LITTLE ROCK — Despite the objection of horsemen, the permitted level of the anti-inflammatory medication bute will be reduced for the 2013 racing season at Oaklawn Park in Hot Springs.
The Arkansas Racing Commission voted unanimously during a regularly scheduled meeting Tuesday morning in Little Rock to lower the threshold from 5.0 micrograms per milliliter to 2.0 in blood.
The move brings Arkansas in compliance with model rules of the Association of Racing Commissioners International, an organization of governmental regulators charged with ensuring the integrity of racing and parimutuel wagering, and mirrors the limit in California, Florida, Illinois, Kentucky, Maryland, New Jersey and New York.
“They’re the premier racing jurisdictions,” said Cecil Alexander of Heber Springs, chairman of the state racing commission.
The commission debated the matter approximately an hour before passing an emergency rule to cover Oaklawn’s 2013 live meeting that begins Jan. 11.
Bill Walmsley of Batesville, the outgoing president of the Arkansas division of the Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association, had asked the commission to wait until the 2014 Oaklawn meeting to adopt the 2.0 level.
Walmsley said a comment period, typically at least 30 days in commission matters, was necessary for the public and trainers.
The majority of horses that raced at Oaklawn in 2012, Walmsley said, came from Texas, Louisiana, Oklahoma and Iowa — jurisdictions with a 5.0 threshold.
“We recognize that this is something coming,” Walmsley said of the 2.0 level. “We think it’s going to catch a lot of horsemen by surprise.”
John Whittaker, a longtime practicing veterinarian at Oaklawn, told the commission there was a only a small difference between a 2.0 level and a 5.0 level of bute, adding the medication is similar to Aleve in human consumption.
A microgram is equal to one-millionth of a gram. A milliliter is equal to one-thousandth of a liter.
Readings between 2.0-5.0, in the first two overages for trainers, will normally only result in a written warning from stewards.
The commission will adopt the rule permanently following the 2013 live season, said commission attorney Byron Freeland of Little Rock.
In other business Tuesday, the commission approved Oaklawn’s wagering menu for the 2013 season. There are no changes from 2012.
Sports, Pages 21 on 12/12/2012