Arkansas Regulator Restores Wins by Charlatan, Gamine

In a ruling modifying the decision of the Oaklawn Park stewards, the Arkansas Racing Commission April 20 restored the 2020 victories of Charlatan  in a division of the Arkansas Derby (G1) and eventual champion Gamine  in an allowance optional claiming race.

The stewards had disqualified Gamine and Charlatan after lidocaine, specifically its metabolite 3-hydroxylidocaine, was discovered in the post-race samples of each horse at a level higher than the 20-picogram threshold after their respective May 2 wins last year at Oaklawn. Both horses are conditioned by Bob Baffert, and the Arkansas Racing Commission also modified the stewards' sanctions that had been levied against the Hall of Fame trainer.

Baffert had been suspended for 15 days by the stewards, who considered the two positives as a single infraction because they happened on the same day. On Tuesday the racing commission eliminated the suspension but levied a pair of $5,000 fines against Baffert for each infraction.

The six racing commissioners unanimously voted in favor of those modifications to the stewards' rulings Tuesday after a two-day appeals hearing that lasted more than 14 hours. After closing arguments, Arkansas Racing Commission chairman and horse owner Alex Lieblong called for a motion to uphold the stewards' findings, dismiss those findings, or modify the findings.

The only motion put forward was to leave the failed post-race drug tests in place but modify the sanctions for Baffert and eliminate the disqualifications of Gamine, owned by Michael Lund Petersen; and Charlatan, owned by SF Racing, Starlight Racing, Madaket Stables, Stonestreet Stables, Fred Hertrich III, John Fielding, and Golconda Stables. It was the only motion considered and it was adopted.

During the hearing attorneys for Baffert brought up a number of concerns with the chain of custody—how the post-race samples were handled. Those attorneys, as well as an attorney for Petersen, also argued that the positives were the result of contamination, linked to a pain patch worn by Baffert's assistant trainer Jimmy Barnes or possibly from outside the barn.

In testimony Tuesday, Baffert said he's convinced that positive tests indicating lidocaine in a pair of his horses were caused by environmental contamination and that the finding was not necessarily caused by anyone in his stable.

In last year's stewards' hearing, Barnes noted that he had been wearing a pain patch that may have been the source of the horses' lidocaine positives. While not completely discounting that possibility Tuesday, Baffert said new information that another horse from the division of the Arkansas Derby won by Charlatan also indicated for lidocaine—but below the 20-picogram threshold—makes him wonder if there was a contamination issue outside his barn.

During his testimony Tuesday, Baffert noted that there have been stewards' decisions that he has accepted and not appealed, but in this case, he thought it was important to contest the ruling.

"I don't really feel like we did anything wrong," Baffert said. 

Baffert said the combination of testing down to extremely precise levels, picograms; combined with guidelines and withdrawal times he doesn't believe have been fully tested in the real world have resulted in trainers being treated as "lab rats." 

In his testimony, Baffert noted that he also trained Nadal , who won the other division of the Arkansas Derby that day but showed no level of lidocaine. He said that result was odd as Barnes also directly worked with Nadal. He also said Barnes was not wearing the pain patch on race day. 

At Tuesday's hearing, Cynthia Cole, director of the University of Florida Racing Laboratory which oversees testing of racehorses in Florida, testified that lidocaine is present in many over-the-counter medications, and horses are being tested to a very precise level. She acknowledged that Baffert, as the ultimate insurer of the horse, was responsible if an assistant trainer wore a pain patch that resulted in contamination, but noted that at the level of lidocaine discovered, it also could have been caused by contamination in the testing barn.

"Horses don't live in bubbles; they live in the real world," Cole said. 

Cole said if her lab had called the lidocaine positives, with one other horse testing positive for some level of lidocaine from the same race card, she would have advised an investigation for possible environmental contamination. 

The possibility that the contamination could have been caused outside of the Baffert barn played into the larger chain of custody arguments made by Baffert's attorneys throughout the two-day hearing that started Monday. "Chain of custody" refers to the protocols and rules put in place by regulatory bodies and labs to ensure proper collection, transport, and, eventually, identification of collected samples. 

ANGST: Arkansas Racing Commission Considers Baffert's Appeal

W. Craig Robertson III, an attorney for Baffert, raised a number of chain of custody issues, noting that one of the two labs involved in the handling of the primary sample at one point identified Charlatan as a gelding when, in fact, he is a colt. Robertson also said the same lab, Truesdail Laboratories, had received two coolers with the samples but when it shipped them to a subcontractor lab for testing, Industrial Laboratories in Wheat Ridge, Colo., those tests were shipped out in three coolers—indicating the initial coolers were opened.

Byron Freeland, counsel for the racing commission, said the number of coolers was unimportant because the samples themselves were not disturbed from their collection tubes. Petra Hartmann, director of the drug testing services laboratory at Industrial, said Truesdail would register the samples but did not tamper with the samples in the tubes. Also, she later responded that opening the coolers alone would not present a significant risk of contamination.

Two labs were involved because the Arkansas Racing Commission had contracted with Truesdail to handle its testing for the 2020 meet but soon after the Irvine, Calif.-based lab lost its needed accreditation from the Racing Medication and Testing Consortium. With Truesdail unable to continue testing post-race samples from racing at Oaklawn, the racing commission approved a plan to have the lab subcontract with Industrial Laboratories to conduct the tests after March 17, 2020, through the end of the meet. 

Oddly, samples continued to first be sent to Truesdail before being forwarded to Industrial, which is accredited by the RMTC. Then Truesdail compiled data packet reports based on Industrial's findings. In testimony Monday, Truesdail's Julie Hagihara conceded that adding an extra step in the process doesn't benefit chain of custody security. The loss of RMTC accreditation at Truesdail and the subcontract with Industrial that followed certainly created issues of concern for the regulator. 

After the vote to modify the sanctions, Lieblong said he believes mistakes were made on both sides. He added that carrying out the regulation of racing was challenging last year as the COVID-19 pandemic forced changes in protocol and adjustments on the fly.