Page 121 - June 2022

“We weren’t looking for zilpaterol, we were looking for some new synthetic drug.”
There were four total tests sent from the Futurity to the Louisiana State University’s Equine Medication Surveillance Laboratory. Once LSU cleared the samples and the purse was released, the commission authorized release of the split samples, by then unneeded, to an independent lab contracted by LQHBA. The lab conducted a full battery of tests, which took several weeks. The results were first sent to the commission around Jan. 25 and disclosed to the LQHBA a day later. Salard was surprised by the findings.
Of the four tests, two were positive for zilpaterol and one was flagged as a probable arsenic positive. Further testing at a third lab later confirmed that arsenic positive.
The testing didn’t find anything resembling the designer drug Salard had been tipped about.
It turned out that for the purposes of Quarter Horse stakes races in Louisiana, the LSU lab had been using Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association (TOBA) graded stakes testing protocol. This battery of tests includes certain required substances that must be tested for, and other optional substances that may or may not be included. In the case of the Futurity, Salard learned that zilpaterol was one of the optional substances and hadn’t been included. He said he did not know whether
it was standard for LSU to use TOBA stakes testing on all Quarter Horse stakes races. (The TOBA protocols changed in January 2022, making zilpaterol a required testing substance.)
“As far as what the LSU lab does or does not do, I am not a regulator,” said Salard.
After this discovery, LSU seems to have changed its testing protocol. (A spokeswoman
for LSU said that lab policy “prohibits us from sharing information about testing
with anyone other than
the Louisiana State Racing Commission.”) That’s when the rush of zilpaterol positives poured in.
Stewards hit all offending trainers
with a six-month suspension for each zilpaterol positive and referred the cases
to the commission for further adjudication. On April 26, commissioners voted to double those penalties to one year for each positive. The governing body heard the cases of five trainers and 21 drug positives. There are
six more trainers with 11 positives who
will likely be heard at the next regularly scheduled meeting in June. Another 10 trainers with 17 total positives have had positive tests come in but are awaiting stewards’ rulings.
Salard said that the activities of LQHBA weren’t kept a secret. The board was aware in December that this fact-finding testing was coming, and anyone on the backstretch who trained for a board member may have been made aware then, too. As revealed earlier this week,
at least one trainer was also informed about his first zilpaterol positive before saddling horses that accumulated more failed tests.
“The project was announced at a board meeting on Dec. 18, the night of the final,”
he recalled. “So, it was not something that
was considered anything other than public information. We wanted people to know we were working with the racing commission, we were listening to them. We were worried about our yearling sale. We were concerned about Quarter Horse breeders in Louisiana. We wanted people to know we were trying to do everything we could as a breed organization to support our regulator.”
Although such a high number of zilpaterol positives has put a critical eye on Quarter Horse racing in the state, many in the industry are hopeful the headlines will be the start of a cleaner program.
This year, the LQHBA is requiring horses participating in futurities in the state be eligible for hair testing and has notified owners that the top 20 finishers in futurity trials may
need to provide negative hair tests between trials and futurity races, during which time horses must stay on the track and be available for inspection. The first hair
samples in the new
program were
to be pulled May 2. That testing will occur at the expense of the LQHBA.
At this week’s commission meeting, commissioners voted to make all Quarter Horses in the state subject to random hair testing in 2023.
“The LQHBA board of directors traveled to Oklahoma City in May 2021, many at their own expense, to discuss hair testing that was adopted by the Oklahoma Quarter Horse Racing Association and how that process worked.
We did this because we wanted to ensure the integrity of the Louisiana Quarter Horse breeding and racing industry,” said Salard.
He said the commission took his group’s concerns about illegal drugs seriously.
“I want to credit the Louisiana State Racing Commission – on the night of the finals, there was an unannounced state police officer at the stall of all 10 finalists for the million-dollar race, and that state police officer stayed at that stall from prior to post time for the first race until the four horses selected for testing were walked over to the test barn,” he said.
Salard credits the racing commission and its staff along with LQHBA president Kirt Chaisson with pressing on with the project, which has
not been without criticism since it resulted in so many positive tests. Salard also has a promise for trainers in the future: the program may continue. LQHBA has struck an agreement with the commission to continue sending split samples
for outside testing when the group thinks there could be a medication problem afoot. They’re still hopeful they can stay ahead of the doping threat.
Editor’s note: The story has been corrected to reflect that the TOBA graded stakes testing protocol which listed zilpaterol as an optional, rather than required test, is now outdated. The protocol shifted to make zilpaterol part of the required testing in January 2022, 14 months after commissions were informed the change would be coming.
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Although such a high number of zilpaterol positives has put a critical
eye on Quarter Horse racing in the state,
many in the industry are
hopeful the headlines will be the start of a cleaner
program.