Prairie Meadows trainer Clark has two horses test positive for methamphetamine

Dick Clark, a long-time trainer based at Prairie Meadows in Altoona, Iowa, has been issued a provisional suspension after two horses he trained that raced on the same card at the track tested positive for methamphetamine, a powerful stimulant that can commonly trigger a positive test through contamination from a human source.

Colonel Klink, a 7-year-old gelding, tested positive for the drug after finishing second in a starter allowance race at Prairie Meadows on June 19. The horse then started three more times after that race, all in claiming races, over the next month, winning one of them.

The other horse to test positive was My Heart’s On Fire, a 2-year-old filly who won a maiden special weight, also on June 19.

In an interview on Wednesday, Clark, who runs a claiming stable and typically co-owns the horses he starts, said that neither of the horses were administered the drug, which is an illegal substance.

“I have no idea how the horses got this stuff,” Clark said. In recent years, Clark has started approximately 150 horses a year, winning at an approximate strike rate of 15 percent, or with one out of every seven starters.

Under new rules enforced by the Horseracing Integrity and Welfare Unit beginning on May 22, trainers receive provisional suspensions in the event of any positive test for a banned substance. The suspension remains in force while split samples are being tested and up until the trainer receives a hearing and a ruling is issued.

The recommended penalty for a violation of the banned-substance policy is a two-year suspension, although the penalty can be reduced due to mitigating circumstances and the trainer’s cooperation with the investigation.

Methamphetamine is one of a class of drugs that are problematic to regulate in racing because of its extremely high potential to influence a horse’s performance and its ubiquity in human populations, leading to the possibility that trace amounts of the drug on a handler’s hands can lead to contamination of the horse’s sample. In the past, regulators have had to walk a fine line in adjudicating cases involving the drug and others like it, due to the need to prevent horsemen from claiming environmental contamination for any positive of the drug, regardless of fault.

HIWU’s rules contain a category of drugs for common environmental contaminants calling for an investigation of “adverse analytical findings” prior to a suspension being issued. That investigation is supposed to seek evidence for whether a drug was administered purposefully or got into a horse’s system by accident. Methamphetamine, due to its high potential to impact performance, is not on that list.

Clark, who has been training since 1976, said he tested “most” of his employees after being informed of the positive test over the weekend and “they’re all right,” he said.

“I’m an old-timer,” Clark said. “I don’t understand any of this at all. I’ve been in this business almost 50 years and I’ve never seen anything like this. I don’t know what to do. How are you supposed to know what to do?”

According to a database of racing violations, Clark has been penalized twice over the past 20 years for minor drug infractions involving commonly administered regulated substances, such as phenylbutazone and flunixin. He has won 1,576 races over his 47-year career, from 10,607 starts, with total purse earnings of $24.5 million.

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