Page 73 - October 2015

“It’s just one little, small step in an ongoing process . . . ”
AT ALBUQUERQUE
Paul Blanchard
by Richard Chamberlain
regular racing commission tests, and it will be under regular New Mexico Racing Commission rules and regulations. They’ll get the results back and they’ll release the purse money after the tests come back.
“This was done to stop this problem of having horses come in to the finals with the knowledge that they had a positive test in the trials, but were allowed to enter because the positive test came back after the entry was in,” Blanchard continued. “We’re doing this because we need to do something to get the betting public to realize that we are trying to make absolutely sure that these are clean races and that we are allowing only horses that have been tested clean to go into the finals.”
Okay, fair enough. What about the 800- pound gorilla in the room? Blanchard is part- owner of a futurity winner that tested positive from her trial race. Is this a problem?
“Absolutely, yes, it is,” Blanchard said. “Bear in mind, now, Lilly Is First wasn’t disqualified from the Mountain Top. Her test in the final was clean, and she won by a length in the final. But, her test for clenbuterol was positive from the trials. So under my system, she never would have made the final.”
The results of the problems from the Mountain Top tests are still in adjudication. Blanchard does not know how that will shake
out, but he has come face to face with the problem close up.
“I’ve been the recipient on both sides of it,” Blanchard said. “In the Dash For Cash (Futurity, G1) at Lone Star, I had a horse move up. Separate Dynasty moved up (from third to second) because the horse that won it tested positive.
So, I’ve won on that system and I’ve lost on that system. We’re not trying to change the system – we’re trying to take the bugs out of the system as much as possible and to make sure that at least we’re doing something to clean up racing.”
So, here we are. The Downs at Albuquerque is looking to combat an issue that has become glaringly obvious to anyone with a passing interest in the sport and industry of racing the fastest horses on earth.
“This isn’t just about clenbuterol,” Blanchard said. “This is for Class I and other drugs that have to be controlled. There is an ongoing debate about clenbuterol, the way it is tested, how it is tested, collection methods, and so on and so forth. There have been a lot of clenbuterol tests this year – a
lot of them – and so that by itself should give you a little concern of how could there be that many positive clenbuterol tests. The point is that this
at least is a house rule from a track that is trying
to do something so that we don’t continue to have this problem. Like with Lilly Is First: I don’t need
that and I don’t want that. This is an effort by The Downs at Albuquerque to try to do what it can – whatever is in its power – to eliminate those problems of horses getting in to stakes finals when technically they shouldn’t have gotten in.
“It’s just one little, small step in an ongo-
ing process that is needed to figure out how to make sure that therapeutic drugs are handled in the proper fashion and that Class I drugs that are against the law and have absolutely no place anywhere are handled properly, as well,” he con- cluded. “Class I drugs and all the other stuff like them have no place anywhere on the racetrack. Therapeutics are a whole different class, and
we need to look at them that way, but for now, we’ve got to do something to make sure the bet- ting public has faith in the system.”
The first Quarter Horse trials held at the Downs at Albuquerque New Mexico State Fair Fall meet were the Sept. 11 trials for the Downs at Albuquerque Futurity and the Sept. 13 trials for the First Moonflash Derby. The track is pleased to announce that expedited testing showed all qualifiers had negative tests prior to drawing into the finals.
SPEEDHORSE, October 2015 71