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Dr. Jeff Blea Takes Over As California Horse Racing Board’s Equine Medical Director

Dr. Jeff Blea will assume the responsibilities of Equine Medical Director for the California Horse Racing Board (CHRB) on July 1, replacing Dr. Rick Arthur, who retires June 30 after serving 15 years as EMD.

In addition to advising the Board on matters pertaining to equine health and welfare, Dr. Blea will help oversee the CHRB's drug testing program, work with investigators on medication violations, liaise with those peers directing programs at the University of California, Davis, including the Postmortem Program, and work with Official Veterinarians in their oversight of practicing veterinarians.

Dr. Blea is perfectly positioned to assume this vital role. He was a practicing veterinarian on the Southern California thoroughbred circuit for 28 years, and during that time he demonstrated an interest in improving horse racing, focusing primarily on equine health and welfare, as evidenced by his leadership nationally with the American Association of Equine Practitioners and regionally with the Southern California Equine Foundation. He served as a director of the Dolly Green Research Foundation from 1999 to 2015. The list of the organizations and programs he has served is long and admirable.

Originally Dr. Blea hoped to be a jockey, but an accident cut short that career, which led him into veterinary medicine.

“As it turned out, I consider myself a better vet than I would have been a rider,” he said pragmatically. “I studied at Colorado State University. While there, I met people who were interested in organized veterinary medicine. I was mentored by some incredible people who were progressive, not only in what veterinary medicine should, be but also in what horse racing should be.

“When I came to California, I met Dr. Arthur and it really opened my eyes relative to the horse racing industry and the role of veterinary medicine. This led to a greater understanding of what the racing industry was and what it should be…where it needed to be. I realized I could take my practical background and blend it with my scientific knowledge to make a greater impact on improving care of the horse in particular and improving horse racing in general.

“When Rick announced his pending retirement a few years ago, he urged me to apply,” Dr. Blea continued. “Others did as well. Initially I resisted. I was quite happy practicing veterinary medicine. Mostly out of curiosity I applied. During the long interview process, I began to realize that the role of EMD was much more than I had appreciated. This led to a greater understanding of the significance of the EMD, and so by the end of the process I realized this job was something I wanted to do if offered the opportunity.”

Dr. Blea was chosen from a strong field of well-qualified applicants. The EMD position they all sought is significantly different than the one Dr. Arthur found when he accepted the job 15 years ago. Dr. Arthur directed more centralized oversight in a number of areas under the general responsibility of the EMD.

CHRB Chairman Greg Ferraro said during the June meeting, ““During the last 15 years, Dr. Arthur has brought our medical program and our health and safety program light-years ahead of where it was when he started. We truly appreciate what you've done.”

Dr. Arthur expressed full confidence in his replacement. “I know Dr. Blea very well,” said Dr. Arthur. “He understands the challenges going forward and has the background, knowledge, and tenacity to do the job.”

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View From The Eighth Pole: It’s Silly Season At The California Horse Racing Board

At Thursday's regularly scheduled telephonic meeting of the California Horse Racing Board – where things got a little chippy from time to time – commissioner Oscar Gonzales led a silly, counterproductive fight to delay approval of an agenda item that any right-thinking horse racing regulatory board would have rubber-stamped in a matter of minutes.

The item was simple enough, really nothing more than a housekeeping detail. The board was asked to consider whether to approve an amendment to the CHRB's drug classifications to update the “alphabetical substances list” to align with the Association of Racing Commissioners International Uniform Classification Guidelines for Foreign Substances. It's a necessary move when ARCI makes modifications to a list that virtually all racing states use. It's done upon the recommendation of the Racing Medication and Testing Consortium.

Gonzales, the board's vice chairman, meandered down a word salad path, saying California should not try to “ramrod” new rules through at a time when the state needs to “tread lightly” because the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority, the national regulatory oversight board created through recently passed federal legislation, is on the horizon.

In so doing, Gonzales went against the recommendation of Scott Chaney, the CHRB's executive director, equine medical director Dr. Rick Arthur, and the board's chairman, Dr. Gregory Ferraro, who voted against the delay.

Unfortunately, Gonzales enlisted enough support on what is increasingly becoming a splintered board to get his delay measure passed on a 4-3 vote.

After Gonzales responded to a request from Chaney for guidance on what additional information the board needs to approve the measure next month, Arthur could be heard on the call saying Gonzales' explanation was “crap.”

Gonzales apparently couldn't handle the truth.

“And there you go,” Gonzales said. “There was a profanity, and this is not the first time that Dr. Arthur has chosen very choice words and used vulgarities in a very professional setting. And Dr. Arthur I'd ask you to stand down and please never do that again. Whenever you've not gotten your way, you've attacked this board, you've questioned us, and in many cases you've undermined what we've tried to do on behalf of the horse racing industry. So please put your phone on mute and we'll never hear that from you again.”

Arthur then threw a zinger back at Gonzales.

“Well, my apologies,” he said. “I thought my phone was on mute. But it doesn't change my thoughts. This is silliness.”

The board then took a short break, apparently never having heard such profanity before. My goodness. Crap?

Incidentally, Gonzales is the same CHRB commissioner who led another silly fight last month to not approve a full year's license for the 2021 Los Alamitos Quarter Horse meeting, saying it would be better to only approve the first six months of the year because of concerns he has over safety issues. He won that vote in December but lost on Thursday when the board revisited the issue and approved a full year's license.

What made that exercise so foolish is the fact the CHRB has the authority to shut down any track in the state if they feel racing is unsafe.

Gonzales was appointed to the CHRB in September 2019 by Gov. Gavin Newsom, who is facing the very real threat of a recall election, something that happened in 2003 when a petition drive called for a special election in which incumbent Gov. Gray Davis was ousted in favor of Arnold Schwarzenegger.

I think it's crap that there's no way to recall a CHRB commissioner.

That's my view from the eighth pole.

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CHRB Approves Continuing Education Program For Trainers; Poised To Further Tighten Corticosteroid, Thyroxin Use

The California Horse Racing Board at its regularly scheduled meeting on Thursday gave final approval to a continuing education program for trainers and their assistants, adopted a Multiple Medication Violations (MMV) program and took a first step toward curtailing over-use of thyroid medication.

The regulatory agency tabled until its next meeting in December a requirement that would restrict all intra-articular injections of corticosteroids to 30 days prior to racing and 10 days prior to a timed workout.

The latter issue came up in a discussion concerning agreements between the Los Alamitos Quarter Horse Racing Association and the horsemen's group for 2021. Board chairman Dr. Gregory Ferraro said CHRB Rule 1581 permits a track's race conditions to set rules on administration of medication, provided the racing association has approval from the respective horsemen's organization and the CHRB.

Beginning in March 2019, restrictions on intra-articular injections of corticosteroids were part of those agreements with California tracks. Santa Anita and Del Mar, which dramatically reduced catastrophic injuries in racing to the point there were no dirt track breakdowns throughout entire meetings, had a 30-day cutoff before races on fetlock joint corticosteroid injections and 10 days before workouts. The reduction in catastrophic injuries since the new rules went into effect “demonstrated this was a real problem,” Ferraro said.

CHRB executive director Scott Chaney said trainers at Los Alamitos, which was put on probation by the board earlier this year after a spike in fatalities, appear to be more aggressive with corticosteroids. Chaney said a review of necropsies for fatally injured horses found an average of 0.6 intraarticular corticosteroid injections lifetime for Thoroughbreds at Santa Anita, Del Mar and Golden Gate Fields. A similar review of fatalities at Los Alamitos found an average of 3.0 per horse, Chaney said.

Ferraro said he will recommend extending the 30-day stand down prior to racing for all intra-articular corticosteroid injections – not just in the fetlock joint – and at all tracks in the state. The recommendation will include a 10-day stand down prior to speed training.

Los Alamitos has agreed to include those conditions in its horseman's agreement and has also hired two additional investigators and added security cameras to its barn area.

Under the new regulation for continuing education (CHRB Rule 1503.5), trainers and assistant trainers by June 1, 2021 (and at time of license renewals thereafter) will be required to complete a total of 12 hours of approved continuing education during the preceding 36-month period. Dr. Rick Arthur, the CHRB equine medical director, said he will work in consultation with Thoroughbred Trainers of California to submit a curriculum well in advance of the 2021 deadline so that trainers can fulfill that requirement.

Arthur submitted a proposed schedule of webinars that may begin in January and include courses on basic pharmacology, drug testing, track surfaces, lameness and diagnostic imaging, equine biosecurity, equine fetlock, neurological conditions of racehorses, pre-race examinations, pharmacology of corticosteroids and non-steroidal anti-inflammatories, bisphosphonates, fractures and jockey safety, among others.

Arthur expressed frustration that thyroxin has not been more tightly regulated and recommended that the board adopt a rule that requires a thyrotropin-releasing hormone-response test to demonstrate hypothyroidism – which he called “virtually nonexistent” – before thyroxin can be prescribed. He said New York has adopted a similar regulation and that the Stronach Group has imposed a house rule to that effect at its tracks in Maryland and Florida.

In addition to the CHRB's reports on sudden deaths in 2013 that cited widespread thyroid medication use in horses that died suddenly, Arthur said the Stronach Group has seen a large number of sudden deaths during racing and training in Maryland involving horses on thyroid supplementation.

From Jan. 1, 2020, until early October, Arthur said, nearly half of 256 thyroid prescriptions at California tracks were for two trainers and 80% involved three veterinarians. He did not name the trainers or vets.

The proposed rule was passed unanimously. It will go out for public comment before it returns to the board for a final vote.

The Multiple Medication Violations rule, an amendment to Rule 1843.4, will specify enhanced penalties for multiple violations and establish a point system under which the the enhanced penalties are imposed and include violations from both inside and outside of California.

The CHRB also approved a 2021 racing schedule for Northern California fairs, with Pleasanton getting June 16-July 13; Sacramento, July 14-Aug. 3; Sonoma, Aug. 4-Aug. 17; Humboldt County (Ferndale), Aug. 18-Aug. 31; Golden Gate Fields, Aug. 25-Oct. 5, and Oct. 20-Dec. 21; and Fresno Oct. 6-Oct. 19.

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Los Alamitos Releases Draft Safety Plan

The Los Alamitos Quarter Horse Racing Association released Tuesday evening a seven-page draft “Equine & Rider Safety Enhancement Plan,” ahead of a follow-up meeting July 20 with the California Horse Racing Board (CHRB) concerning a recent uptick in equine fatalities at the track.

Among some of the new protocols outlined in the plan is an additional veterinarian to scrutinize horses entering and exiting the track during morning training, and the creation of a program whereby every equine fatality triggers a “Fatality Review” to be conducted by a panel including a member of track management, the track veterinarian, and the racing secretary.

Last Thursday, the CHRB gave Los Alamitos 24-hour notice of an emergency meeting to discuss the track’s equine welfare and safety protocols–the first time the board has exercised its authority afforded through a state bill passed last year allowing it to provide just a day’s public notice for a meeting to discuss the possible suspension of a racing license. Prior to that, the CHRB had to provide 10 days’ public notice.

At Friday’s meeting, CHRB executive director Scott Chaney explained his decision to file a petition to hold the emergency meeting, arguing that there has been an increase in equine fatalities during the first six months of this year when compared to the same period the year prior, along with a recent spike. According to the CHRB, there have been 13 fatalities at the track since May 26.

“I agree that there needs to be a serious review of policies and procedures at Los Alamitos,” said CHRB chairman Greg Ferraro last Friday. “Not necessarily as a fault of track’s management, but I think there is a culture there amongst the practicing veterinarians and trainers that is pushing the envelope when it comes to the safety of these horses.”

On a 5-1 vote, the board gave Los Alamitos the green light to continue live racing during a 10-day probational period, at the end of which the board would decide whether the revised safety plan adequately satisfied its concerns.

In a statement Tuesday, Los Alamitos wrote that the track is “soliciting comments from the industry in general and particularly from the Board” regarding the plan’s contents.

“Dr. Ed Allred, the owner and CEO of Los Alamitos Race Course, said that the plan is a further effort by Los Alamitos to provide for the enhanced improvement of the health and safety of each every horse and rider participating in racing and training at Los Alamitos,” the statement read.

The seven-page plan outlines enhanced safety procedures in the following six areas: training practices, pre-race procedures, entry review panel, post incident assessments, equine illness and recovery and rules and conditions.

The track has proposed a panel–comparable to the one already instituted for Thoroughbred races in California–to review race entries. “Based on information deemed of concern to the panel, in its discretion, may deny such entry or request the scratch of any horse the panel determines unsuitable for reasons of horse and/or rider safety,” the plan states.

A number of equine fatalities at Los Alamitos this year have been said to be due to “gastrointestinal” issues, rather than musculoskeletal injuries sustained through training or racing.

According to the plan, if within a year two Los Alamitos-based horses under the custody of a single trainer die for reasons other than racing or training, that trainer could be put under a form of probation whereby, if another horse in their care is fatally injured, that trainer could be barred from the grounds.

“Allred further stated that, notwithstanding his hope that the plan would be further improved through comments from the industry and the Board, the changes contemplated by the plan would be implemented immediately,” Tuesday’s statement read.

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