CHRB Votes in OOC Rule for Del Mar Breeders' Cup

The Del Mar Thoroughbred Club now has the power to write race conditions that bar from the Nov. 3 and 4 Breeders' Cup any horse that tests positive for prohibited substances in out-of-competition (OOC) testing conducted by the Breeders' Cup within six months of the championship series.

That action came about by a 6-0 vote at the May 25 California Horse Racing Board (CHRB) meeting, during which there was no public, pre-vote discussion of the issue among commissioners.

The measure seemingly establishes a back-dated rule, because the six-month period prior to the Breeders' Cup already started on May 3.

Although the topic of the new rule going into effect after the six-month time window has already opened did not come up during the meeting itself, Thursday's CHRB meeting packet contained an analysis section that noted an “emergency version” of Rule 1581 (“Racing Secretary to Establish Conditions”) can allow for exclusion from races based on medication or substance usage provided certain conditions are met.

Namely, both the acknowledged horsemen's association and the CHRB must approve of the rule, and the protocol of any non-CHRB drug testing that is to be used must clearly be spelled out and approved by the board in advance. Both conditions were met by the inclusion of a letter of approval from the Thoroughbred Owners of California and a full explanation of the Breeders' Cup OOC protocol within the meting packet, both of which can be viewed here.

Craig Fravel, the chief executive officer and president of the Breeders' Cup, was the lone racing official to testify on the topic prior to the vote. In making his case for the need for OOC testing that goes above and beyond similar rules that the CHRB is in the process of developing itself, Fravel referred obliquely to “an issue related to a steroid administration and positive in the championships which I will not go into because I believe that's the subject of an enforcement action.”

Although he didn't say so, Fravel was in all likelihood referring to the 2016 disqualification of Masochistic (Sought After), who ran second in the GI Breeders' Cup Sprint at Santa Anita Park, but was subsequently disqualified after testing positive for the prohibited anabolic steroid stanozolol.

“The incident brought to light the fact that California has in place a steroid rule that allows the administration of a steroid with the filing of a confidential [disclosure], and subsequently the only violation takes place if and when a horse tests positive during a race,” Fravel said. “You know, I'll be frank. I was personally surprised because most of us, I think, five or six years ago believed that we had virtually eliminated steroid administration from racing or training in general. And the fact that the rules in many states were written a little bit differently on that subject came to light, and it became imperative that we address that issue, particularly for the championships.”

Fravel said Breeders' Cup officials recently met with CHRB staffers and modeled an OOC testing program for the championships at Del Mar that aligns with existing Association of Racing Commissioners International and Racing Medication & Testing Consortium rules.

“The rules that we drafted are essentially the same as the OOC model rules that are now pending [in California],” Fravel said. “We felt that it was imperative to get these in place well in advance of the championships–first of all to give the horsemen notice that the rules will be in effect, and secondly, we were not highly confident that the model rule as proposed by the CHRB would be in effect by the time of the championships.

“We're really trying to move the clock forward here and be proactive on this,” Fravel continued. “I should add it's particularly important in the case of the Breeders' Cup. We are a truly international championship. We have horses coming from all over the world, from South America, from France, from Great Britain and Ireland, and in order to attract those horses to race against American horses, they have to have the confidence they're not racing against horses that have an advantage over them in terms of training. And certainly if you're able to administer an anabolic agent or blood doping agent in this country in advance of a championship in a six-month period, I think the general consensus is that there's an advantage to that training regimen.”

Commissioner Alex Solis, who is also a jockey at CHRB-licensed tracks, offered the only post-vote comment on the new protocol, which applies only to the Breeders' Cup races at Del Mar.

“I'm glad you guys are doing this. Especially [with] racing going so global nowadays,” Solis said. “All these things are so important because we see more horses going back to Europe now, so the closer we get to their rules, it's going to help us all.”

@thorntontd