Rick Arthur plans to retire as California's equine medical director next year

Rick Arthur, who as California’s equine medical director has been at the forefront of numerous policy changes for more than a decade, is retiring in the next year.

Arthur, 71, said on Thursday that he had planned to retire on June 30, at the end of the 2019-2020 fiscal year, but that the coronavirus pandemic has delayed interviews for his replacement. Now, Arthur said he is postponing retirement to June 2021.

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Arthur, a former practicing veterinarian, has been in the position of equine medical director since 2006 through the University of California-Davis School of Veterinary Medicine and is assigned on a full-time basis to the California Horse Racing Board.

Thursday, Arthur said the interview process for a replacement is being conducted by UC-Davis officials. He did not have a timeline on when a replacement would be named.

“They have an intensive process,” Arthur said. “There are good candidates out there.”

Arthur has had an influential role in changing racing board policy regarding medications. Among a few high-profile cases, Arthur was extensively involved in the development of a rule reducing the medications horses can be administered after entries are taken, a policy that took place earlier this year, and developing a lengthy withdrawal period for horses given steroids.

Earlier this year, he published an extensive report on a series of equine fatalities at Santa Anita in early 2019 that made international news.

Arthur cited a continuing education program for trainers and the administration of Lasix by third-party veterinarians as two other recent projects launched under his direction. At times, the changes have been controversial within the sport.

Arthur said it hasn’t been easy to make some of those changes.

“Obviously there are a lot of things that are difficult,” he said. “It takes so much time. You have to be patient and the horse racing board is a political entity. They go in different directions at different times. Sometimes things are easy to get done and sometimes they aren’t.”

Arthur worked at California tracks as a private veterinarian from 1976 to 2006. When he does vacate his current position, Arthur said he plans to remain involved in the sport to a lesser degree, including participation in research projects.

“I’ll stay involved in horse racing,” he said. “I enjoy some of the international work I do and I expect to continue to do that.”

Other goals have been curtailed by the pandemic, which has forced changes in the way racing is conducted in California, notably the absence of ontrack spectators since March.

“I was going to travel,” he said. “It’s an odd situation for everybody.

“It’s very frustrating for the owners and the fans. I think we’re lucky to be running.”