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Maryland Could Crack Down On Clenbuterol Administration, Eliminating Any Threshold On Race Day

Clenbuterol restrictions in Maryland may be about to get tighter. According to a report from Thoroughbred Daily News, the Maryland Racing Commission has voted unanimously to propose a new rule that would take away any race-day threshold for the bronchodilator.

The current rules do not permit race day administration of the drug, but rather set a threshold under which its presence would not be a violation. Generally this is done to allow a drug to be given within a set period of days prior to race day.

Clenbuterol is an effective bronchodilator but can also have side effects similar to anabolic steroids, particularly if used in small doses over a period of time. Under the proposed regulation, veterinarians could still prescribe the drug to horses with a specific diagnosis, but would be required to report the horse's diagnosis and treatment plan. The horse receiving the medication would not be permitted to race until urine or blood tests came back with no clenbuterol in the horse's system. The drug could also be added to the commission's battery of out-of-competition tests.

The TDN notes however, that current restrictions in Maryland still do not permit the commission to perform out-of-competition tests on horses stabled away from commission-sanctioned grounds.

After Lifetime In Business, ‘Coley’ Blind Retiring From Maryland Jockey Club Position

Embracing a family tradition in Thoroughbred racing that dates back more than a century, and following his own distinguished career in various roles touching parts of six decades, Coleman E. “Coley” Blind is stepping down as stakes coordinator for the Maryland Jockey Club.

Blind, 72, is retiring from the position effective Nov. 1. Former trainer Jason Egan, who currently works in the MJC racing office as an entry clerk, will step into the role of stakes coordinator.

“My family has been in racing for almost 120 years,” Blind said. “I really liked my position as stakes coordinator. Working with the trainers all over the country was very enjoyable. That's the part I will miss the most. I know Jason will do a great job.”

Blind's roots run deep in Thoroughbred racing. His great-grandfather owned horses in England and his grandfather trained for the Royal Canadian governor of British Columbia after the family emigrated to Canada.

An uncle, Eric Blind, rode in the 1924 Kentucky Derby (G1) and the 1926 Derby and Preakness Stakes (G1). Blind's father, Eddie, was an assistant starter for the famed match race between Seabiscuit and War Admiral in the 1938 Pimlico Special and became the official starter for Maryland's Thoroughbred tracks in 1947, acquiring the nickname “The Maestro of the Start” in a position he held for 35 years until his retirement.

Blind began working alongside his father in the Laurel Park starting gate in 1966, joined by his brother, Frank, who would go on to become a golf pro at Fox Hollow Golf Club in Baltimore County. Coley Blind has worked in racing offices for Maryland's tracks at Laurel, Pimlico and Timonum as well as Monmouth Park, Delaware Park and the defunct Atlantic City, Liberty Bell, Marlboro and Hagerstown.

In addition to stakes coordinator, Blind has also worked as an assistant starter, starter, paddock judge, patrol judge, placing judge, clerk of scales, horse identifier and assistant racing secretary. He also served as a National Steeplechase Association steward.

In 1989 Blind left racing for 11 years, went into contracting and opened an insurance business before returning to the game in 2000. He said he plans to stay in the Maryland area.

“One thing I will always remember is watching Secretariat win the [1973] Preakness. He was in my mind the greatest horse I ever saw. I was the patrol judge at the quarter pole that day and was awed by him,” Blind said. “In my years in racing I have seen some of the best horses ever to run.”

The 38-year-old Egan can trace his love of racing to growing up in Washington state, where his father took him to defunct Longacres in the Seattle suburb of Renton to watch the legendary Captain Condo, who won 30 of 70 starts from 1986 to 1992.

Egan attended the University of Arizona's Racetrack Industry Program, interning with trainer Michael Dickinson in North East, Md. Egan worked for a time on a farm in Florida following graduation and spent a year working for seven-time Eclipse Award-winning trainer Todd Pletcher before becoming trainer Mike Trombetta's assistant.

After going out on his own, Egan won 52 races between 2011 and 2019, earning his first stakes win in the 2018 Weber City Miss with 3-year-old filly Goodonehoney. Other top horses trained by Egan include She's Achance Too, second in the 2016 Maryland Million Lassie, three-time stakes-placed Any Court Inastorm, and He's Achance.

Egan's wife, Jordyn, works as director of development for the Maryland Horse Industry Foundation and is assistant director for Maryland Million Ltd.

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Timonium’s 10-Day Meet Could Extend Beyond Maryland State Fair in ’21

The Timonium race meet that got scrapped because of the pandemic this summer could to be back in action in 2021. The Maryland Racing Commission approved a 10-date slate for next year at its Oct. 22 meeting, with a new wrinkle to the schedule.

“One thing that is a little different here, they’re also requesting, in addition to the seven days they normally would run during the state fair, [permission to operate Sept.] 10th, 11th and 12, which is a weekend after the fair is closed,” J. Michael Hopkins, the MRC’s executive director, said prior to the unanimous vote. “It is the first time they have done that that I can recall.”

Hopkins added that Timonium has had clearance to race

10 dates in the past in conjunction with the Maryland State Fair. But in recent seasons the applicant has only scheduled seven programs, all while the fair is operational at the same property.

Hopkins said it was his belief there would be no overlap with Laurel Park, whose meet traditionally follows the fair’s short season.

“They’re having the discussions with the Maryland Jockey Club [which owns Laurel] where scheduling is concerned,” Hopkins said. “[The two racetracks] preliminarily are in agreement with all of this. Secondarily, the purpose of this [vote] is to get the dates approved, and if there are any adjustments going forward we can come back and revisit them.”

A full calendar of 2021 Thoroughbred dates was unanimously approved for Laurel, Pimlico Race Course, and Timonium on Thursday. But the specific dates of all the individual meets were not read into the record, and it was unclear whether they had even been assigned. Via email, TDN subsequently requested the full calendar from Hopkins, but that query did not yield a reply prior to deadline for this story.

The post Timonium’s 10-Day Meet Could Extend Beyond Maryland State Fair in ’21 appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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Race-Day Clenbuterol Could be Barred in Maryland

Clenbuterol that is detectable in any amount on race day could be on its way out in 2021 for Thoroughbreds and Standardbreds in Maryland.

Maryland Racing Commission (MRC) voted unanimously Oct. 22 to propose a new rule that would eliminate the allowable race-day threshold for clenbuterol, citing concerns that the bronchodilator medication has the potential for abuse as a substance that delivers similar results as anabolic steroids, like promoting an increase in lean muscle mass.

Currently, Maryland horses are allowed to trigger up to 140 picograms/milliliter in blood serum on race day without incurring a violation.

“The proposal is to eliminate the threshold altogether and make clenbuterol not permissive at all on race day in horses competing in Maryland,” said J. Michael Hopkins, the MRC’s executive director.

Citing a veterinary study, Hopkins added that “if it’s used long enough in small doses, it does have the ability to have a steroidal effect for the horses that receive it on a regular basis.”

Under Maryland’s proposed new plan, clenbuterol would still be allowed as a therapeutic medication to treat obstructive airways disease. But a horse’s veterinarian would have to submit a specific diagnosis and prescription plan to the MRC’s equine medical director prior to treatment. Trainers would have the responsibility of submitting this notification, Hopkins said, and any horse on clenbuterol will remain on the veterinary no-race list until a negative urine or blood test is provided to document clearance of the drug from the horse’s system.

Hopkins said the MRC would have the right to perform out-of-competition (OOC) testing on horses to check for unauthorized clenbuterol use. But he explained that the commission does not currently have the right to test horses stabled on private property without consent. In cases where the property owner or the horse’s owner or trainer refused to grant access, Hopkins said the commission would have to arrange with the owner or trainer to bring the horse elsewhere to conduct the testing.

Commissioner R. Thomas Bowman took umbrage with that aspect of the OOC protocol. He said that, “I don’t really follow the logic in that, because by the time that you were to arrange for a meeting, I assume that the drug would probably have cleared from the animal’s system…. So I think it’s a little bit of a tiger without teeth.”

But because the rule is just at its proposal stage, there is time for the MRC to re-examine how it handles OOC testing. Hopkins said that following Thursday’s approval of the proposal, it will take about three months for the rule to pass through the regulatory process and public commentary period before the MRC takes a final vote on the matter.

Hopkins said other racing jurisdictions in the region could soon follow Maryland’s lead on barring clenbuterol on race day.

“This regulation has also been discussed in the mid-Atlantic area as recently as last week,” Hopkins said.

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