Awaiting FTC Action, Adjudication of Meth Cases on Hold

Adjudication of cases involving trainers whose horses have tested positive for methamphetamine remains on hold by the Horseracing Integrity and Welfare Unit amid a long-awaited proposed rule change submitted to the Federal Trade Commission addressing common drugs of human abuse.

Methamphetamine, regularly referred to as "meth," is an illegal stimulant that has contributed to wide-ranging human drug abuse problems. 

Designated Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority "Human Substances of Abuse," including methamphetamine, cocaine, and other drugs abused by humans, are problematic for post-race testing as many are stimulants with, at least, the perceived potential to impact a horse's performance, though critics would argue not at trace amounts. Obviously such substances also would carry contamination concerns. A horse could potentially be exposed to such a drug by use of the substance in a stall by a groom, for example, or by drug residue on the hands of a stable employee that interacts with a horse.

"Meth is a tough substance because there's a tremendous amount of human use, but it's also believed to be used as an injectable, sometimes, to (enhance) the performance of a horse," said Ed Martin, president and CEO of the Association of Racing Commissioners International. "What (intending offenders) will do...(is) put that in the cocktail, if you will.

"It's not an automatic environmental contamination. It's going to require an investigation. It's definitely not supposed to be in the horse when the horse races."

Trainers are considered the absolute insurers of the animals in their care, meaning they are responsible for any drugs found in the horse and responsible for its condition. Martin said that some trainers drug test their employees as a precautionary measure. Such a practice is not standard in horse racing.

"The trainer does have a responsibility to ensure a clean environment around this horse where his horse doesn't get contaminated, but obviously if somebody did do something they shouldn't have done, that's a whole different degree of seriousness," he said.

Penalties for the use of banned substances, of which methamphetamine is one, carry suspensions from the HIWU of up to two years, though HISA has proposed rules that would reduce the length of a suspension for a drug of human abuse.

These proposed rules "would cap the period of ineligibility related to human substances of abuse to 60 days if HIWU determines that it has a reasonable basis to conclude that, based upon the applicable facts and circumstances, the finding was likely the result of inadvertent human transfer," according to Alexa Ravit, HIWU's director of communications and outreach. The 60-day sanction may be reduced if evidence of the (contamination) source is provided, she added.

As HISA awaits approval from the FTC—the timing of which is unknown, HIWU indicated, after its submission in the fall—if a covered horse tests positive for methamphetamine, the trainer will not be provisionally (immediately) suspended unless or until a split sample, referred to by HIWU as a B sample, confirms the positive result or B sample analysis is waived.

This update, announced in October, was intended to address concerns that the names of trainers were being publicly disclosed in cases involving the aforementioned types of substances before they could determine the potential source, including whether it was the result of contamination.

Only one trainer, Dick Clark, has a resolved case from HIWU involving methamphetamine, receiving a 7 1/2-year suspension and five fines of $12,500 for a series of methamphetamine positives. His cases were adjudicated before the proposed rules were submitted to the FTC. During the investigation into his cases, the banned substance levothyroxine (Thyro-L) was found in Clark's barn at Prairie Meadows last summer, a report from HIWU stated.

Clark reportedly retired from the sport after the sanctions.

Eight trainers, most recently Maryland-based trainer Phil Schoenthal, have pending cases involving positives before HIWU. They were provisionally suspended. The two horses trained by Schoenthal that showed testing indications of methamphetamine were Determined Driver  and Prodigy Doll , according to HIWU. 

"As a result of the proposed changes, HIWU has elected to stay pending (Anti-Doping and Medication Control) Program cases for human substances of abuse whose potential periods of ineligibility would be affected by these rule updates after the covered person has been provisionally suspended for the appropriate period of time under the requirements of the proposed rule," Ravit wrote in an email. "If HIWU has evidence that methamphetamine was intentionally administered, then the case will not be subject to the lessened sanctions included in the proposed rule. Besides Phil Schoenthal, whose provisional suspension began April 8, all other pending methamphetamine cases have been stayed." 

Ravit added that two of the trainers had their provisional suspensions lifted before 60 days based on the information they provided to HIWU.

Findings from investigations are often key to adjudicating methamphetamine cases, Martin said.

"The hard thing is trying to understand if somebody did something they shouldn't have done deliberately," he noted. "But at the end of the day, it doesn't belong in the horse when it races—period. And the other (consideration) goes to the degree of what an appropriate penalty might be and whether there should be mitigations."

Before HIWU, the enforcement agency of the HISA's ADMC Program, began in mid-2023 after federal legislation created HISA, state racing commissions were responsible for sanctioning trainers for violations, which at times involved drugs of human abuse.

Methamphetamine has a Class 1 designation by ARCI and previously resulted in some stiff penalties under state oversight.

In 2015, trainer Kellyn Gorder initially received a 14-month suspension by the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission after one of his horses tested positive for the drug. After a lengthy legal process, his penalty was reduced to 60 days. His imposing Class A penalty violation was reduced to a lesser Class B violation in a settlement agreed upon by Kentucky stewards after further testing of the sample determined that the type of methamphetamine found was an ingredient of a popular over-the-counter medication.

Current ARCI classification guidelines recommend a Class B (lesser than Class A) penalty for methamphetamine if testing can prove the presence of only levomethamphetamine—the ingredient found in some over-the-counter medications such as decongestants and inhalers—in the test sample.