Stewards in New Jersey have issued a two-year suspension and a $5,000 fine to trainer Cody Wade Axmaker after they say one of his horses died from an overdose of clenbuterol.
At a hearing held in December, stewards determined that Axmaker had a jug of clenbuterol which may have been labeled as aloe vera juice on the Monmouth Park property and directed staff to give a dose of aloe vera to a horse in his care named Wishful on May 4, 2021. Axmaker told The Blood-Horse's Byron King that Wishful initially showed symptoms of colic but seemed to improve before she was discovered dead in her stall on or about May 9. He indicated his 14 other horses were dosed with the substance also, but recovered after receiving acepromazine and fluids. Those horses were required to clear testing for clenbuterol before being permitted to race after Axmaker said he reported the incident to an investigator at Monmouth.
The ruling indicates that a necropsy revealed the horse died “of symptoms consistent with an overdose of the drug clenbuterol.”
Among other codes, the ruling also cited Axmaker for violating N.J.A.C. 13:70-14A.8, which states that no one other than a licensed veterinarian shall have “any drugs not possessed in accordance with the laws of the State of New Jersey, nor any contraband drug or unauthorized prescription legend drugs, nor any hypodermic syringes or needles, or any other instrument which may be used for injection, unless the injectable device is possessed for self-administration, and further provided that the individual possessing such device promptly notify the State Steward: 1. That he is in possession of such device; and 2. Of the chemical substance to be administered.”
The ruling made reference to the clenbuterol appearing in a “jug,” but the Food and Drug Administration-approved oral syrup version of the drug, sold under the trade name Ventipulmin, is typically sold in the United States in containers sized 100 mL or 330 mL. When queried about the substance in a social media message, Axmaker said the drug was “clenbuterol not Ventipulmin” and did not respond to further questions about whether the version he used was the federally-approved version or sourced in some other way.
According to a Facebook post, Axmaker said the jug was stored in his trailer and unloaded mistakenly by his staff as he hauled in horses and equipment for the start of the Monmouth meet.
“Sometimes accidents happens and unfortunately a life was lost because of it. Anyone that knows me knows my horses are like my family to me and the last thing I want to do is hurt them,” Axmaker wrote. “Last May I headed for Monmouth which was an 18-hour straight haul. I had half of my stable already there with two of my employees. We unloaded my horse trailer as the rain was falling. We had a group of people unloading my belongings into the tack rooms. A container of clenbuterol I used at other tracks to clean up lungs I had stored in my horse trailer was accidentally unloaded and later that evening was misjudged for aloe vera juice by one of my employees as I left them responsible for feed time that day. Which I never do, but after an 18-hour straight haul all you want to do is rest. One of my 15 horses who received this ended up colicking and was treated heavily for days and later lost her life because of this. I feel horrible this all happened as my employee who administrated it did as well.
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