Louisiana commission sharply cuts clenbuterol limits

The Louisiana Racing Commission approved “emergency” rules that reduce medication restrictions, notably for clenbuterol.

The rules, approved last week and effective June 8, allow up to 725 micrograms of clenbuterol, a steroid, with a withdrawal time of 72 hours.

Louisiana is not covered by the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Administration, which requires horses administered clenbuterol to be placed on the veterinarians’ list for at least 21 days. The horse must have negative clenbuterol results in both blood and urine samples to be removed from the vets’ list.

But the state generally has followed guidelines set by the Association of Racing Commissioners International, which require withdrawal time for clenbuterol of 14 days before a race.

The commission did not provide a reason for the changes in a notice to members, but executive director Steve Landry told BloodHorse the changes were needed and were based on talks with veterinarians.

“The overall belief was that the pendulum has swung too far,” Landry said. “It was getting to the point that trainers and veterinarians were so restricted that they couldn’t properly train and treat their horses.”

Many in the industry were disappointed by the changes.

HISA CEO Lisa Lazarus told media outlets that the changes will make it more complicated for horses to ship to HISA-covered tracks from Louisiana.

“From an integrity standpoint, we’re not going to be able to let horses just come back and forth from Louisiana to a HISA track,” Lazarus told Thoroughbred Daily News. “That would be unfair to the trainers who are competing according to the rules at all the HISA tracks, given how big the gap is. We haven’t worked through exactly how we are going to adjust that.”

Trainer Cherie DeVaux called the changes “a big step backwards” in an X post.

Churchill Downs Inc., which owns Fair Grounds in New Orleans, told TDN: that the company is “extremely disappointed” with the decision.

“We had no opportunity to weigh in on this action and view it as an inexcusable abuse of process resulting in a substantial degradation in the safety and integrity of racing in the state,” said Tonya Abeln, vice president of communications for CDI.