Judge overturns Asmussen’s 2018 sanctions

Two positive drug test rulings against coach Steve Asmussen were overturned July 3 by a Kentucky district court judge.

The rulings, which date back to 2018, center around two positive post-trace test results for a metabolite of the class B sedative acepromazine, called hydroxyethylpromazine sulfoxide, or HEPS. Acepromazine, or ace, is commonly used to sedate horses during veterinary procedures.

Franklin District Court Judge Phillip J. Shepherd granted a motion for summary judgment that vacated the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission’s sanctions against Asmussen, which included a $3,500 fine and a 30-day suspension.

KHRC claimed that in 2018 One thousand percent Another Asmussen intern was found to have the HEPS virus at a concentration seven times higher than the permitted limit, Bold tested at a concentration approximately twice the permitted limit.

Asmussen’s attorney, Clark Brewster, argued that his client should not be disciplined because the ace was not detected during post-race testing.

In his ruling, Shepherd wrote that the KHRC “cannot prove that a horse testing positive for more than 10 ng/ml of HEPS is ‘conclusive evidence’ of an Ace violation. The KHRC has no rational basis to prove that a positive HEPS result above the 10 ng/ml threshold means that a trainer administered Ace on race day or that the horse ran in the race with Ace present in its system. There is also no admissible evidence in the record that the presence of HEPS has a pharmacological effect on the horse or that it is a valid substitute for establishing illegal use of Ace.”

He wrote that “the KHRC’s determination of an Ace violation based solely on the presence of HEPS is pure speculation.”

Shepherd wrote that KHRC violated state law by “elevating a 2013 internal policy decision — to adopt voluntary HEPS (Racing Medication and Testing Consortium) thresholds — to the level of mandatory compliance.” KHRC also violated “by arbitrarily declaring that horses were running here with Ace in their systems without supporting substantial evidence.”

“The Guidelines are not mandatory and the Commission cannot impose a regulatory penalty for failure to comply with the voluntary Guidelines without independent evidence of a breach of a fundamental regulatory obligation in respect of Ace,” Shepherd wrote.

HEPS appears in the KHRC “Withdrawal Guidelines” with a threshold for detection of Ace of 10 nanograms per milliliter in HEPS urine. The recommended withdrawal guideline is 48 hours prior to fasting when administered intravenously at a dose of 0.05 mg/kg. It is noted that the withdrawal guidelines do not offer guidance when Ace is “administered orally or by other means other than by IV.” Ace was administered orally to Asmussen’s trainees.

The judge noted that the study “strengthens the argument that voluntary withdrawal guidelines are not, in themselves, significant evidence of Ace’s in-race presence, as oral administration can leave traces of HEPS even after the 48 hours recommended for intravenous administration.