Jeffrey Englehart, a trainer who primarily runs horses in New York and Pennsylvania, has been notified by the Horseracing Integrity and Wagering Unit of a positive test for clenbuterol in a horse he trained, in a case that features a number of unusual circumstances. The positive test for clenbuterol, a banned bronchial dilator that can have muscle-building effects when used regularly, came from a hair sample of an unnamed, unraced 2-year-old horse trained by Englehart who was euthanized after suffering a catastrophic injury during a workout at Finger Lakes race track in New York on Nov. 21. The horse had been in Englehart’s barn since he was purchased out of a 2-year-old sale in June in Ocala, Fla. Under HIWU’s rules, which went into effect last May, horses that suffer catastrophic injuries have their blood and hair sampled for illegal drugs. According to Englehart, HIWU told him that the horse’s blood sample was negative for clenbuterol, a drug which typically clears a horse’s blood in a matter of days. In hair, however, clenbuterol and other drugs can often be detected for much longer times. Although HIWU has the power under its rules to pull hair for drug testing in out-of-competition tests and post-race tests, the overwhelming majority of those tests are performed on urine and blood samples. In the case of a fatality, however, hair is required to be tested. :: KENTUCKY DERBY 2024: Derby Watch, point standings, prep schedule, news, and more Englehart, who has not been issued a suspension while he awaits a confirmation test, said that several chemists he and his lawyer have contacted in preparing a potential appeal have told him that clenbuterol could be detected in hair for “more than a year” after administration. Englehart insists he did not administer clenbuterol to the horse, and he said he has not administered clenbuterol to any horse in his barn for years. Although clenbuterol is banned, it can be administered under a veterinary prescription. Under HIWU rules, a horse is not allowed to train or race until the drug clears its system, and any detection of the drug post-workout or post-race is a violation. Clenbuterol is one of the most notorious drugs in horse racing. Upon its approval by the FDA in the late 1990s as a powerful bronchial dilator, the drug was widely abused for its muscle-building effects, leading regulators to periodically tighten rules on its use. Clenbuterol also featured prominently in the indictments of several trainers who pleaded guilty to drug misbranding and alteration charges over the past several years. The horses who were alleged to have been given treatments of clenbuterol did not test positive for the drug through the regulatory channels in use at the time. “We don’t use clenbuterol, period,” Engelhart said. “I admit that I have a lot of positives. But those are for regulated drugs. And I take responsibility for those, because I use those. But I don’t use clenbuterol.” In the past year, Englehart has resolved two cases with HIWU for positives of regulated medications, one for methocarbamol that drew a disqualification and a $1,000 fine, and the other for a phenylbutazone positive that drew a disqualification and a seven-day suspension (under HIWU rules, all horses with either a banned or regulated medication positive are disqualified). He also has three cases pending with HIWU for regulated medication positives: two more for methocarbamol, a muscle relaxer, and another for acepromazine, a sedative. :: Bet the races with a $200 First Deposit Match + FREE All Access PPs! Join DRF Bets. In addition, Englehart served four suspensions from March 2021 to July 2023, in New York for repeated positives of phenylbutazone, a painkiller. Unlike those other drugs, clenbuterol is a banned drug. The recommended penalty for a banned drug under HIWU’s rules is a two-year suspension. Englehart, who is the brother of another trainer, Jeremiah Englehart, has 430 wins from 2,404 starts, for an 18 percent strike rate for his career. He began training in 2013. HIWU declined to comment on the Englehart clenbuterol case, citing the adjudication process. Details of the case were first described in an article in Thoroughbred Daily News. Englehart said that he believes the horse may have been administered clenbuterol in the lead-up to the June 2-year-old sale where the horse was bought. In order to bolster that case, he has sent a sample of hair from another horse that he bought out of the same consignment, She She’s Shadow, to a laboratory for “segmented testing,” which can determine when a drug was administered to a horse by analyzing individual segments in the hairs, much like tree rings can be analyzed to determine a tree’s age or the environmental conditions prevalent at the time the ring was laid down. Englehart says that he has not received the results of the She She’s Shadow test yet. However, he has urged HIWU’s investigators to utilize segmented testing on the sample from the unnamed horse, he said. “I’m trying to do everything I can to put all this stuff in front of them in the hopes that they’re listening to me,” Englehart said. :: Get Daily Racing Form Past Performances – the exclusive home of Beyer Speed Figures The unnamed horse was sent from the sales grounds in Ocala straight to Englehart’s barn at Finger Lakes, Englehart said. The horse had 10 workouts before the Nov. 21 breakdown, starting in August. Englehart said that horse was probably “a month or two” from being entered in a race. Under HIWU’s adjudication process, trainers cannot file an appeal of a ruling until it is issued. Englehart was notified of the positive in early January, he said, and he immediately requested a confirmatory test. HIWU does not issue rulings until a test confirms the initial result. If the second test does not confirm the positive, the case is dropped. If Englehart is issued a suspension, he said he would immediately ask for a hearing. Englehart would be able to present his own findings to the hearing officer to argue his case, including any evidence he gathered that suggested the drug was administered prior to the horse arriving in his barn. “We have everything set up to go” for an appeal, Englehart said. :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.