effects, which mimic anabolic steroids with repeated usage.

Palmer called the discovery “concrete evidence that clenbuterol was being widely abused in the Thoroughbred horses,” according to the Thoroughbred Daily News.

This isn't the first time testing has revealed widespread clenbuterol usage by the indicted trainers. In September, Kentucky Horse Racing Commission equine medical director Dr. Bruce Howard revealed that similar testing on Kentucky-based horses resulted in “a near 100 percent rate” of clenbuterol administration based on hair testing. Howard said that separately, treatment sheets submitted to the Kentucky commission as part of its veterinary disclosure rules have shown incidents of veterinarians prescribing the drug to entire barns.

Palmer said Mid-Atlantic states will likely tighten restrictions around clenbuterol administration.

Clenbuterol was one of several substances described in federal court documents as being favored by defendants for its performance-enhancing effects. Most of the other drugs listed there, such as EPO-like substances and “pain blockers,” are not permitted in active racehorses at all.

NY Horses from Federally Indicted Trainers Were Positive for Clenbuterol at 77%

Beyond the relatively obscure and exotic performance-enhancing drugs allegedly administered to the Thoroughbreds of federally indicted trainers who were charged in March in a years-long doping racket, subsequent testing on the New York contingent of those horses revealed 77% of them had clenbuterol in their systems.

And because medical records associated with those Thoroughbreds didn’t indicate that drug was administered for its intended purpose (to treat a medically legitimate airway disease), New York State Gaming Commission equine medical director Scott Palmer, VMD, said that the study he conducted on that set of horses offers proof that clenbuterol has been widely abused to bulk up horses, allowing their trainers to gain a pharmaceutical edge that makes the animals stronger and faster.

Palmer’s comments came during a Nov. 11 video press conference hosted by stakeholders and regulators who make up a Mid-Atlantic alliance of racing interests. His revelations about clenbuterol were just one example of how that group has been advancing a safety-centric agenda aimed at reducing equine fatalities in the region, which includes racing jurisdictions in New York, Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and West Virginia.

That study on clenbuterol that Palmer worked on also bolstered the Mid-Atlantic alliance’s recent push to eliminate the allowable race-day threshold for clenbuterol. On Oct. 22, the Maryland Racing Commission took the first steps toward turning that initiative into a new rule, and Palmer said on Wednesday other regional states are in the pipeline to follow.

Trainer Jason Servis, Jorge Navarro, and 22 others in both the Thoroughbred and Standardbred industries are facing federal charges in an alleged “widespread, corrupt scheme” dating to at least 2017 that centers on a vast network of co-conspirators who purportedly manufactured, mislabeled, rebranded, distributed and administered performance-enhancing drugs to racehorses all across America and in international races.

Palmer explained that when the indictments and arrests were first made public back in March, he took it as an opportunity to try and detect what other, more commonplace, substances were being used as performance-enhancers. He said he suspected clenbuterol because of the bronchodilator medication’s well-known, off-label potential for abuse as a substance that delivers similar lean muscle-building results as anabolic steroids.

“There was a whole list that the FBI generated through wiretapping these people that came up with a lot of medications,” Palmer said. “When I reviewed that list, certainly a lot of it looked to me like a ‘snake-oil’ situation where I wasn’t convinced that the things on that list were really making much of a [performance enhancement] difference. But I was concerned that there were other things that might be given to these horses that didn’t show up on the indictment list that could be a big factor.

“One of them was clenbuterol,” Palmer continued. “Clenbuterol is a drug that has, in addition to its ability to affect lower airway disease and improve it, [an ability to act as] a repartitioning agent [that] is used in humans for body-building effects. It’s basically an end-run around on our anabolic steroid ban, and so I was very interested in proving that.”

Palmer said he required New York-based Thoroughbreds and Standardbreds from the barns of indicted trainers to be placed on the stewards’ list, adding that other jurisdictions did the same. Specimen samples were taken, the horses had to be out of competition for about a month while analysis was performed, and then had to have workouts approved by a commission veterinarian and pass yet another drug test before they would be allowed to race for new conditioners.

This process took about 60 days total, and Palmer said that in New York, nearly 200 Standardbreds and almost 100 Thoroughbreds were tested twice in this manner.

After years of speculation, Palmer said, “we had concrete evidence that clenbuterol was being widely abused in the Thoroughbred horses.”

Armed with that information, the Mid-Atlantic alliance of racetracks, horsemen’s groups and regulators set about making the case for stricter clenbuterol regulations.

“It’s going to be introduced in New York shortly, and it’s going to be widely adopted in the Mid-Atlantic region,” Palmer said.

Also during Wednesday’s press conference, the alliance announced that the equine fatality rate in the region has dropped from 1.78 per thousand starts in 2019 to 1.21 per thousand to date so far this year, a decrease of 33%.

“It is heartening to see that the commitment and hard work of so many in the Mid-Atlantic is bearing fruit,” said Alan Foreman, the chairman and chief executive officer of the Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association. “We have representatives from every faction of the Thoroughbred industry in the region at the table. Everyone has the chance to be heard and their specific issues considered. We are proud to say that, working together, we have been able to make significant advances on issues of medication reform and horse health.”

Among those changes, every state in the Mid-Atlantic alliance has adopted the following reforms:

A prohibition on non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) “stacking” (the use of more than one NSAID in the week of a race).
Transfer of joint injection records for claimed horses.
Necropsies on equine fatalities and a mortality review board.
Voidable claim rules.

Additional reforms have been implemented in all states except West Virginia, including:

48-hour withdrawal time for NSAIDs.
Enhanced penalties for NSAID overages.
14-day withdrawal for joint injections

There is a strict prohibition on the use of bisphosphonates in all horses under the age of four throughout the region, with a total ban in place in Maryland and Pennsylvania.

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Oaklawn Announces New Integrity Initiatives Ahead Of 2021 Season

Working in partnership with the Arkansas Racing Commission and the Arkansas HBPA (Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association), Oaklawn Racing Casino Resort has announced, subject to legislative approval, a series of significant proposed safety and integrity enhancements planned for the 2021 racing season. Key provisions include the prohibition of Clenbuterol within 60 days of a race, reduction in the maximum amount of Lasix without specific approval, and the mandatory use of safety whips in races.

“We began working on these measures last spring,” said Oaklawn President Louis Cella. “We hosted a series of roundtable meetings with horsemen, regulators, racing officials, and our own management team where we asked a simple question: 'What can we do to enhance the safety and integrity of our program?'.”

Cella said the effort resulted in about a dozen proposed rule and policy changes, some of which are unique in American Thoroughbred racing. The rule changes are currently making their way through the regulatory approval process in Arkansas and are expected to be finalized in advance of the start of the 2021 racing season, Jan. 22.

“We could not have accomplished all of this without the strong partnership we have with our Racing Commission and our horsemen,” Cella said. “When it comes to integrity and safety, we are united.”

Some of the proposed rule or policy changes include:

• The use of Clenbuterol or any other beta2-agonist will not be allowed within 60 days prior to a race at Oaklawn, confirmed for the first time through hair testing.
• The maximum dosage of Lasix that can be administered has been reduced by 50% without specific approval of the State Veterinarian. Lasix is also prohibited in any 3-year-old stakes that awards points towards eligibility in the Kentucky Derby and Kentucky Oaks. These are the Smarty Jones, Southwest (G3), Rebel (G2), and Arkansas Derby (G1) for horses pointing towards the Kentucky Derby. And the Martha Washington, Honeybee (G3), and Fantasy (G3) for horses pointing towards the Kentucky Oaks.
• The use of extracorporeal shock wave therapy, radial pulse wave therapy, or similar treatments will not be allowed within 30 days of a race. Also, shock wave equipment will not be allowed on Oaklawn's grounds at any time.
• Trainer and veterinarian records must be made available upon request for review by the pre-race exam veterinarians.
• The only riding crops allowed during races will be the 360 Gentle Touch (360 GT), Pro-Cush or other similar riding crops approved by the stewards.
• Off-track training facilities in Arkansas will be asked to agree to abide by rules similar to rules that apply on-track.
• Horses will be required to be on the grounds at least 72 hours before races unless approved for late arrival. To facilitate this, entries will be scheduled at least four days prior to a race.

Cella said the timing for these safety and integrity enhancements is perfect. “Our racing program has become one of the elite racing programs in America with a projected average daily purse distribution of $700,000 a day in 2021,” he added. “In addition, we are close to completing a $100-million expansion project that will elevate the program even further. So the time for safety and integrity enhancements is now.”

One of the individuals who worked closely with Oaklawn and horsemen in the development of these measures was Alex Lieblong, Chairman of the Arkansas Racing Commission. A horse owner himself, Lieblong said, “I applaud Oaklawn for taking these forward-thinking steps that will help solidify Oaklawn's status as one of the premier racing destinations in the country. They have the full support of the Racing Commission.”

Another key participant was Bill Walmsley, president of the Arkansas HBPA. “We began these meetings in early 2020 and continued working through the summer and into the fall. While we do not endorse every change, we do not object to any of these changes. Overall, it has been a true partnership effort, and it demonstrates why Oaklawn, the Arkansas HBPA and the Arkansas Racing Commission enjoy what I believe is the strongest working relationship in the industry.”

Oaklawn's 2021 season runs from Friday, Jan. 22 to Saturday, May 1. Stall applications are now available on www.oaklawn.com and are due Thursday, Nov. 5. The schedule features a total of 33 stakes worth $11,000,000 and will be highlighted by four $1 million stakes races – $1 million Rebel Stakes (G2), $1 million Arkansas Derby (G1), $1 million Oaklawn Handicap (G2), and $1 million Apple Blossom Handicap (G1) – and the richest purse structure in its 117-year history.

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