CHRB Advances Medication Rules, Trainer Education

The California Horse Racing Board passed or advanced a series of equine medication regulations and continuing education for trainers and assistant trainers during its regularly scheduled monthly meeting July 16. 

During the approximate four-hour meeting, conducted via teleconference, commissioners passed an amendment to apply a points-driven system for applying penalties for medication violations. The system, modeled after the Association of Racing Commissioners International guidelines, would create additional penalties for trainers if they commit multiple violations, tabulated in a way similar to how many states use a points system for repeat driving offenses, said CHRB equine medical director Dr. Rick Arthur.

"It's really an add-on—what this is really designed to do is to increase sanctions to, quite frankly, a level that hurts people who are licensees that have multiple medication penalties," he told commissioners. "It's been used successfully in other states, and in addition, our current penalty guidelines only count penalties in California. What this will do is, if a trainer—and we have a lot of trainers that travel around the country—if a trainer gets violations in other states, and then gets a penalty in California that puts him over the limit, those other penalties in those other states will count towards that added sanction from this particular addition."

The motion passed unanimously by commissioners and was even welcomed by some anti-racing activists that made repeated public comments per CHRB meeting rules.

The board also passed a motion that requires a 30-day stand-down for fetlock injections and prohibits the use of corticosteroid intra-articular joint injections within 30 days of a race day and 10 days before completing a timed workout.

Reducing intra-articular injections has been a stated goal by Arthur in meetings over the past year.

The advancement of a 12-hour continuing education program for trainers and their assistants came after the board's standard 45-day public comment period following the initial passage of motions.

"There's nothing we want more than a continuing high standard of education, empathy—not just the art of horse training but the science of horse training," said Alan Balch, the executive director for California Thoroughbred Trainers. "So we support this unconditionally and will continue to be available all the time to help develop and improve the curriculum and make sure it can be conveyed practically and meaningfully to the licensees in California."

Dr. Greg Ferraro, the chair of the CHRB, said he would like to see the education extend to 16 hours but called the motion a "good start" and endorsed a suggestion calling for bilingual education.

Toward the end of the meeting, the board advanced amended language pertaining to the use of the diuretic Lasix, a medication used to control respiratory bleeding that has become widely used in the sport among horses that bleed and even those that do not.

California, like other leading jurisdictions, is phasing out the use of Lasix, not allowing it in races for 2-year-olds and reducing the amount given to older horses.

The passed amended language now states that 2-year-olds are to run without Lasix once entered to race, defined as "48 hours before post time of the running of the race." Previously, the CHRB language stated the drug was "prohibited for 2-year-olds."

This language change would presumably allow horsemen to still treat 2-year-olds with Lasix during morning workouts, for example.

Veterinarian Dr. Donald Smith issued a memorandum to the board and made public comment against eliminating the use of Lasix in juveniles, stating that Lasix is an inexpensive, effective drug that can control bleeding. Opposition to its use is "based on political, cultural, or economic or conjectural reasoning," he wrote.

In other discussions during the meeting, commissioners pressed Northern California racetrack officials to produce required fire department clearance at Golden Gate Fields, approval officials said has been delayed due to COVID-19. A fire department evaluation is scheduled next week before an upcoming fair meet, commissioners were told.

Also during Thursday's discussions, Arthur told commissioners there were 14 fatalities statewide in June—four racing, five training, and five non-racing or training. 

"In spite of the very disappointing June numbers, the fiscal year 19-20 racing and training fatalities were down 20% for the lowest yearly total in 30 years of the CHRP and UC Davis Vet School necropsy program, where we have highly reliable pathology data," he said. "I'll discuss the fiscal year 19-20 data at a future meeting, but I want to point out there was not one racing fatality on Santa Anita's main track during the entire six-month meet, which anyone must admit is an amazing turnaround from the previous year."

Santa Anita Park shut down for a period of its spring meet in 2019 after a spike in equine fatalities from both racing and training.

In part due to health department suspensions amid COVID-19 this spring, there was less racing across the state during the last fiscal year that concluded in June, which could have contributed to the decrease in fiscal-year fatalities.

The board meets again July 20 to discuss a sharp increase in breakdowns in recent months at Los Alamitos Race Course and the track's CHRB-mandated safety plan that has been submitted.