Report: CHRB's Blea Placed on Administrative Leave

California Horse Racing Board first-year equine medical director Dr. Jeff Blea has been placed on administrative leave pending a further review of his veterinary license, according to a report in the Los Angeles Times.

The move follows Blea having his license suspended Jan. 3 at the request of the California Veterinary Medical Board after a Dec. 24 emergency hearing. A formal hearing with the VMD is planned Jan. 21.

Early last week, the CHRB said Blea could continue as equine medical director, believing California regulations did not require a veterinary license for the role, but the board was informed Jan. 11 that its interpretation of those procedures was not entirely accurate, according to the Times.

Asked to confirm the Times report, Scott Chaney, CHRB executive director, declined comment to BloodHorse but continued to express his support for Blea.

Blea has been accused of eight violations, charges his supporters believe lack the merit necessary to suspend his license. The alleged violations—some of which claim Blea and other veterinarians prescribed and administered medications to horses without an examination or medical necessity—occurred when he was an equine veterinarian in private practice on Southern California backstretches. He took his position with the CHRB last summer.

Two other veterinarians charged in the anonymous complaint involving Blea, Vince Baker and Sarah Graybill Jones, have not had an emergency license hearing and retained their licenses pending a formal hearing.

"The complaint against Jeff Blea is nonsense," Blea's predecessor, Dr. Rick Arthur, told BloodHorse last week.

The Times reported Arthur sent a letter to Lourdes Castro Ramírez, secretary of the California Business, Consumer Services and Housing Agency, which oversees the CHRB and VMB, calling the accusation against Blea a "political hit-job."

In the interim suspension order issued last week, administrative law judge Nana Chin wrote that the VMB was concerned Blea "could affect ongoing inquiries by the CHRB into recent sudden racehorse deaths," the Times previously reported. The undeniable inquiry of concern involves Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve (G1) first-place finisher Medina Spirit , a Bob Baffert trainee who collapsed and died following a workout at Santa Anita Park last month. Testing and a necropsy are underway, the customary procedure for horses that die at facilities overseen by the CHRB.

Blea initially was to have played a role overseeing those findings. However, the CHRB announced last week following Blea's interim suspension that John Pascoe, executive associate dean of the University of California, Davis, School of Veterinary Medicine, had been asked to now do so.

According to the Times, Blea formally was placed on administrative leave by UC Davis, for whom he formally works before being loaned to the CHRB.

The next CHRB meeting is Jan. 20, one day before Blea's upcoming license hearing. The board typically reserves discussion on personnel and legal matters to its closed session that follows its regular session made available to the public and media.