Clenbuterol

Every week, the TDN posts a roundup of the relevant Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act (HISA)-related rulings from around the country. Among this week's rulings, several provisional suspensions have been handed out in cases pending a formal hearing. This includes trainers Frederico Villafranco and Diana Morici, who have been issued provisional suspensions for separate alleged methamphetamine positives. Trainer Francisco Ramos remains provisionally suspended with two additional alleged clenbuterol positives to go with four prior pending clenbuterol cases. Five of these cases--including the two most recent--were from out-of-competition tests. The other...

One day after the Louisiana State Racing Commission (LSRC) rolled back changes set to go into place on June 8 to allow more permissive use of Clenbuterol and Depo-Medrol, the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority (HISA) sent a memo to owners, trainers, regulatory veterinarians, and track management advising that horses coming out of Louisiana must be placed on the vets' list. While the LSRC did go back to the ARCI model rules on those two drugs, they did not make changes to tens of others where guidelines for their usage...

The day after the Louisiana Racing Commission held an emergency meeting in which it voted to restore the Association of Racing Commissioners International (ARCI) guidelines that were governing Clenbuterol and Depo-Medrol in the state, the President of the ARCI, Ed Martin, reacted to the news in a press release. The statement is printed in its entirety. "The ARCI Model Rules process has served the horse racing industry and fans well for decades and has been a vehicle to achieve a substantially common approach to anti-doping regulation in a sport not...

Just days after announcing that a set of emergency rules were about to be enacted on June 8 that would loosen drug regulations in the state when it came to numerous medications, the Louisiana Racing Commission held an emergency meeting Tuesday in which it voted to restore the rules that had been governing Clenbuterol and Depo-Medrol. The Louisiana Racing Commission kept in place the new rules that had been enacted that covered dozens of other less controversial medications. Of the numerous drugs over which regulations were changed that, for the...

Just days after announcing plans to loosen drug restrictions, the Louisiana State Racing Commission will hold an emergency meeting Tuesday, June 4 to discuss "Corrupt and Prohibited Practices". In a notice sent late Monday, the LSRC noted the following items as topics of discussion: Discussion of Clenbuterol Discussion of Depo-Medrol Safeguards will be in the place during transition time for going back to increased withdrawal periods. The state of Louisiana, which does not fall under HISA's control, passed a set of emergency rules set to go into effect June 8...

The span between Memorial Day and the third leg of the Triple Crown is often a quiet one in the racing world. Not this year, though. Here's a shaking-out of a reporter's notebook from a week that generated some unexpected headlines. Louisiana's move to more lenient medication rules: TDN's survey of seven trainers--Steve Asmussen, Brad Cox, Michael Stidham, Tom Amoss, Al Stall, Dallas Stewart, Cherie DeVaux--spoke volumes about the announcement by the Louisiana Racing Commission that it would be implementing "emergency" standards that softened a number of drug-regulating standards as...

by Bill Finley and Dan Ross The Louisiana Racing Commission has put in place what it is calling "Active Emergency Rules of Racing," to go into effect on June 8. These new regulations have raised the permissible dosage and shrunk the allowable withdrawal times for several medications, most notably the bronchodilator Clenbuterol and corticosteroid Depo-Medrol. The decision by the Louisiana Racing Commission--which has already garnered significant push-back from within and without the industry--was done in an attempt to make the sport safer, the Commission's Executive Director Stephen Landry told the...

The Louisiana Racing Commission has passed a set of emergency rules set to go into effect on June 8 that will create what are arguably the most lenient set of medication regulations in the sport. The withdrawal times for several medications have been reduced, and the list includes the controversial bronchodilator Clenbuterol. It can now be given to a horse within 72 hours of its racing. Louisiana, a state that does not fall under control of the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority (HISA) currently follows guidelines established by the Association...

Every week, the TDN posts a round-up of the relevant Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act (HISA) related rulings from around the country. Among this week's rulings, trainer Efren Loza, Jr. has been banned 18-months and fined $12,500 after his trainee, Mexicoffee, tested positive post-race for clenbuterol after finishing second at Gulfstream Park on Feb. 14. Loza's suspension began Apr. 17 and lasts until Oct. 16, 2025. Clenbuterol, a banned substance under HISA, is a bronchodilator with a checkered history in both human and equine sports due to its anabolic properties--in...

The case of Jeffrey Englehart, who bought a horse at an OBS 2-Year-Old sale in June who had given Clenbuterol sometime before being purchased by Englehart, has renewed questions about the role of the Horse Racing Integrity and Safety Authority (HISA) and whether or not it would be in the sport's best interest for it to expand its jurisdiction to cover sales as well as racing. Currently, HISA has no authority over a horse until it has its first recorded public workout, which is when it becomes a "covered" horse....

The team at the Ocala Breeders' Sales Company does everything it can to run a clean sale. Under OBS's conditions of sale, no medication may be administered within 24 hours of a horse's under-tack performance, 10 to 15% of the horses who are going to sell are tested, and in 2019, OBS prohibited the use of bronchodilators like Clenbuterol at all of its sales. It may not be enough. The Jeffrey Englehart story has suggested that may be the case. Englehart bought a Classic Empire colt at the OBS auction...

Originally charged with administering Clenbuterol to his horse and facing a possible two-year suspension, trainer Jeffrey Englehart was cleared Friday by the Horse Racing Integrity and Welfare Unit (HIWU). The positive was found in an unraced, unnamed horse out of the mare Fast Heart that Englehart purchased for $14,000 at the OBS auction on June 15. He argued that he did not give the horse the drug and that it was had to have been given to the horse prior to his purchase at OBS. Englehart and his attorney requested...