Louisiana racing officials on Tuesday voted to delay plans to enact a new rule that would relax standards on certain controlled medications at state racetracks in the wake of widespread criticism of the group’s recent decision.
The vote was made during an emergency meeting of the Louisiana State Racing Commission and came a day after state legislators urged LSRC officials to pause the implementation of the new rules to further gauge their potential impact on the safety of both the horses and jockeys in the sport along with their potential economic impact on racing in the state.
Officials on Tuesday agreed to delay the potential implementation of the rule for 90 days so state medical officials can convene with Association of Racing Commissioners International officials to study the implications of the rollback on withdrawal periods for two controversial therapeutic drugs: Clenbuterol and Depo-Medrol.
The LSRC had recommended a 72-hour withdrawal time on horses given Clenbuterol, a bronchodilator commonly used to clear air passageways in horses with breathing problems. The drug is also often abused because it is known to have an anabolic steroidal effect on horses and build muscle mass.
The LSRC was recommending a seven-day withdrawal time for Depo-Medrol, a powerful corticosteroid that studies show can have potential harmful effects on horses if used repeatedly, while the LSRC was recommending a seven-day withdrawal period.
Tuesday’s vote will reestablish the LSRC’s pre-existing withdrawal times of 14 days on clenbuterol and 21 days on Depo-Medrol during the 90-day window.
“We’re going to go back and do research in conjunction with (ARCI) and their scientists to make sure we get to the best answer for equine safety,” said Stephen Landry, the executive director of the commission. “During this 90-day emergency period, we will … try to get to something that is our goal, to further the therapeutic medications and to promote the health and safety of our equine and human athletes in Louisiana.”
Louisiana’s controlled medication rules were already among the most liberal in the nation. The new rules would have given Louisiana arguably the most lenient set of medication regulations in the sport and flown in the face of nationwide industry guidelines established by ARCI and the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority.
“It was incredibly backwards and made no sense,” longtime New Orleans-based trainer Tom Amoss said of the LRC’s initial decision to roll back withdrawal periods on the controlled medications.
Departing from federal standards, state legislators warned in a letter sent Sunday to LRC officials, would make Louisiana “an island in the national racing community” and “an outlier as it relates to racing in America.”
Horsemen say Louisiana’s proposed rolled-back rules could lead to widespread abuse from ill-intentioned trainers and potentially increase fatal breakdowns in horses by masking physical conditions in their bodies during competition and/or training.
Churchill Downs, Inc., which owns and operates the state’s premier track, Fair Grounds Race Course, expressed concerns that the new rules might dissuade top trainers from stabling their horses at Fair Grounds. Trainers with top stables that ship horses to compete at out-of-state tracks worried that the new rules will put them at a competitive disadvantage against trainers who don’t ship out of state because those horses will be forced to adhere to stricter medical regulations in other states.
CDI officials also criticized the LSRC’s secretive emergency rules process and recommended a new approach that would provide more time for public input, comment and review.
“All the industry stakeholders, a number of which are on this phone call, deserve to weigh in on this very, very important issue, particularly as Louisiana starts to deviate from well recognized and well understood national standards,” said Oz Shariff, the general council for Churchill Downs, during the public comments period of Tuesday’s meeting. “While we are appreciative of these baby steps on these two medications, I think there is a much broader issue at play here that we want to be on the record and vocalize our opposition to.”
In a June 1 editorial in the Bloodhorse, a widely respected industry publication, Tom Rooney, the CEO and president of the National Thoroughbred Racing Association, said “Louisiana is threatening the viability of racing in its own state” with the recent rule changes.
“At the very least, this action may relegate the state to being a minor-league outlier,” Rooney said. “The decision by the Louisiana Racing Commission will make it more difficult for owners and trainers whose horses are expected to compete in other jurisdictions to continue to justify racing there. In fact, many have expressed their dismay and disappointment with these new policies, and they have signaled their doubts about continuing to race there. That alone should be enough to give Bayou State regulators reason to reverse their decision to enact this ill-conceived ‘emergency rule.’”