Page 52 - Speedhorse August 2018

LOUISIANA ADOPTS
ZERO TOLERANCE
RULE FOR CLENBUTEROL
Clenbuterol has been a hot topic issue in the Quarter Horse racing industry for several years as horsemen and regulators have struggled
to find an effective solution to the off-label abuse of the common respiratory medication. Slowly but surely, state racing jurisdictions are banding together with a singular solution — zero tolerance of clenbuterol.
Louisiana is the latest state to move clenbuterol to its banned substance list, which the Louisiana Racing Commission did with a unanimous vote July 16. The new directive goes into effect at the Evangeline Downs meet, which starts Oct. 3.
The debate over clenbuterol has been a heated one as Ventipulmin, the FDA-approved bronchodilator medication, is highly effective for equine respiratory issues when used properly.
“I think Ventipulmin is a great drug,” said Ryan Robicheaux, owner/manager of Robicheaux Ranch and current president of the Louisiana Quarter Horse Breeders Association. “If it’s used the right way it helps horses, especially here in southern Louisiana where we’re running in the 100-degree weather and humidity.”
“When used as labeled, it’s a great drug,” agreed Janet VanBebber, a former trainer who is now Chief Racing Officer at AQHA. “The problem is when given long-term, it has what
by Stacy Pigott
we call a repartitioning effect, where it mimics the use of a steroid and horses gain muscle mass. It becomes a performance-enhancing drug.”
In addition to the long-term use of clenbuterol, horses were also being given compounded forms of the drug that were often 10-20 times the strength of the FDA- approved medication.
“Different areas needed different medications, and Ventipulmin helps horses, especially down here. That’s kind of why we fought it,” Robicheaux said of the LQHBA’s prior reluctance to support stiffer clenbuterol rules. “But the problem is the compounded one that these guys are giving and the amount that they are giving. So that’s what changed our mind, as far as an association.”
Dr. Edward Allred, owner of Los Alamitos Race Course in Cypress, California, was
the first to take a stand against the abuse of clenbuterol when he banned the medication in 2014 and subsequently canceled that year’s Champion of Champions. Allred employed hair and blood testing for stakes qualifiers in an effort to “insure a level playing field for all of our good horsemen.”
The AQHA followed Allred’s lead and also took a strong stance, classifying clenbuterol as a banned substance as of Jan. 1, 2016.
“Los Alamitos set the bar, and I commend Dr. Allred for that. He went out on a limb and took a stance on integrity and at the time received a lot of criticism for it,” VanBebber said. “Now, a lot of the other jurisdictions are coming on board.”
While AQHA leaders have struggled at times to define effective and enforceable penalties
for members whose horses receive positive
tests, the association has never wavered in its commitment to equine welfare. To that end, VanBebber and others have worked diligently to build partnerships with state racing jurisdictions and organizations like the Association of Racing Commissioners International (ARCI).
Their efforts paid off when the ARCI took a breed-specific approach to clenbuterol in April 2017, moving the drug off its controlled therapeutic list and making it a banned substance for Quarter Horses. That change in the ARCI Model Rules paved the way for state jurisdictions to follow suit, and many did.
Louisiana, though, continued its practice of considering clenbuterol a controlled therapeutic medication with allowable thresholds. Then, earlier this year, a rash of positive tests came out of the Pelican State.
“The lab director at Louisiana State University, being advised that clenbuterol was
50 SPEEDHORSE, August 2018