Posts Tagged ‘Medication’

The Paulick Report caught up with former New York Racing Association chief operating officer Bill Nader, who since April 2007 has served as executive director of racing for the Hong Kong Jockey Club. Nader is attending the 32^nd Asian Racing Conference in Tokyo, where he gave a presentation on the Asian Racing Federation’s International Circuit.

Ray Paulick: Bill, can you briefly describe your responsibilities at the Hong Kong Jockey Club?
Bill Nader: As executive director, I oversee all racing operations, and that extends to the laboratories, veterinarians, farriers, grooms, work riders, handicappers, racing stewards, racing registry, marketing, public affairs and also the international races. It’s a big operation. There are about 1,800 people reporting directly or indirectly to me, and we have tremendous people in the key positions from all over the world, from Hong Kong, Great Britain, Australia and New Zealand.

What’s the best part of your job?
The popularity of the sport makes it contagious and gives you a reason to want to get up every day. There’s never a dull day. It’s the major sport in Hong Kong. There are single events that may be bigger, but in terms of something sustainable over the course of the year racing is the only game in town. One example: circulation of a daily newspaper increases by 30% on a race day.

Your biggest challenge?
The ability for us to grow. It’s one thing to get where we are and sustain our position, but to take it to the next level. We think we can do that, but we need government support. We have 78 race meetings and we have to guarantee HK$8 billion (about US$1 billion) in revenue to the government. My two years have been lucky, we’ve been up in turnover. We’ve been able to grow from HK$60 billion in handle to HK$68 billion last year. Tax rate effectively is 73% of gross margin, before we pay prize money or overhead. We can only simulcast 10 single races per season and want to expand that but have been unsuccessful so far. There’s limited stabling and no breeding industry, so no room to expand. We have an active population of just over 1,100 horses. To get through 735 races, 90% of the races on turf, with those horses, it’s a challenging process.

What is the major difference between working at NYRA and working for the Hong Kong Jockey Club?
Resources. Not just money but the depth of personnel at top levels all the way down. The Hong Kong Jockey Club is arguably the most professionally run racing organization in the world. It’s a finely tuned machine. Its can-do spirit is really evident day by day taking tough assignments and meeting the challenge, whether it’s working on the Olympic Games or the international races. The work ethic here, too, is amazing. Our employees work 11 or 12 hour days and won’t go home until they feel their job is done.

What do you miss the most about the U.S.?
I miss a lot. Italian restaurants, sports, Broadway shows. There are no major league sports here. Overall there’s a lot of good things about Hong Kong, so it’s a trade-off.

How do you spend your leisure time?
I don’t have a lot of it. During the 10 months of the racing season, we’re fortunate to get one day off a month.

What do you know today you didn’t know before you came to Hong Kong?
It’s been amazing. It opens your eyes to come and see racing presented in a different system. The whole approach is different. You learn by just opening your eyes. I learned early on not to jump to any conclusions and get a feel for the methodology that’s employed in this part of the world. A lot of things done here we can’t duplicate back in America.

The 15-day suspension against Kentucky Derby-winning trainer Rick Dutrow for an alleged Clenbuterol positive in Salute the Count, a horse that ran at Churchill Downs on May 2, should be overturned by the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission, hearing officer James Robke has ruled.

Clenbuterol has a permissible threshold level of 25 picograms per ml of serum, according to state guidelines. Iowa State Laboratory reported a finding of 41 picograms; the documentation packet was labeled: “Confirmation for Clenbuterol in Plasma.” But the hearing officer ruling said there was no evidence presented by Iowa State or a secondary, confirmatory lab at Louisiana State University that confirmed the presence of Clenbuterol in serum. “Neither was there any evidence to explain the difference between serum and plasma,” the hearing officer recommendation states. Because of this, the administrative officer said the commission had "not met its burden" to prove the allegations against Dutrow were true.

The recommendation (click here to read the complete ruling) said the commission “failed to prove that the amount of Clenbuterol was above the threshold of ‘25 picograms per ml of serum.’ The commission proved that the amount of Clenbuterol in Salute the Count was indeed 41 picograms per ml of plasma. No evidence was presented to explain the difference (between plasma and serum). When dealing with two amounts … it is imperative that there is specificity as to the amounts.”

Lisa Underwood, executive director of the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission, issued the following statement: “The staff of the KHRC has reviewed the hearing officer’s recommendations to the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission regarding the steward’s ruling against trainer Richard Dutrow Jr. We have concluded that we have a strong basis for filing exceptions to the recommended order, and we intend to do so promptly.”

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By Ray Paulick

Well, it was fun while it lasted, this dream of someday returning to Hialeah Park to enjoy horse racing in its most beautiful setting. Since making my first trip there in 1988, when the South Florida track already was in severe decline, I’ve held out hope that someone, somehow could restore it to some semblance of its past elegance.

At first, I let John Brunetti convince me that everyone really was out to get him and that if he could only get a break from state legislators and regulators he could be the one to bring Hialeah back. But then, as the years went by and I saw Brunetti’s recalcitrance and heard about his disingenuous actions from horsemen and others involved in Florida racing, my expectations were that Hialeah Park would never be reopened after running its last race in 2001.

Then along came Halsey Minor, reigniting the flame of hope many of us hold for Hialeah. The Internet entrepreneur and Virginia Thoroughbred owner and breeder put together a team of experts to appraise the property, map out renovations for the grandstand and clubhouse, design new barns, and develop an operating plan. He engaged Brunetti is discussions that so many of us hoped would lead to a sale of the track to Minor and the rebirth of the “sport” of racing in South Florida.

Turns out Brunetti was only jerking his chain.

Brunetti is one of those guys who has a number in his head that isn’t based on appraised values, or highest and best use of the property. The price Brunetti wants today, the Paulick Report has learned, isn’t even in the ballpark of what he was trying to get previously from the state of Florida. It’s much higher.

There is no rationale for Brunetti’s demands, for he isn’t a rational man. He just has a price, and one that isn’t based on reality – especially the reality of an economy that has seen real estate values plummet, credit tighten and development slow to a crawl.

So the talks between Minor and Brunetti are dead, unless Brunetti has any second thoughts.

Given the nature of the economy, financial markets and zoning impediments that would keep Brunetti from bulldozing the track and putting up a business park or condos, Hialeah Park isn’t going anywhere soon. It will just sit empty as Brunetti gets older and more bitter about his plight. Minor, 43 years old and involved in many other business projects, can simply wait Brunetti out and see if his heirs have more interest in doing something with the track than Brunetti.

As Minor has been quoted as saying, in that scenario Brunetti would “forego any of the recognition of giving back what he took from racing."

For Hialeah Park, it’s back to hibernation, unless Brunetti changes his mind and decides that he wants to be a steward of this Thoroughbred racing gem.

SO HORSE OF THE WORLD CURLIN, GINGER PUNCH AND OTHER STAR THOROUGHBREDS racing on a program that included five Grade 1 stakes could only attract 8,563 fans to Belmont Park. No surprise there, especially considering the rainstorms that swept through the New York metropolitan area. But previous crowds to see Curlin compete at New York Racing Association tracks weren’t exactly overwhelming. For both the Woodward at Saratoga and Saturday’s Jockey Club Gold Cup, NYRA’s marketing team tried to stir up interest in a sporting public apathetic to any racing that doesn’t involve the Triple Crown.

The problem isn’t what NYRA’s marketing department has done over the last few months. It’s much bigger than that. The challenge for the “new” out-of-bankruptcy NYRA (which looks suspiciously like the old NYRA to me) is to redefine itself and somehow overcome a reputation defined by decades of arrogance and indifference to the public.

THANKS TO THE READER WHO TIPPED US TO THE LATE SCRATCH OF SAILORS SUNSET from Saturday’s Grade 1 Ancient Title sprint at Santa Anita. A check with the California Horse Racing Board’s equine medical director, Dr. Rick Arthur, confirmed that there was a scratch on that day’s program because a horse received a pre-race throat flush that involved something other than water, the only substance permitted on race day. Arthur said there appeared to be no performance-enhancing procedure attempted on the horse (i.e., a milkshake), but that a steward’s hearing would be conducted into the matter. If Sailors Sunset was indeed the horse in question, the hearing would involve trainer Marcelo Polanco.

California’s prohibition on race-day of throat-washing products such as Wind Aid that are commonly used in some other jurisdictions could create problems at this year’s Breeders’ Cup for trainers unfamiliar with CHRB regulations. For that reason, Arthur said, the Breeders’ Cup horseman’s handbook will explain its medication rules in detail and an associate steward will be assigned to outline California medication rules to every trainer with a horse in the Breeders ‘ Cup.

 

BEST PERFORMANCE OF A SPECTACULAR WEEKEND OF RACING? Was it Curlin’s victory over Wanderin Boy in the Jockey Club Gold Cup? Zenyatta’s dominating performance in the Lady’s Secret at Santa Anita? Eye-popping turf victories by Grand Couturier in the Joe Hirsch Invitational Turf Classic or Red Giant in the Clement L. Hirsch Memorial? How about the stretch-running victory by the 2-year-old Tapit filly Stardom Bound in the Oak Leaf Stakes?

All were outstanding, without question, but in my book the race that might be the most overlooked was the track-record blowout by Fatal Bullet in the Kentucky Cup Sprint at Turfway Park. This 3-year-old Red Bullet gelding is a synthetic track specialist who could be very dangerous on the Pro-Ride surface at Santa Anita in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint.

Who did you like in these Breeders’ Cup preps?

Copyright © 2008, The Paulick Report

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In addition, Halpern said, Jeff Mullins, a member of the CTT’s board, also agreed to take a voluntary leave of absence 
"while current CHRB charges against him are litigated." Jack Carava and Clifford Sise were named as interim directors by the board. Jim Cassidy was named to replace Sadler as president of the organization.

During a phased-in ban on anabolic steroids, the CHRB began testing July 1 without treating positive tests as violations but informing trainers and owners if a horse tested positive. From Aug. 1-Sept. 3, positive tests were to be reported as violations but but penalized. Beginning Sept. 4, penalities are to be meted out on steroid positives. According to Thoroughbred Times, Sadler accounted for 18 of 38 positive tests after testing began.

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By Ray Paulick

The definition of the term “illegal” has always been a bit fuzzy in the horse racing world, especially among trainers. Several years ago I asked a very prominent horseman point blank if he was giving the blood-doping agent EPO to his horses as racing’s rumor mill had it. His response was a non-answer. “It ain’t illegal.” I assured him that the drug was, in fact, quite illegal, and that there were harsh penalties for anyone who got caught using it.

His reply surprised me. “How can it be illegal if they can’t test for it?” he asked.

Reminded me a little of former President Bill Clinton’s testimony to a grand jury about his affair with Monica Lewinsky. “It depends on what the meaning of the word ‘is’ is,” Clinton said, explaining why he told White House aides there was nothing going on between he and the intern.

The definition of what’s illegal and when are legitimate questions concerning the phased-in ban of anabolic steroids by the California Horse Racing Board. Monday’s search of the barn of Del Mar’s leading trainer John Sadler and comments by state regulators indicate not everyone has been on the same page in regard to the ban on steroids. The CHRB and its medical director, Dr. Rick Arthur, hoped all trainers and veterinarians would follow the guidelines suggested during the process of reclassifying anabolic steroids from Class 4 to Class 3 drugs (according to Association of Racing Commissioners International guidelines). That apparently hasn’t been the case.

Sadler said he and his attorney, Donald Calabria, have discussed possible litigation as a result of the barn search.

The first directive was issued by the CHRB May 12. That was followed by a May 26 informational Q&A that suggested, among other things, that trainers and veterinarians “not use anabolic steroids beyond this point.” But the Q&A also said there would be a period beginning July 1 when testing for steroids would be conducted but nothing more than a warning letter would be sent for positive tests. On July 24, CHRB executive director Kirk Breed issued a directive saying, effective Aug. 1, the board would begin to “strictly enforce all regulations concerning anabolic steroids and will no longer issue ‘unofficial notices’ when the test samples reveal unauthorized levels of anabolic steroids …complaints will be filed against trainers or other licensees alleged to have violated the regulations.”

Then, on Aug. 8, Breed issued another advisory saying the CHRB “will begin enforcement of the amended (steroids) rule” effective with races run Sept. 4.

From my reading of those directives and advisories, steroids became “illegal” on Aug. 1, with violations going on a trainer’s record, but there would be no penalty for positive tests until Sept. 4 because of California’s bureaucratic process of adopting new regulations. Trainers would effectively be on an “honor system” between those two dates. That’s kind of like saying it’s illegal to go over the speed limit on a highway this month, but the police will only give you a warning if they catch you speeding. But next month, when they start issuing tickets with penalties, you’d better slow down!

“We are trying to implement this enforcement regulation in the most logical, timely way,” CHRB chairman Richard Shapiro said in one of the advisories. “We have given notice to the owners, trainers, veterinarians and other track personnel. It is part of the process. The administration of all anabolic steroids to horses in competition must stop immediately. Complaints will be issued. The hammer is coming down. In this way, we are protecting the public and all of those who are playing by the rules.”

Apparently it’s a velvet hammer that chairman Shapiro is wielding until Sept. 4. And I wonder how the public is being protected by having rules that have no teeth for enforcement. While most trainers followed the guidelines, some apparently have not, and the betting public has no way of knowing who is and who isn’t giving steroids to their horses.

One of Sadler’s principal owners is Gary Barber, who with his brother, Cecil, has won more races at Del Mar this season than anyone else. (Another of Sadler’s owners is CHRB commissioner Jerry Moss.) Barber was extremely upset about the barn search and any suggestions that Sadler is doing anything illegal.

“John is a stand-up guy and there is no reason to believe that there is anything he’s done beyond what’s in the rules and regulations,” Barber told the Paulick Report. “It’s quite shocking to me that these people without any evidence or knowledge have gone on a witch hunt and are trying to recover from the mistakes they made themselves.

“It’s all about steroids,” Barber continued. “I’m a total supporter for getting rid of them. We’re all for cleaning up the game. Lots of people have been receiving letters (warning of positive tests for steroids). These letters are purely notifications that in the future this will not be tolerated.

“You either should ban something or not;  there’s no in between. They should have said ‘no use, period.’ But now they regret the decision they made and are trying to find scapegoats. Wait till Sept. 4 and go after everybody at the same time. Write the rules and abide by them.”

CHRB executive director Breed, commenting in a published report, admitted it was a “mistake” to phase in the ban on steroids.

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By Ray Paulick

Red-hot California trainer John Sadler may also be hot under the collar after California Horse Racing Board investigators raided his barn Monday morning in an apparent search for prohibited medications. So hot, in fact, that Sadler told the Paulick Report he and his attorney are considering legal action against the regulatory agency.

Sadler’s rise to the top of the California training ranks wasn’t exactly meteoric. The one-time show-horse rider who turned 52 years old last month, took out his trainer’s license in 1979 and won his first stakes race that same year. He’s been a steady presence over the years, but Sadler has never been as hot as he has been in 2008. When CHRB investigators conducted their shakedown of his barn at Del Mar on Monday, as first reported in Daily Racing Form, Sadler was the meet’s leading trainer, winning at a 28% clip and having a 60% top-three percentage. Sadler’s 22 winners from 78 starters put him far ahead of second-place Jeff Mullins, who recently was charged with having a horse that exceeded the permitted TCO2 level (milkshaking).

Sadler said on Wednesday he and his attorney, Donald Calabria, are preparing a public statement regarding the raid. “It’s not anything,” he told the Paulick Report in response to a question about the investigation. “These are unusual circumstances. We don’t really understand it, and we are putting materials together.” The trainer then said “we are talking” about possible litigation.

Sadler also was leading trainer at Hollywood Park this summer, winning 30 of 144 racese for a 23% clip and 56% in the money percentage. Three of his meet-leading seven stakes winners came on the same afternoon June 28 when he won the Landaluce, A Gleam and American Handicap. Sadler was runner-up to Mike Mitchell in the winter-spring Santa Anita trainer standings.

Sadler has relied heavily on the California breeding program to populate his public stable and has won stakes races on a steady basis. He got his start as an assistant to the highly respected veterinarian Jack Robbins and also worked for trainers Tom Pratt, David Hofmans and Eddie Gregson. One of his biggest stars in his early years was the unbeaten California-bred filly Melair, who defeated Preakness winner Snow Chief in the 1986 Silver Screen Handicap at Hollywood Park, going a mile in 1:32 4/5.

His win percentage in recent years has hovered between 16-21%, and he’s ranked as high as 16^th nationally among trainer by money won, with $5,408,950 in 2007. Last year was by far his best season, topping the $4,129,131 earned in 2006 and almost doubling his 2003 and 2004 money figures.

Barring a huge slump, Sadler will easily have a career year in 2008. His 413 starters have won 83 times (20%) and earned $4,812,846.

Sadler has also served on industry boards, including California Thoroughbred Trainers and Thoroughbred Owners of California, and he was instrumental in establishing the Eddie Gregson Foundation.

A 2007 profile of Sadler in Bloodhorse magazine said the trainer applauded the tightening of medication rules in California. “We have the best testing in the country,” he was quoted as saying, “and now they’re doing this out-of-performance testing, which I think is fabulous. We’re leading the way in reforming medication.”

The Racing Form article which broke the news of the raid (although it had already been widely discussed in a Del Mar Thoroughbred Club online forum) said speculation centered on the possibility of a search for anabolic steroids, which are being phased out as permitted medications in California. Beginning Aug. 1, tests for steroids became “official,” but positives will not be subject to fines, suspensions or loss of purse money until after Sept. 4.
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