Baltas Suspended One Year, Fined $10,000 In California

Trainer Richard Baltas has been suspended 365 days and fined $10,000 by California Horse Racing Board stewards for  “conduct detrimental to racing” and violating medication rules over a 24-day period at Santa Anita Park last spring.

Baltas, who has won 722 races including seven Grade 1 stakes since taking out his trainer's license in 1991, is alleged to have had prohibited race-day administrations given to his horses on 21 occasions from April 15 through May 8, 2022. The treatments, said to be captured on Santa Anita's surveillance cameras, allegedly involved “X-Treme Air Boost,” and “other substances,” according to the ruling.

A complaint filed by the CHRB against Baltas last June 21 included an investigation report outlining actions of an assistant trainer who allegedly was seen on video surveillance administering an oral dose of an unknown substance to the horse Noble Reflection on May 8.  A search of the barn uncovered an empty tube of X-Treme Air Boost that allegedly had the horse's name written on it.

According to the report, Martin Valenzuela, an assistant trainer to Baltas, originally told investigators he did not administer anything to the horse but when informed there was video admitted that he had. Valenzuela told investigators he had been told by Baltas to administer the substance – thought to help control bleeding – between 24 and 48 hours before a race but had forgotten to do so with Noble Reflection and instead gave it on race day.

Video surveillance allegedly showed similar race-day activity occurred with over 20 Baltas horses over the period in question.

Officials with 1/ST Racing told Baltas he was not welcome to race or breeze horses at any of their facilities, including Santa Anita and San Luis Rey training center where he kept a large part of his stable. Baltas has run a handful of starters in Kentucky and Texas since the ejection, his last runner coming at Lone Star Park in Texas on July 16.

In August, Baltas sued the CHRB after he was denied entries at Los Alamitos in California, saying the regulatory agency deprived him of his due process rights.

The suspension runs from Dec. 9, 2022, through Dec. 8, 2023.

 

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California Regulators To Continue Honoring Agreement With HISA Until Jan. 10

The California Horse Racing Board conducted a meeting on Tuesday, Nov. 22, 2022, at Cal Expo in Sacramento. Chairman Gregory Ferraro chaired the meeting, joined by vice chair Oscar Gonzales and commissioners Damascus Castellanos and Brenda Washington Davis.

The audio of this entire Board meeting is available on the CHRB Website (www.chrb.ca.gov) under the Webcast link. In brief:

  • Various speakers addressed the current situation with the Horseracing Safety and Integrity Act/Authority (HISA), given a recent court decision that HISA is unconstitutional. The matter being in legal limbo has caused confusion in some racing jurisdictions, but deputy executive director Cynthia Alameda, consistent with the CHRB advisory issued Nov. 18, said that is not the case in California. “Unless and until a federal court makes a further decision on the case, the CHRB will continue to honor its agreement with HISA and enforce all federal rules,” she said. “The CHRB will continue to negotiate with HISA and its enforcement entity, Drug Free Sports International, on agreements for the upcoming 2023 calendar year, focusing on our shared principle of promoting safety in horse racing.”

    The CHRB has been enforcing federal safety rules since their introduction on July 1, 2022, and will begin enforcing federal rules on medication and drug testing when they become effective, which is anticipated to be Jan. 1, 2023. CHRB general counsel Amanda Brown pointed out that unless HISA successfully maneuvers to reverse or delay the court decision, it will go into effect on Jan. 10, so the CHRB will be operating under federal rules for at least 10 days.

    Dr. Jeff Blea, equine medical director, reported that even if the enforcement program reverts back to California rules after Jan. 10, the effect will be minimal in California because “HISA's safety program and medication rules are not that far different from where California is.” Dr. Blea said that when he attended a recent national conference, he was approached by other veterinarians with numerous questions about how the CHRB regulates medication and drug testing. He said they asked how they could make their programs safer and better in the same way as California.

    As they did back in May to align California with federal rules governing safety in horse racing, the commissioners voted unanimously to enter into a voluntary agreement, this time to enforce HISA rules on medication and drug testing with an anticipated start date of Jan. 1.

  • Dr. Blea also reported on a pilot program currently under way at Los Alamitos Race Course to find a way to proactively identify any problems in the lumbar regions of approximately 20 horses involved in the program. “The issue is lumbar fractures in Quarter Horses,” he explained. The program uses ultrasound combined with physical examinations in an attempt to identify lesions that could lead to catastrophic injuries, He said Dr. Edward Allred, the owner of Los Alamitos, has paid for this program so far, but there will be a need for new funding sources going forward.
  • The Board approved an emergency amendment to Rule 1867, Prohibited Veterinary Practices, by clarifying that the use or possession of compounded medications is not a violation of Rule 1867 if done in the approved manner. Clarifying the regulation provides guidance to licensees and prevents misinterpretation by other regulatory agencies.
  • The Board renewed licenses for six companies to continue providing account wagering platforms in California (ADW). TVG, Twinspires, NYRAbets, Lien Games, Watchandwager.com, and Game Play Network (GPN) all received two-year licenses with the warning that their renewals in 2024 will require each of them except GPN to have in place procedures for customers to identify alternate selections in the event of scratches in wagers involving four or more legs (Pick 'n'). GPN does not offer any wagering of that type. The license for Xpressbet will be considered in December. Xpressbet is the one ADW company that already allows for alternate selections.
  • The Board approved various agreements between Santa Anita, Golden Gate Fields, and Los Alamitos with their horsemen's organizations authorizing racing secretaries to establish conditions on races pertaining to medications and procedures.
  • The Board approved the license for Los Alamitos Race Course to conduct a Thoroughbred race meet that will operate from Dec. 9-18. This daytime meet will run concurrently with the night Quarter Horse meet.
  • The Board also approved the license for the Quarter Horse meet at Los Alamitos that will operate from Dec. 31, 2022, through Dec. 17, 2023.
  • The Board approved the license for Pacific Racing Association to conduct a Thoroughbred race meet at Golden Gate Fields that will operate from Dec. 26, 2022, through June 11.
  • The Board approved the license for Los Angeles Turf Club to conduct a Thoroughbred race meet at Santa Anita Park that will operate from Dec. 26, 2022, through June 18. The license application was amended to allow for a non-racing day on Dec. 27 and a racing day on Jan. 2. Santa Anita will not race from April 10 through April 21, providing a break for horses and licensees in accordance with CHRB policy.
  • Representatives of the newly formed California Horse Power Coalition reported on the Coalition's mission to preserve and protect California's equestrian culture by bringing together equine industry leaders, workers, families and fans of the sport to illustrate its significant benefits. The Coalition may approach the CHRB at some time to request assistance in this effort, as well as bring potential policy recommendations to the board for consideration.
  • The Board approved distributions by four race-day charity organizations to named beneficiaries, specifically $14,249 by the Pacific Racing Association to nine beneficiaries, $82,134 by the Los Angeles Turf Club to 10 beneficiaries, $4,584 by the Los Alamitos Racing Association to four beneficiaries, and $5,083 by the Los Alamitos Quarter Horse Association to four beneficiaries.

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In The New Era Of Medication Rules, There Will Be No Withdrawal Guidance

As Jan. 1, 2023, ticks closer, lots of uncertainty remains about the future of the national regulations put in place by the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act (HISA). The centralized Authority created by the Act was dealt a blow last week when a federal appeals court ruled the group's governance was unconstitutional.

For now though, there is no order in place shutting down the activities of the Authority and therefore nothing that will halt the upcoming implementation of the anti-doping and medication control rules that will go into effect on New Year's Day. At that time, all equine samples will be tested by accredited labs and all will be subject to the same battery of tests, unlike the current system, where drug rules vary from state to state and drug testing contracts do, too. Penalties will also be uniform and officials have promised the arbitration and appeals process will be swifter than it currently is through the state system.

The Authority has contracted with the Horseracing Integrity and Welfare Unit (HIWU), which is a division of Drug-Free Sport International to handle all drug testing and results reporting.

At the recent annual convention of the Association of Equine Practitioners (AAEP) in San Antonio, representatives of the Authority and HIWU gathered to field questions from veterinarians about those upcoming national rules and drug testing changes.

Whether you're a horseman or a veterinarian, there are educational resources available to help you better understand regulations here on the HIWU site and here on the Authority's website.

Here are a few things we learned from that discussion, which included Drs. Sue Stover, chair of Racetrack Safety standing committee, Mary Scollay, chief of science for HIWU, Lisa Fortier, racetrack safety committee member, and Scott Stanley, anti-doping and medication control subcommittee member.

Withdrawal times are a thing of the past. For many years now, trainers and veterinarians have relied on suggested withdrawal times to decide how far ahead of a race they should stop giving a particular drug. The new rules do not include any withdrawal times.

Why not?

The text of the federal law, to which the Authority and HIWU are bound, requires the groups to base their medication rules on international standards for racehorses. Other countries, which base their medication rules on the International Federation of Horseracing Authority's guidance, do not provide withdrawal times. They instead provide “detection times.”

Detection times are based on the available peer-reviewed study of a substance. If a group of horses in a study are all given a drug and sampled at set time points after that administration, “detection time” is the first time point at which all the horses in that study were negative for the substance.

Why does it matter? Scollay noted that many existing administration studies of drugs in horses may be based on small numbers of horses. Everyone recognizes that there is individual variability in drug metabolism, and a lot comes down to the dose given and route of administration.

Detection time should be a starting point for veterinarians and trainers to decide when to withdraw a drug, but they aren't replacements for withdrawal times. If you use detection times interchangeably with withdrawal, you're running a higher risk of a drug positive than you were under the old system, because you could be working with a different dose, administration route, or a horse with a different metabolism.

“It's a big change, but I'm here to tell you, you can do it,” Scollay said.

Previously, withdrawal guidance offered by the Association of Racing Commissioners International or Racing Medication and Testing Consortium looked at these detection time and essentially built in a statistically-calculated cushion to account for these differences.

In many cases, cautious trainers are already building themselves a cushion over the existing withdrawal guidance. One practitioner in the audience stated that although non-steroidal anti-inflammatories may be given up to 48 hours prior to post time, they were on a practical level more often given 52 to 60 hours pre-race since that's when a practicing vet would be at the barn.

–The change is just as much philosophy as practice.

The detection time system is supposed to make trainers and veterinarians think a little harder.

“You shouldn't be frightened on these detection times,” said Scollay. “What they're intended to do is make you say, does this horse really need this medication? If we're just medicating to keep the trainer happy, maybe we shouldn't be doing it.

“I think this is going to get us all to revisit our pre-race protocols as far as blanket administrations, every horse in the barn, all 40, 60 of them getting the same pre-race protocol. Maybe they don't need it. Maybe some of them do but maybe some of them don't. The changes you're dealing with are not going to be cataclysmic, but they are going to require you to think.”

–FDA status is going to be key. If a drug isn't approved by the FDA for use in horses, it's likely considered to be banned by the Authority. That includes substances like isoxsuprine, whose use in horses was common for a while but which the FDA has recently clarified may not be legally compounded for horses.

–With all medication violations, there is mandatory disqualification. New rules do not allow for any wiggle room on this. Officials do have discretion about how large a fine or suspension may be given to a licensee as a result of a positive test, but there is no mechanism for connections to get out of a disqualification.

–Most substances, but not all, should be stopped by 48 hours pre-race. There are a few exceptions to this, and those drugs are okay up to 24 hours pre-race. They include: altrenogist for fillies, certain ulcer medications, isotonic fluids, vitamins by injection, vaccines, anti-microbials, dewormers, and electrolytes by injection. Electrolytes may be given free choice up until the race, whether as topdressing on feed or in a water bucket (if there is also one bucket of clear water provided to the horse).

–All states have requested an exemption to new furosemide restrictions. That means that all 2-year-olds and all stakes runners (including runners in overnight stakes) may only have furosemide 24 hours pre-race. Three-year-olds and up and non-stakes horses will have their existing state rules in place for the foreseeable future.

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–Post-workout sampling will be happening, but it won't be quite the same as post-race testing. Horses may be drug tested after a timed work but the rules aren't exactly the same as a post-race test. Those tests are designed to look for banned substances, local anesthetics, and analgesics (including non-steroidal anti-inflammatories within 48 hours pre-work and corticosteroids within seven days pre-work). Other substances, like dantrolene, furosemide, methocarbamol, etc. are not of concern in post-workout tests.

“This is a safety and welfare initiative so we know we're not sending horses out who are compromised and can hurt themselves while breezing,” said Scollay.

–Intra-articular corticosteroids will be a 14-day stand-down for racing and for works off the vet's list. The reason the rules are different with these drugs for races versus works is that committee members feared a 14-day pre-workout prohibition would encourage trainers to walk or jog a horse into a race, and wouldn't give veterinarians a chance to evaluate a horse's response to the treatment.

–Will the Authority be sending veterinarians to help with shortages? In the early days of the Authority, there was some discussion suggesting the group would send its own veterinarians to fill shortages in racing states that were strapped. Ann McGovern, director of racetrack safety for the Authority, said that besides the nationwide equine veterinary shortage, they're running into another logistical problem – licensing.

There are some veterinarians who want to help short-handed tracks, but many are experiencing difficulty getting licensed outside of the states they normally practice in. The Authority is working on a provision for regulatory veterinarians, since they're not diagnosing, treating, or prescribing and therefore have different roles than most licensed veterinarians.

–There's still hope a national system for testing will be more efficient. Scollay said trainer Steve Asmussen once told her Gun Runner had been out-of-competition tested 15 times in his career because he participated in so many different stakes with OOCT programs in so many different jurisdictions, and sampling authorities had no way to communicate with each other. There's hope that while the testing bill will rise for some states, it will be a more efficient process overall.

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Report: Michael Tannuzzo Gets 27-Month Prison Sentence For Role In Horse Doping

Michael Tannuzzo, a New York-based trainer who pleaded guilty in July to one count of drug adulteration and misbranding, on Monday was sentenced to 27 months in prison by U.S. District Court Judge Mary Kay Vyskocil, according to Matthew Russell Lee writing for Inner City Press, an online publication that covers activities at the Southern District of New York courthouse.

Prosecutors recommended a sentence on the lower end of the sentencing guidelines of 30 to 36 months imprisonment.

In a change of plea hearing, Tannuzzo admitted to connecting an unnamed trainer with co-defendant Ross Cohen for the purpose of helping the trainer procure a performance-enhancing drug. Tannuzzo denied ever doping his own horses, though prosecutors said in their letter to Judge Vyskocil that Tannuzzo sought illegal drugs and advice from convicted trainer Jorge Navarro on how to best use them.

In a hand-written letter to the judge, Tannuzzo apologized for his actions in the case, saying, “I should never have been involved with these people; I should have known better.”

Tannuzzo wrote that he began walking horses at the age of 15 and continued to work with them for the next 35 years.

“Horses saved me from taking the wrong path in life,” he wrote.

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