The CHRB Medication and Track Safety Committee will conduct a public meeting Wednesday, April 11, for discussion and action on a number of proposals relating to the safety of racehorses and the integrity of racing

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The meeting will begin at 2 p.m. in the Baldwin Terrace Room at Santa Anita Park. The full agenda is available on the CHRB Website (www.chrb.ca.gov) under Board/Meeting Agendas.

The committee actively addresses drug testing, veterinary practices, and track safety issues for the CHRB. Last year the CHRB expanded its collaboration with the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine and entered into a research program with the Veterinary Orthopedic Research Laboratory (VORL) to better understand the reason for racing injuries to aid in developing strategies to improve safety. Dr. Sue Stover, head of the VORL, will discuss an early off-shoot of that program, a computer based educational module for trainers explaining how and why racing and training injuries occur.

The committee will revisit the issue of allowing a claim to be voided at the request of the claimant if the post-race sample contains a prohibited drug substance. The Board already has a rule in place voiding the claim if the horse is euthanized on the track.

Under a separate proposal dealing with claiming races, the committee will discuss the impact of large purses for lower-level claimers and the advisability of raising the minimum claiming price or limiting purses for the lower-level claiming races in order to encourage responsible horse management practices.

The committee will again consider requiring the submission of six months of veterinary medical records for any horse that dies within the jurisdiction of the Board for the purpose of improving investigations into racing fatalities and the status of a voluntary computer-based medical history pilot program being developed as part of the CHRB/UC Davis research program.

The committee will discuss and take action on a proposal to add the drugs zilpaterol and ractopamine to the prohibited practices list under CHRB Rule 1867 (Prohibited Veterinary Practices). The committee will also discuss the use of clenbuterol in California racing, including an update on the Board’s recent suspension of authorization for clenbuterol for quarter horses at Los Alamitos.

(CHRB)