Clenbuterol

As a result of standard out-of-competition testing, Gulfstream Park has taken immediate action to suspend five trainers that have been found to be in violation of the racetrack's clenbuterol restrictions. The five suspended trainers are Georgina Baxter, Gilberto Zerpa, Peter Walder, Rohan Crichton and Daniel Pita, according to published reports. Gulfstream Park enacted the restriction on clenbuterol as a house rule at the beginning of the 2019/2020 Championship Meet to further address and implement improved safety, transparency and accountability standards. A total of 10 barns at Gulfstream Park were randomly...

Newly disclosed transcripts of intercepted phone conversations involving alleged doping co-conspirators Jason Servis and Jorge Navarro reveal both an initial brazenness against getting caught and an utter ignorance about some of the substances the two now-barred trainers were purportedly injecting into their racehorses. According to a previously unreleased collection wiretapped calls made public last week by federal prosecutors, Servis and Navarro didn't always know the names of some the illegal pharmaceuticals they purportedly administered to their horses. Nor were they always clear on exactly what those substances were or what...

Fresh off of a year-delayed induction into racing's Hall of Fame Friday, Mark Casse joined the TDN Writers' Room presented by Keeneland Wednesday morning for an expansive discussion on his career and the sport at large. Calling in via Zoom as the Green Group Guest of the Week, Casse reflected on his family's growing legacy in the sport, remembered arguably his most famous pupil Tepin (Bernstein) and assessed where the industry stands on stamping out its drug problems. Asked about the emotion of his Hall of Fame speech, Casse said,...

The administration of Clenbuterol or any other beta2-agonist will be banned within 120 days of a race at the 2021-22 Oaklawn Park meet, Oaklawn announced Thursday. The rule, agreed to in partnership with the Arkansas HBPA and Arkansas Racing Commission, extends the ban from 60 days, which was the standard for last season's meet. Conducted by Industrial Labs, the presence of Clenbuterol and other beta2-agonist will be determined through blood, urine and hair follicle testing. "Banning the use of Clenbuterol and other beta2-agonists further proves our commitment to the safety...

The New York State Gaming Commission voted Monday to amend its rules for the use of clenbuterol in New York State to follow the model proposed by the Racing Medication and Testing Consortium (RMTC) and these rules will go into effect state-wide, including at all three New York Racing Association tracks as of June 2, NYRA announced Wednesday. The full text of the rules for the NYSGC's amendment for the use of clenbuterol in Thoroughbred racing [Rule 4043.12(b)(6)], which includes a requirement for approval from the Commission for any clenbuterol...

The New York State Gaming Commission (NYSGC) uninimoulsy voted to adopt two Thoroughbred-related medication rule changes at its May 17 meeting, although the exact timetable for implementation was not discussed. Pending official adoption of the new rule, clenbuterol use in Thoroughbred racing will be regulated so it follows the model rule proposal of the Racing Medication and Testing Consortium (RMTC). "Clenbuterol, a drug that is ordinarily used in horses as a bronchodilator to treat horses with lower airway disease, also causes a horse's body to build more muscle and reduce...

The Association of Racing Commissioners International has approved amendments to its Model Rules of Racing. Among the amendments are further restrictions on the use of clenbuterol in Thoroughbred contests and additional guidance for regulatory policy affecting ADW wagering on historic racing. The ARCI also amended its Totalizator Standards at the request of AMTOTE to provide some redundancy in the stop betting function utilized by racing officials to close betting upon the start of a race. The full updated version of the Model Rules document containing these revisions, as well as...

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...

The Kentucky Equine Drug Research Council (EDRC), which serves as an advisory board to the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission (KHRC), advanced a Dec. 1 recommendation to that full board that would require any horse who receives clenbuterol to be restricted via the veterinarian's list for 21 days and then test clear of that substance prior to being removed from the list and allowed to compete. Kentucky's current clenbuterol regulation requires a prescription that must be filed with the KHRC within 24 hours of dispensing the drug and a withdrawal time...

The New York clenbuterol clampdown that was foreshadowed earlier this month by New York State Gaming Commission (NYSGC) equine medical director Scott Palmer, VMD, has been codified into a series of proposed rule amendments that advanced Nov. 30 by a unanimous 5-0 commission vote. The new clenbuterol regulations follow a model rule of the Racing Medication and Testing Consortium (RMTC) that was approved last August. After publication in the New York State Register and a public commentary period, the commission will have to vote again to formally adopt the changes....

The tide is turning on clenbuterol. Within the past month, regulators and racetracks nationwide have announced new initiatives to quell its abuse. New prohibitions are in the pipeline for the New York State Gaming Commission, the Maryland Racing Commission, Gulfstream Park, Oaklawn Park and an alliance of Mid-Atlantic racetracks. On May 1, the Canadian Pari-Mutuel Agency started banning clenbuterol 28 days out from race day at tracks country-wide. The California Horse Racing Board (CHRB) took action four months before that, enacting a years-in-the making, zero-tolerance clenbuterol clampdown that began New...

Editor's Note: In Monday's TDN, Bill Finley made reference to Mark Casse's comments on Clenbuterol in a Mar. 2 Op/Ed in the TDN. Casse sent us this note in response. Much has changed since my Mar. 2 Op/Ed with regards to Clenbuterol. Canada made big changes to their Clenbuterol policy and, as a result, we have seen almost none of the nonsensical form reversals that had haunted us in the past at Woodbine in 2020. I was elated to see the Clenbuterol changes for 2021 in the Mid-Atlantic region. Also,...