California moves forward on stricter drug penalties

[smartyalex]

http://www.drf.com/news/article/81765.html

.....I wish all State Racing Boards could agree on a zero tollerance stance on all drugs!! Well, at least it's a start...Thanks CA!

[Cannon Shell]

Instituting a 28 day withdrawl for clenbuterol is a joke. This is a legal medication that is used to treat a common problem, especially in a state that has a poor as air quality as S. cal does. They are going to kill the sport with thinking like this. You want to make the withdrawl a week? No problem, but in a state that is already hurting for horses taking horses that have lung infections out of circulation for a month is stupid.
We all know the steroid thing was coming and I do believe that there is abuse of these but a complete ban will also serve to shrink the horse population further.
Changing rules due to public perception usually leads to knee jerk reactions like this. Instead of trying to make workable rules that make sense they come up with ideas that may kill their product.

[blackthroatedwind]

Originally Posted by Cannon Shell

Instituting a 28 day withdrawl for clenbuterol is a joke. This is a legal medication that is used to treat a common problem, especially in a state that has a poor as air quality as S. cal does. They are going to kill the sport with thinking like this. You want to make the withdrawl a week? No problem, but in a state that is already hurting for horses taking horses that have lung infections out of circulation for a month is stupid.
We all know the steroid thing was coming and I do believe that there is abuse of these but a complete ban will also serve to shrink the horse population further.
Changing rules due to public perception usually leads to knee jerk reactions like this. Instead of trying to make workable rules that make sense they come up with ideas that may kill their product.

I guess this is easier than attempting a real solution like finding out what illegal or " unknown " medications are being used and developing a test for them.

[Cannon Shell]

Originally Posted by blackthroatedwind

I guess this is easier than attempting a real solution like finding out what illegal or " unknown " medications are being used and developing a test for them.

It is so typical of the CHRB in response to the terrible job that they have done to place the blame on trainers and horses.
Here is what Richard Shapiro is really saying," We have done such a terrible job here at the CHRB in regulating the sport we have decided to abolish all trainers and horses and run computer simulations in their place. It is our finding that there are just too many physical problems with real horses, and with all those pesky medications that mask other pesky medications that those cheating trainers have cooked up in their home based chemistry labs, we just have lost control. Our informant (the guy who sold horses from france that never showed up here but charged the owners for training for 2 years and was given back his license in order to be a snitch for the CHRB) says that outside BALCO and Pvals house, there are no bigger drug dens in CA than Santa Anita and Hollywood Park. So we decided to just get rid of the trainers and all their problems and all the horses and their problems and just run some computer simulation that all the "fans" will bet on anyway. I mean one of the most suspect trainers called them names and they STILL showed up and played his horses so maybe he had a point. We still haven't come up with a penalty schedule for computer viruses but I doubt the fans will even notice this as they barely noticed how badly we were screwing up for years. We also will be saving the state a ton of money by not having any CHRB employees , and being that very few of them did anything anyway, I'm sure Arnold will be very pleased with us and maybe he can get me a job with his friends at the indian casino when my term expires."

[blackthroatedwind]

I don't pay a lot of attention to California racing, but wasn't the " polytrack mandate " yet another kneejerk reaction, and not necessarily what was best for everyone?

What's the difference...we're all idiots...at least in California.

[SCUDSBROTHER]

This drug (Clenbuterol) not only builds muscle, but increases lung capacity and acts as a stimulant. This drug is constantly talked about on body building sites.They talk about it as if it is something to use along with the anabolic steroids they use. Be nice if the drug was just used for breathing problems.It has many "uses." That is the problem.

[Rupert Pupkin]

Originally Posted by blackthroatedwind

I don't pay a lot of attention to California racing, but wasn't the " polytrack mandate " yet another kneejerk reaction, and not necessarily what was best for everyone?

What's the difference...we're all idiots...at least in California.

The polytrack mandate may have been somewhat of a kneejerk reaction but it is the best thing that has ever happened here. Desperate measures are necessary when you have a desperate situation. It was just too difficult to keep horses sound on the surfaces out here. Maybe they could have put in new dirt tracks instead of polytrack, but I'm not going to complain. All I know is that polytrack is a huge improvement over what he had before. They had to do something to stop the bleeding. I don't know if this was the best way to stop the bleeding, but at least the bleeding has been stopped.

[Rupert Pupkin]

Originally Posted by Cannon Shell

It is so typical of the CHRB in response to the terrible job that they have done to place the blame on trainers and horses.
Here is what Richard Shapiro is really saying," We have done such a terrible job here at the CHRB in regulating the sport we have decided to abolish all trainers and horses and run computer simulations in their place. It is our finding that there are just too many physical problems with real horses, and with all those pesky medications that mask other pesky medications that those cheating trainers have cooked up in their home based chemistry labs, we just have lost control. Our informant (the guy who sold horses from france that never showed up here but charged the owners for training for 2 years and was given back his license in order to be a snitch for the CHRB) says that outside BALCO and Pvals house, there are no bigger drug dens in CA than Santa Anita and Hollywood Park. So we decided to just get rid of the trainers and all their problems and all the horses and their problems and just run some computer simulation that all the "fans" will bet on anyway. I mean one of the most suspect trainers called them names and they STILL showed up and played his horses so maybe he had a point. We still haven't come up with a penalty schedule for computer viruses but I doubt the fans will even notice this as they barely noticed how badly we were screwing up for years. We also will be saving the state a ton of money by not having any CHRB employees , and being that very few of them did anything anyway, I'm sure Arnold will be very pleased with us and maybe he can get me a job with his friends at the indian casino when my term expires."

I don't think Rick Shapiro needs to get a job from Arnold. Rick is a very wealthy man. He is a multi-millionaire. He and his family have been in the horseracing business for 40 years.

I agree with you that the CHRB has done a very poor job over the years. But I think this new CHRB headed by Rick Shapiro has done a great job. He has only been on the job for a few years and he has not been afraid to push for aggressive changes. With the past CHRBs, it was always business as usual. They never did anything. They would never make any changes. Rick is the first guy to get in there and make major changes. I'm glad they are being proactive. There is always risk when you push for agressive reform, but I think that most of the changes they are making are positive.

By the way, it's not as if Shapiro is making these decisions on his own with no input. Richard Mandella and Dr. Arthur are both on the medication committee. I assume that Mandella and Arthur both agree with the new medication rules. In fact, I bet that they are the ones that came up with these new rules.