Louisiana Racing Commission schedules emergency meeting to discuss new drug rules

The Louisiana Racing Commission has scheduled an emergency meeting for Tuesday afternoon to discuss recent changes to its medication regulations that are set to go into effect on Saturday, including a relaxation on the use of clenbuterol, which can have muscle-building properties.

The commission, which announced the meeting 24 hours prior to its scheduled time, put two discussion items on the agenda – clenbuterol and a common corticosteroid that will also be allowed to be administered under relaxed rules – as well as a discussion over the “safeguards [that] will be in place” as horsemen and veterinarians transition to the new rules.

The announcement of the meeting came one day after more than 50 state legislators sent a letter urging the commission to table the new regulations.

“Departing from [industry standards] will make Louisiana an outlier as it relates to racing in America,” the letter, which was obtained by Daily Racing Form, states. “This would be very unfortunate, given the progress which the entire industry has made to improve the safety of racing and enhance the purse structure at all tracks in the state. … We respectfully urge the commission to pause the implementation of this rule change and take a minimum of six months to both gauge the impact of these proposed changes from both a safety and economic perspective, as well as to allow comment from stakeholders in the industry.”

Purses at Louisiana tracks are heavily subsidized by casinos owned and operated by the tracks. The owner of Fair Grounds in New Orleans is Churchill Downs Inc., which last week released a statement saying that the company had not been consulted during the rule-making process and was “extremely disappointed” in the revisions.

The new rules, which were passed on an emergency basis, became public last week, drawing criticism from parties within the racing industry and outside of it. The commission said it passed the new rules by relying on the advice of veterinarians in the state.

:: Bet the races with a $200 First Deposit Match + FREE All Access PPs! Join DRF Bets.

Under the new rules, clenbuterol, which is a bronchial dilator, will be able to be administered up to 72 hours prior to a race. In the vast majority of racing states, the drug is only allowed to be administered under a prescription, and horses are not allowed to race until the drug has cleared their system. The drug has anabolic effects when administered frequently to horses.

Most U.S. racing states are under the jurisdiction of the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority, a company authorized by federal law passed late in 2020. HISA’s drug rules went into effect last summer, but two states, Louisiana and West Virginia, continue to operate under state regulations because a U.S. District Court judge in 2022 granted an injunction prohibiting the rules from going into effect after a coalition of horsemen and state officials in those states challenged HISA’s constitutionality. The case is being considered in the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals.

The corticosteroid that will be under discussion on the meeting agenda is methylprednisolone, an anti-inflammatory medication that is typically injected into sore joints. While recommended rules call for a prohibition on administering the drug within 21 days of a race, the new Louisiana regulation will allow the drug to be administered up to seven days before a race.

The new rule also doubles the dose of methylprednisolone that can be administered and increases the threshold level from 100 picograms per milliliter of blood to 2,000 picograms. Threshold levels are the concentration of a drug in blood in which a finding is not considered a positive unless it exceeds the level.

:: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.