New clenbuterol rules in effect in California

DEL MAR, Calif. – Beginning Wednesday for all of California racing, threshold levels for clenbuterol have been eliminated, so trainers have been alerted, in publications like the Del Mar condition book, to be mindful of withdrawing horses from the medication at least 21 days from a race.

Clenbuterol, a bronchodilator, will now “be treated as other drugs not specifically authorized” by the California Horse Racing Board, according to a CHRB notice in the Del Mar condition book. Any detection of clenbuterol in a post-race sample “will be reported as a violation.”

The warning says that the state’s testing lab at the University of California, Davis, “has very sensitive testing for clenbuterol.”

“The drug can be readily detected at low picogram levels in both urine and blood,” it says.