Thoroughbred Safety Committee calls for clenbuterol ban

A committee of The Jockey Club has called for more tracks to publish their injury data, a ban on clenbuterol, and mandatory stand-down periods for horses that are trained by individuals who have been found to have illegal substances in their possession.

The organization’s Thoroughbred Safety Committee released the recommendations Tuesday, two months after the committee met to discuss its annual recommendations. At the time the committee met, a wide-ranging federal indictment had been released only a week earlier accusing 27 individuals in Thoroughbred and Standardbred racing of conspiring to produce, distribute, and administer illegal substances to horses.

The mandatory stand-down period is the recommendation most closely related to the indictment. After the indictment was released, a number of major racing companies banned horses trained by individuals named in the indictment for 60 days and prohibited the horses from running until they tested negative on drug-screening tests. The trainers who were indicted have all been summarily banned from racing.

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“The recent indictments of 27 individuals with regard to illegal performance-enhancing drugs demonstrate the need to have rules that protect the health and safety of Thoroughbreds from the uncertain and potentially dangerous effects of these substances,” Jim Gagliano, president and chief operating officer of The Jockey Club, said in a statement.

The recommendation to ban clenbuterol would be an extension of years-long efforts by many regulators to tighten rules on the administration of the drug, a bronchial dilator that can have muscle-building effects if used regularly. Many racing commissions have banned the drug within 14 days of a race for Thoroughbreds, in line with a recommendation from an industry-funded group, the Racing Medication and Testing Consortium.

Two weeks ago, the three major Thoroughbred auction companies in the United States said that they would implement a 90-day ban on the use of clenbuterol for racing prospects, except in the case of yearlings, which will be allowed to be administered the drug for “valid, on-label purposes” prior to July 1 provided the administration is disclosed with a note of explanation from the attending veterinarian.

The committee also recommended that more tracks make their injury data publicly available, noting that those tracks that already publish their injury data have a lower rate of fatalities, on average, than tracks that do not. The vast majority of tracks submit injury data to the Equine Injury Database, which was launched in 2009 by The Jockey Club, but most of those tracks submit the data on the condition of anonymity.