Ohio Rejects RMTC Uniform National Medication Rules

[Whirlaway]

"Clenbuterol has been used by harness horsemen and veterinarians as it was intended–post-race as an aid to bronchial problems," Langley said. "RMTC's 'proposed' regulations came about because the Thoroughbreds and Quarter Horses decided to misuse it in place of anabolic steroids. (The) USTA did not request any liberalization of the existing rules."

http://www.bloodhorse.com/horse-racing/articles/82371/multi-breed-drug-uniformity-no-easy-task

[ageecee]

here we go again

[TJ]

"Clenbuterol has been used by harness horsemen and veterinarians as it was intended–post-race as an aid to bronchial problems," Langley said. "RMTC's 'proposed' regulations came about because the Thoroughbreds and Quarter Horses decided to misuse it in place of anabolic steroids. (The) USTA did not request any liberalization of the existing rules."

http://www.bloodhorse.com/horse-racing/articles/82371/multi-breed-drug-uniformity-no-easy-task

Misleading headline...it is the USTA (trotters, pacers) in Ohio who rejected the RMTC Uniform National Medication Rules. Beulah Park, a TB race track in Ohio is signed on for the new clenbuterol withdrawal rules introduced by the RMTC. Thoroughbred racing is conforming. The industry working together with RMTC, RCI, NTRA as well as owner/trainers organizations is an evolving and ongoing fix to bring about a safe and speedy introduction of uniform national rules regarding regulations, testing and penalties.... which will implement an overall safer environment in TB racing nationwide. This does not happen overnight, but it is getting done.....lots of red tape and meetings involved within state government to implement uniform nationwide reform/regulations.
This is a TB forum, possibly find a trotting forum who cares about the USTA's refusal to conform to RMTC rules. The Trotters will have to handle their own complaints....but resigning from RMTC is not the answer. I personally beleive more should be done to eliminate the use of clenbuterol in the TB industry, as I've said this before....I have seen the negative affects it can cause in the race horse. TJ

[tinners way]

If any thoroughbred owner does not believe Clenbuterol is being misused they either are in deep denial, don't want to know, or simply want that edge.

The 1% that a poster continues to claim are dirty, are dragging in a far greater percentage through this denial, blind eye, or not wanting to be at a disadvantage. "Hey, it's legal." And then, those owners simply blame it on their trainers, and the trainers blame it on the vets, and the wheel goes round and round. The horses are compromised, the betters are leaving, and the fans keep finding something better to do. But the problem is being "fixed".

The 1% that should be discussed is the fact that it won't harm the top of the game. Ascot, Saratoga, and signature races will continue to do well. The government will not have to get involved, because there will be nothing left to govern. Taxed it will be, but governed- no need.

[ratherrapid]

i've been a strong advocte of using any drug that helps a horse to breathe. If, one is unlucky enough e.g. to buy a heaver at a sale why should you be prevented from giving whatever meds that help that horse breathe normally?

So, I was a little conflicted about clenbuterol. However, thinking it through, believe my conclusion is that performance enhancing steroids just need to be eliminated from the sport. No withdrawal times, just eliminated including clenbuterol imo.

[Sysonby]

The 1% that should be discussed is the fact that it won't harm the top of the game. Ascot, Saratoga, and signature races will continue to do well. The government will not have to get involved, because there will be nothing left to govern. Taxed it will be, but governed- no need.

The putative fans and the people from the inside who keep HARPING on this stuff to the exclusion of the joy and beauty of the sport--I ask you: are you enjoying your five minutes of attention? and Is it OK to destroy the village in order to save it?

I ran a horse over the weekend and a family member and his buddy came out to watch. At dinner later, the comment came up how much different the sport looks close up than through the lens of the NY Times--and these are sophisticated, educated people.

There is a qualitative difference between keeping perspective on a problem and tackling it in an intelligent manner and "sweeping it under the rug". TJ's posts have been spot on--the good old days were dirtier than hell and racing has never been cleaner in my lifetime but the rhetoric in this Internet world is exactly the opposite as though no progress whatsoever has been made. Of course it never hurts to ask why that is and who gets the benefit (and the attention).

Oh and Tinners Way--I quoted you but I don't mean you specifically.

[docjocoy]

The 1% that should be discussed is the fact that it won't harm the top of the game. Ascot, Saratoga, and signature races will continue to do well. The government will not have to get involved, because there will be nothing left to govern. Taxed it will be, but governed- no need.

The putative fans and the people from the inside who keep HARPING on this stuff to the exclusion of the joy and beauty of the sport--I ask you: are you enjoying your five minutes of attention? and Is it OK to destroy the village in order to save it?

I ran a horse over the weekend and a family member and his buddy came out to watch. At dinner later, the comment came up how much different the sport looks close up than through the lens of the NY Times--and these are sophisticated, educated people.

There is a qualitative difference between keeping perspective on a problem and tackling it in an intelligent manner and "sweeping it under the rug". TJ's posts have been spot on--the good old days were dirtier than hell and racing has never been cleaner in my lifetime but the rhetoric in this Internet world is exactly the opposite as though no progress whatsoever has been made. Of course it never hurts to ask why that is and who gets the benefit (and the attention).

Oh and Tinners Way--I quoted you but I don't mean you specifically.

Spot on.

[tinners way]

So as the drugs get more sophisticated it is a cleaner environment? You can't have it both ways. The sport either has to be drug free during competition or you will have no way to ever police it.

It was dirtier in the past in your opinion because all drugs were illegal??

Technology has simply created an environment that is more clinically advanced. Like pregnancy, either you are or you are not. Keep justifying that the game is clean, because of the "therapeutic" benefits of the drugs, and then wait 2 years because the next "clenbuterol" will be found to either provide steroid benefits, or found harmful.

Docojoy, I too enjoy the beauty of the sport. Possibly I did not state the position to your liking. It takes handle to build purses. It takes horses to fill races. You will always fill the top of the market, regardless. There are 97% (or 99%) chasing the rest of those races and dollars, and that is what keeps the entire industry afloat. You keep dancing around a uniform medication policy, or elimination of race day drugs, and you will keep losing the publics confidence. Legal today, yes. Cleaner, can't agree.

[Sysonby]

So as the drugs get more sophisticated it is a cleaner environment? You can't have it both ways. The sport either has to be drug free during competition or you will have no way to ever police it.

It was dirtier in the past in your opinion because all drugs were illegal??

Technology has simply created an environment that is more clinically advanced. Like pregnancy, either you are or you are not. Keep justifying that the game is clean, because of the "therapeutic" benefits of the drugs, and then wait 2 years because the next "clenbuterol" will be found to either provide steroid benefits, or found harmful.

Docojoy, I too enjoy the beauty of the sport. Possibly I did not state the position to your liking. It takes handle to build purses. It takes horses to fill races. You will always fill the top of the market, regardless. There are 97% (or 99%) chasing the rest of those races and dollars, and that is what keeps the entire industry afloat. You keep dancing around a uniform medication policy, or elimination of race day drugs, and you will keep losing the publics confidence. Legal today, yes. Cleaner, can't agree.

So is it so sophisticated today that illegal drugs are impossible to detect? Then I would submit you can't have it both ways because under that premise, we could get rid of the legal drugs and the sport would still be awash in illegal drugs.

Please don't take this the wrong way but my first thought is that some in the sport live in a past that never was. Damon Runyon lived. His stories were based on real events. Horses were doped, had their markings changed with shoe polish, jocks held horses and horses were intentionally starved and dehydrated to keep from bleeding. Hell the namesake of our currently biggest tubthumber was supposedly given codeine!

All in the good ol days.

[Whirlaway]

"We will not act on the resolution," Schmitz said. "We will not address the issue until accommodations are made to the USTA's concerns. We will not move forward on it until then. You know, harness racing is big up here."

Schmitz noted Thoroughbred horsemen also have concerns.

The National Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association earlier this year questioned the proposed 14-day cut-off for clenbuterol administration as well as some of the proposed threshold levels and withdrawal times on a list of 24 drugs approved for therapeutic use. The Ohio HBPA, which represents horsemen at the state's three Thoroughbred tracks, expressed the same concerns.

~

RMTC Recommendations Regarding Use of Clenbuterol

The use of clenbuterol in performance horses has come under criticism because it is a B2 adrenoreceptor agonist and because it produces a repartitioning effect. Clenbuterol is a banned performance-enhancing substance in all sanctioned human athletic competitions.[/color] The crux of the issue is that while clenbuterol does provide bronchodilation, clenbuterol also has repartitioning effects on skeletal muscle which mimic the anabolic effects of androgenic/anabolic steroids. WADA (World Anti-Doping Agency) lists clenbuterol as a banned anabolic agent along with other B2 agonists. As discussed below, clenbuterol administration has been shown to increase muscle mass and decrease fat when used – even at therapeutic doses.

In a recent report out of New York, a task force identified clenbuterol as a major safety and integrity issue in racing. The task force reported that a significant number of horses at NYRA tracks were being administered clenbuterol – many of which were not receiving it to treat airway disease. Similar findings have been reported throughout the United States. Prior to the CHRB suspending authorization of clenbuterol in California, the equine medical director (Dr. Arthur) reported that 58% of thoroughbred horses in training and 100% of quarter horses nominated to major stakes showed detectable levels of clenbuterol in plasma samples. After much discussion, and in light of these concerns, the RMTC board voted to set thresholds listed above with a 14 day recommended withdrawal guideline.

An important note regarding the RMTC clenbuterol recommendation is that the withdrawal guidelines only apply to the FDA approved product Ventipulmin. Other clenbuterol containing are not FDA approved and have been shown to have varying amounts of clenbuterol when analyzed which can affect both the pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics.
~
The ARCI adopted a 14 day Restricted Administration Time, but the RMTC has requested they rescind that guideline. If the Restricted Administration Time is rescinded, trainers can give the drug as they please when they please – as long as it remains below threshold.

[tinners way]

Lasix (Salix) has proven to be a great masker. I live in the present, and the only way you achieve a level playing field is to remove all drugs from competition. In this way comprehensive testing will be much more reliable. Nothing will ever be 100%, but all we are doing today is dancing around the subject. With all the pharmaceutical compounders benefitting from a flawed set of rules, the game is just as dirty, and I contend more harmful for the horses and ultimately the jockeys and trainers. Of course you can have it the other way as well. Make everything legal, that way no harm no foul.

[TJ]

Lasix (Salix) has proven to be a great masker. I live in the present, and the only way you achieve a level playing field is to remove all drugs from competition. In this way comprehensive testing will be much more reliable. Nothing will ever be 100%, but all we are doing today is dancing around the subject. With all the pharmaceutical compounders benefitting from a flawed set of rules, the game is just as dirty, and I contend more harmful for the horses and ultimately the jockeys and trainers. Of course you can have it the other way as well. Make everything legal, that way no harm no foul.

Hi Tinners Way,
Agreed Furosemide was a great masker when it first came around. We also relied mainly on urine testing then. Modern science has examined that issue and the 4 hour window for lasix administration was implemented and aids in preventing the masking powers of Lasix in urine testing. Today the addition of blood serum testing will catch anything that may not be seen in a cloudy urine test. It was this masking quality you mentioned which was the reason why, NY racing was the last to legalize Lasix. A question for you regarding the Juddmonte owned, Bobby Frankel trained Tinners Way....do you know what happened to him in The Pacific Classic, which proved to be his final start having been pulled up? What a race....Dare and Go running away from Cigar?TJ

[tinners way]

It was reported that it was a right ankle injury (which x-rays proved negative) or an old abscess acting up from being re-shod.

[TJ]

"We will not act on the resolution," Schmitz said. "We will not address the issue until accommodations are made to the USTA's concerns. We will not move forward on it until then. You know, harness racing is big up here."

Schmitz noted Thoroughbred horsemen also have concerns.

The National Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association earlier this year questioned the proposed 14-day cut-off for clenbuterol administration as well as some of the proposed threshold levels and withdrawal times on a list of 24 drugs approved for therapeutic use. The Ohio HBPA, which represents horsemen at the state's three Thoroughbred tracks, expressed the same concerns.

~

RMTC Recommendations Regarding Use of Clenbuterol

The use of clenbuterol in performance horses has come under criticism because it is a B2 adrenoreceptor agonist and because it produces a repartitioning effect. Clenbuterol is a banned performance-enhancing substance in all sanctioned human athletic competitions.[/color] The crux of the issue is that while clenbuterol does provide bronchodilation, clenbuterol also has repartitioning effects on skeletal muscle which mimic the anabolic effects of androgenic/anabolic steroids. WADA (World Anti-Doping Agency) lists clenbuterol as a banned anabolic agent along with other B2 agonists. As discussed below, clenbuterol administration has been shown to increase muscle mass and decrease fat when used – even at therapeutic doses.

In a recent report out of New York, a task force identified clenbuterol as a major safety and integrity issue in racing. The task force reported that a significant number of horses at NYRA tracks were being administered clenbuterol – many of which were not receiving it to treat airway disease. Similar findings have been reported throughout the United States. Prior to the CHRB suspending authorization of clenbuterol in California, the equine medical director (Dr. Arthur) reported that 58% of thoroughbred horses in training and 100% of quarter horses nominated to major stakes showed detectable levels of clenbuterol in plasma samples. After much discussion, and in light of these concerns, the RMTC board voted to set thresholds listed above with a 14 day recommended withdrawal guideline.

An important note regarding the RMTC clenbuterol recommendation is that the withdrawal guidelines only apply to the FDA approved product Ventipulmin. Other clenbuterol containing are not FDA approved and have been shown to have varying amounts of clenbuterol when analyzed which can affect both the pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics.
~
The ARCI adopted a 14 day Restricted Administration Time, but the RMTC has requested they rescind that guideline. If the Restricted Administration Time is rescinded, trainers can give the drug as they please when they please – as long as it remains below threshold.

I would actually fight with you to do away with clenbuterol, albuterol and many other breathing aids....heck they banned the all natural liquid breathing aid, air power which many horses were give before they went to the paddock to race.....and that stuff was so much safer. It's still given today for horses who are sick and coughing. These drugs have their place....but not for everyday use in training. Ventipulmin Syrup (clen) is not good to give everyday.....but as a therapeutic treatment for respiratory infections and/or allergies there is nothing better. I was an assistant trainer for a well know trainer at his GP barn...we had graded stakes horses, allowance horses and high priced claimers in the Fl. barn. I handled the GP barn for him, he was in NY with the rest. He came in one weekend (in mid afternoon) straight from the airport and told me to give Clen to the horses from now on. My horses were running very well without it. Then told me to give them all a dose now....I said if you want that done it's better to do it in the morning before they train, not now when we'll be feeding within the hour. He said give it to them now....I refused, because I knew the temp was going to drop (to unheard of lows for Florida) that evening and many horses who receive it in the stall, without training could break out in a sweat. So, he gave it to them himself after telling me these are my horses not yours, I'll train them my way. The next day when I came in at 4 AM, one of my favorite claiming fillies was sick with a high fever, broke out, shaking and sweating. While at least another ten showed signs of sweating through the night, but didn't develop a fever. I knew it was because of the clen. The trainer came in barking orders....did you give the horses their clen? I told him thanks to your ignorance you have a very sick horse on your hands...if you want the horses to get clen, you'll have to do it yourself....I quit. TJ

[TJ]

If any thoroughbred owner does not believe Clenbuterol is being misused they either are in deep denial, don't want to know, or simply want that edge.

The 1% that a poster continues to claim are dirty, are dragging in a far greater percentage through this denial, blind eye, or not wanting to be at a disadvantage. "Hey, it's legal." And then, those owners simply blame it on their trainers, and the trainers blame it on the vets, and the wheel goes round and round. The horses are compromised, the betters are leaving, and the fans keep finding something better to do. But the problem is being "fixed".

The 1% that should be discussed is the fact that it won't harm the top of the game. Ascot, Saratoga, and signature races will continue to do well. The government will not have to get involved, because there will be nothing left to govern. Taxed it will be, but governed- no need.

Hi Tinner,
Please take note I am not in favor of Ventipulmin Syrup. Also take note I am the poster you referred to, who continues to make "claims" that 1% of trainers in the business are the ones giving the rest of the decent, hard working people in the industry a bad name....I actual said less then 1%. I would say that the 1% figure holds true in every large money making industry, cheaters will always be cheaters. I did make a mistake with my figures as I did it from memory. To be certain my claims are correct, I will post the exact figures for you to digest. The actual percent of drug testing performed from 2009-2012 on 368,980 race horses which returned a positive test result was 8/10ths of 1 percent. Less than 1% as I have been saying, of this number, many were errors due to legitimate mistakes...different rules/jurisdiction and drug testing thresholds could cause these errors. This is why the 99.20% of honest horsemen and women are behind the RMTC model National rules. This will lower the percent of honest trainers who made mistakes due to inconsistent rules in various jurisdictions. The percent of trainers found to legitimately attempt to alter the outcome of a race, by knowingly using a totally illegal substance was 3/100ths of 1%. These are the actual figures compiled in racing available to everyone in the business to read. These figures don't bode well when we see 100% of the articles in racing come from the 3/100ths of a percent of cheaters in America's great horse racing industry. Reading these actual figures, they don't bode well for the sensationally negative articles the media continues to print. But on the bright side.....every time we see another one of these articles it's one more bad egg leaving the game for good....that 3/100ths of a single percent are exiting quickly. TJ