Racing's Anabolic Steroid Problem Not Solved

The horse racing industry and regulators are addressing a weakness in the current model rule on the administration of anabolic steroids, but their actions will come too late to prevent racing's latest medication scandal.

TwinSpires Breeders' Cup Sprint (gr. I) runner-up Masochistic will be disqualified from that second-place finish at Santa Anita Park after testing positive for the anabolic steroid stanozolol. According to trainer Ron Ellis, and matching a report provided by the California Horse Racing Board, Masochistic was placed on the vet's list for 60 days for veterinary treatment and was administered the anabolic steroid stanozolol.

CHRB rules and policy allow the administration of stanozolol for a horse who is "out of training," which in this case means placed on the vet's list for about two months. The rules allow for the anabolic steroid to be administered, as long as the horse spends 60 days on the vet's list. Vet's list information in California is provided to the public.

Racing regulators currently are moving forward on changes to out-of-competition rules that would require horses treated with any anabolic steroid to spend at least six months on the vet's list. The rule would help ensure that a horse receiving such treatments is out of training. 

The model rule, approved by the Association of Racing Commissioners International earlier this month, would require at least six months on the vet's list for any horse receiving stanozolol, boldenone, nandrolone, or testosterone treatments. Breeders' Cup president Craig Fravel said the updated rules would help remove anabolic steroids from the training environment.

"The new out-of-competition rules basically preclude in-competition use of anabolic agents," Fravel said. "We'd like to see those get adopted as soon as possible and the vet's list requirement would be six months. That might not be as much as overseas, but it's a lot better than 60 days."

On Dec. 20 Breeders' Cup issued a statement that said the organization will examine out-of-competition protocols in jurisdictions where the event is conducted.

"We have undertaken a review of out-of-competition protocols and rules in jurisdictions where our event is conducted and will seek the elimination of the use of any anabolic steroid in horses in active training toward the Breeders' Cup," the statement read. "To that end, we encourage the rapid adoption of recently modified RMTC/ARCI Model Rules governing out-of-competition testing."

CHRB representatives declined to speak about specifics in the ongoing case, but said Masochistic was placed on the vet's list Aug. 29 for medication reasons, 68 days before the Sprint. 

Masochistic didn't make his first start of the season until July 8. According to CHRB records, he was placed on the 60-day vet's list for medication reasons April 3 and then again May 2, which started a new 60-day time period. The May 2 placement fell 67 days before his seasonal debut, a 6 1/4-length victory in an optional claiming allowance race at Santa Anita.

The Aug. 29 administration came two days after his second start of the season, a 3 3/4-length victory in the Pat O'Brien Stakes (gr. II) Aug. 27 at Del Mar.

In California, anabolic steroid treatments are the only medication given to Thoroughbreds that carry 60 days on the vet's list. The California policy, as opposed to a rule, was put in place in October 2013.

As it is not allowed to be administered in the training environment, stanozolol is not on the list of controlled therapeutic substances in place in California and 19 other states that have adopted that pillar of the National Uniform Medication Program. 

Ellis said Masochistic still showed small levels of the substance in the final test eight days before the race. With the case continuing, California equine medical director Rick Arthur declined comment.

"No sinister purpose was involved, as the injection was given outside of the recommended 60-day guidelines and registered with the state as required," Ellis said. "The dissipation of the drug was abnormally slow and monitored by (Arthur) in three 'out-of-competition' tests leading up the race. The last of those tests, taken eight days prior to the race, showed there were still some picogram amounts of the drug in his system."

Current model rules require a horse on the vet's list to have concentration levels monitored during the process and for concentration levels to fall below the designated threshold level before it can be removed from the list. Stanozolol is not allowed at any level. California officials said they do not have that model rule in place, rather their 60-day policy. 

Fravel said California racetrack medication administrations are confidential and must be maintained as such by the CHRB. He said Arthur, by rule, could not have communicated if a positive pre-race test for stanozolol occurred eight days before the race.

"It would be a mistake to infer that there is a reason why the Breeders' Cup knew there'd been an administration or that the horse had tested positive," Fravel said. "The medical director of the CHRB did not and could not communicate to us the situation. Are the rules good? That's a different question.

"Accordingly the administration of the medication is not a violation unless the horse competes in a race and tests positive, and that's what ultimately happened."

California officials expect the new model rule carrying the six-month time on the vet's list for a horse administered an anabolic steroid to be adopted in 2017.