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Kentucky Advances Clenbuterol Regulations; Turfway Switches Weekly Race Days

The Kentucky Horse Racing Commission (KHRC) advanced a proposal Dec. 8 that will create a set of new regulations designed to curb clenbuterol’s off-label abuse as a lean muscle mass builder.

The move is part of a trend this year among North American racing jurisdictions aiming to eliminate clenbuterol’s misuse as a performance enhancer while putting in place restrictions that will still allow the drug to be prescribed for its intended purpose as a bronchodilator to treat airway disease.

The new Kentucky rules on clenbuterol will require 1) A specific diagnosis for its prescription that must be filed with the KHRC within 24 hours of dispensing the drug; 2) The horse to be placed of the veterinarian’s restricted list for 21 days; 3) Proof via blood and urine testing that the horse’s system is clear of clenbuterol prior to being removed from the list and allowed to compete.

The regulatory switch will align Kentucky with a clenbuterol model rule enacted by the Racing Medication and Testing Consortium on Aug. 24. The Kentucky Equine Drug Research Council (EDRC), which serves as an advisory board to the KHRC, advanced its approval of these new clenbuterol guidelines at a Dec. 1 meeting.

The existing clenbuterol standard in Kentucky is a withdrawal time of 14 days.

One commissioner argued to no avail against advancing the new set of clenbuterol rules prior to the remaining KHRC members passing the initiative by a voice vote.

That lone dissenter was Alan Leavitt, a decades-long Standardbred owner and breeder and member of the Harness Racing Museum Hall of Fame.

“This is a case of punishing harness racing for the sins of the Quarter Horse people and the Thoroughbred people,” Leavitt said prior to the vote. He lamented the practice of trainers of those breeds “hammering a horse with clenbuterol” to gain muscle-building akin to steroids that give a horse a performance advantage and claimed that it has been “documented in harness racing with no incidences of abusing it.”

Leavitt echoed an argument voiced last week by Andy Roberts, DVM, who represents Standardbred interests on the EDRC, that harness horses should be treated differently than Thoroughbreds when it comes to clenbuterol because of the near-weekly frequently that Standardbreds generally race.

“I’m opposed to this, and I wish the do-gooders would just leave us alone because we don’t abuse clenbuterol, and it’s very helpful to keep our horses very safe,” Leavitt said.

Commissioner Foster Northrop, DVM, whose practice primarily focuses on Thoroughbreds, disagreed with Leavitt’s logic while urging passage of the new regulations.

“Any drug out there that has an ability to be misused and overused and to give a benefit that the drug wasn’t originally meant for needs stricter guidance than what we have now presently on clenbuterol,” Northrop said.

“The Quarter Horse crowd showed how easily it could be abused. And I know in the sales rings it’s being abused and in racing it’s being abused,” Northrop continued. “I can’t speak on the Standardbred side of it, but any drug like this…certain factions of people will find a way to abuse it.”

“We typically use it for horses that bleed,” Northrop said. “Horses that bleed automatically need a minimum of 21 days off. And this is when this product is very effective. We’re not putting the trainers in jail for using it the way it was meant to be used…. Everybody wants a level playing field. I think this rule is going to move us closer to having a more level field for all participants, and I’m [on the backstretch] every day of my life.

Commissioner Kenneth Jackson, an attorney specializing in equine law who represents harness racing interests in connection with the Kentucky Standardbred Development Fund and Kentucky Standardbred Breeders’ Incentive Fund, also urged for the KHRC to pass the new regulations.

“We’ve got to try to clean up what’s out there. We’ve got to try to get some consistency in the way we look at these animals. And I believe that this is not an issue that impacts the masses that would detrimentally affect the Standardbreds,” Jackson said.

Within the past year, a number of racing jurisdictions have tightened clenbuterol restrictions based on evidence showing the medication has been widely abused for its repartitioning effect that promotes lean muscle mass.

On Jan. 1, the California Horse Racing Board enacted a clenbuterol rule that requires a prescription for appropriate usage plus a stint on the vet’s list until the drug clears.

On May 1, the Canadian Pari-Mutuel Agency started banning clenbuterol 28 days out from race day at tracks country-wide. On Oct. 22, the Maryland Racing Commission advanced a rule proposal similar to California’s, and the New York State Gaming Commission did the same Nov. 30.

In addition, more restrictive clenbuterol “house rules” are in effect at Gulfstream Park and soon will be during the Oaklawn Park race meet.

New Schedule at Turfway

A Friday-through-Sunday schedule is out at Turfway Park for the winter/spring 2021 meet that runs from January through March, replaced by a new Thursday-through-Saturday weekly slate.

The KHRC unanimously approved the calendar amendment during Tuesday’s meeting, which does not change the initially granted number of 39 dates. In the KHRC meeting packet for this agenda item, the reason Turfway cited for the change was “a temporary hold on its 2021 construction schedule.”

Churchill Downs, Inc., the gaming corporation that owns Turfway, had announced back on Oct. 29 that it was stopping construction on Turfway’s planned new grandstand and historical horse racing (HHR) gaming facility until the state of Kentucky clears up the ambiguity surrounding the apparent illegality of HHR, which contributes tens of millions of dollars annually to purses in the state.

The old grandstand has already been torn down and Turfway will be conducting a no-spectator meet with temporary structures for racing officials. No Turfway executives elaborated on the stalled construction during Tuesday’s meeting, nor did any commissioners address that topic.

Post time will be 6:15 p.m. nightly. A Wednesday, Jan. 6, program is an exception to the new calendar, and Turfway retains the right to run “optional” dates on other Wednesdays (it had previously been granted optional Thursdays).

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Kentucky, New York Move Toward Tougher Restrictions On Clenbuterol

Trainers in several states could soon contend with tougher restrictions on the administration of clenbuterol, a bronchodilator prescribed for respiratory issues which veterinarians say can be misused. At a Dec. 1 meeting of the Kentucky Equine Drug Research Council (EDRC), committee members passed a proposed rule change for the drug which would move administration time from 14 days pre-race to 21 days pre-race, with a requirement the horse be tested for the substance before being cleared to run.

Clenbuterol is a beta-2 agonist which is known as an effective solution for horses battling respiratory ailments — a particularly common problem in racetrack barns which often have poor ventilation. Like other beta-2 agonists, however, it can also decrease body fat and increase muscle mass, particularly by converting slow twitch muscle to fast twitch muscle when used repeatedly.

At a September meeting of the EDRC, Kentucky Horse Racing Commission equine medical director Dr. Bruce Howard revealed that nearly 100 percent of Kentucky-based horses from trainers currently under federal indictment showed signs of clenbuterol administration when they were hair tested. Howard has also seen instances of veterinarians prescribing the drug to every horse in the barn.

The measure to move back the drug's administration time was not without debate. Dr. Andy Roberts, member of the EDRC and longtime Standardbred veterinarian, raised concerns about the harness population's ability to treat horses for illness under a 21-day withdrawal.

“I don't want to diminish the concerns about clenbuterol, because I think it's not illegitimate to want to control its administration to legitimate therapeutic purposes, however I think the Standardbreds are taking it quite strongly in the shorts in this because our horses race every week,” said Roberts. “There's almost no opportunity to put horses on clenbuterol already. Several other states already recognize this and have shorter withdrawals on clenbuterol.”

Roberts asked Howard whether out-of-competition testing at Red Mile had detected any clenbuterol use thus far, and Howard said it had not.

“That's because you've taken the drug out of my hands on a therapeutic basis,” said Roberts, who also maintained that the repartitioning effect of clenbuterol on muscle lasts for 11 days. “Passing rules based on speculation that somebody else is doing something — and I say this specifically from a Standardbred point of view because these horses are in to go often enough that you have already severely limited my ability to use this drug properly. People would rather leave horses sick and end up with pleural pneumonia than treat them with clenbuterol. That means we are over-regulating it.”

The 21-day window is based on the limit of detection by drug testing laboratories tasked with finding clenbuterol in a horse's urine sample. Blood and urine tests would be used to clear a horse to race after clenbuterol administration. Hair samples would show clenbuterol administration for up to six to twelve months after administration, but are highly variable depending on hair growth rates.

All EDRC committee members except Roberts voted for the increased restriction.

The vote comes a day after commissioners in New York expressed an interest in restricting clenbuterol use there, too. The Daily Racing Form reported the New York State Gaming Commission voted to require veterinarians to seek permission from the equine medical director before administering the drug, and that horses receiving clenbuterol must pass drug tests showing it has cleared the system before being permitted to run. That is similar to rule language being considered in other Mid-Atlantic states. In Canada, clenbuterol administration was pushed out to 28 days pre-race earlier this year. The American Quarter Horse Association announced a zero tolerance policy on clenbuterol in 2014, which has subsequently been picked up by several states where Quarter Horse racing is a central part of the calendar.

Experts have raised concerns about the potential for clenbuterol abuse for years, but the drug has made more headlines this year, as influential trainers like Mark Casse have called it one of the “most abused drug in our industry.”

The post Kentucky, New York Move Toward Tougher Restrictions On Clenbuterol appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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Judge Finds In Favor Of Kentucky Tracks, Commission In Lasix-Focused Civil Case

A judge in Kentucky has denied a motion for summary judgement by the Kentucky Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association (KHBPA) and granted a motion for summary judgement by the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission (KHRC), Keeneland, and Churchill Downs in a civil case focusing on furosemide administration. Franklin Circuit Court Judge Thomas Wingate entered his order Nov. 18 after both sides had requested he find in their favor.

Earlier this year, the KHBPA had brought suit against the KHRC and racetracks because it argued the tracks inappropriately created a house rule mirroring proposed changes to state regulation beginning a partial furosemide phaseout in the state. This year was set to be the first time Lasix administration would be pushed back to 24 hours pre-race for all 2-year-olds, but a new rule reflecting this had not completed the regulatory process before the first juvenile races of the year were carded. Churchill and Keeneland wrote race conditions reflecting the impending rule change, which the KHBPA said was beyond the scope of their authority. Moreover, it had argued, the KHRC should not have allowed the tracks to make rules regarding medication. The commission and tracks cited rule language they believed did give them that authority.

After rule language reflecting the 24-hour Lasix administration in 2-year-olds went into effect in August, Wingate ruled, the question became moot.

“The Court must again begin this Order by stating that it is not concerned with any scientific or humanitarian argument in favor of or against the use of Lasix in horses,” Wingate's order read. “This zealously debated topic is not the issue before the Court. Instead, the Court is merely addressing a legal challenge brought by the KHBPA regarding what it alleges is an improper delegation of statutory authority to associations, such as Keeneland and Churchill, by the KHRC.”

The KHBPA had also challenged plans to push back pre-race furosemide administration in stakes races in 2021. Wingate indicated any claims about the legality of that action were not yet “ripe” since stakes races for older horses have not yet been carded under these circumstances.

The post Judge Finds In Favor Of Kentucky Tracks, Commission In Lasix-Focused Civil Case appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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Churchill Pauses Turfway Construction Due To Kentucky Supreme Court’s Historical Racing Decision

On a Thursday's third-quarter earnings call with investors, Churchill Downs Inc. CEO Bill Carstanjen announced that the company's construction of a new grandstand and historical racing facility at Turfway Park will be paused, reports the Thoroughbred Daily News. The announcement follows the Sept. 24 news of the Kentucky Supreme Court decision that the Encore brand of historical racing machine does not constitute legal pari-mutuel wagering.

“Regarding the Turfway Park HRM and grandstand project, we have temporarily paused the construction of this facility,” Carstanjen said. “In late September, the Kentucky Supreme Court issued a decision concerning the legality of the company called Exacta HRMs under Kentucky law. While we do not have any Exacta HRMs at any of our facilities, and therefore are not directly impacted by the Kentucky Supreme Court ruling, we feel it is prudent to refrain from further significant capital investment until the Kentucky legislature has an opportunity to review the decision and the technicalities in the current law during the legislative session starting in early 2021.”

Also on hold are a hotel and historical racing facility at Churchill Downs, though Carstanjen attributed that delay to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Both the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission and Keeneland have petitioned the Kentucky Supreme Court for a rehearing.

Read more at the Thoroughbred Daily News.

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