I saw this on Bloodhorse earlier today and my jaw hit the floor. So much carelessness; this guy needs significant time away.
Because doesn’t everyone store their controlled prescription drugs in off label containers in their trailer? 
Does clenbuterol even look similar to aloe vera juice???
It’s usually a clear liquid, whereas most aloe juice has color to it. Every time I’ve bought aloe juice it’s come in a huge gallon jug. I’ve never seen a bottle of ventipulum syrup larger than maybe 500 mL. Dosage is usually a few mLs, whereas you’re usually feeding like a cup worth of aloe juice. So for the love of everything how much clenbuterol was he smuggling in that aloe bottle so that an entire barn of horses got fed that much???
I thought I remembered reading that clenbuterol was usually a syrup; thanks for confirming. A gallon…seems like rather a lot, given that the dosages are usually small.
Also, and this is a question for @Ghazzu, isn’t Axmaker confused as to how clenbuterol works? It’s a bronchodilator and not a steroid/anti-inflammatory, so it really doesn’t “clean up” anything, does it? I can see how dilating the airways can make it easier for a horse to clear out mucus and crud from the airways…
Not that the mechanics of it really matter in this case. Guy screwed up, in a number of ways.
I’m not Ghazzu but after a race, it’s really common for racehorses to get airway infections. So it was (and still is some places) common practice to give clenbuterol to prevent that from happening. That’s what he means. Plus it just improves lung function overall, which enhances training and performance.
Good. Decisive action by racing authorities. Until the lawyers move in.
It is a smooth muscle relaxant basically, so it causes bronchodilation. So no, it doesn’t “clean out” anything.
But it also has some anabolic effects.
One reason it was banned for years in the US is that it was being widely abused in livestock (state fair competition, etc) to increase muscle mass and not fat.
And residues in food can have serious repercussions in some people. Like death.
IMHO, a horse that needs clenbuterol isn’t in any condition to be racing.
Also, I don’t think the legitimate FDA formulation comes in a gallon jug…
Now that I’m at a computer and not mobile, I’ll add that it was a hard fight to get FDA to restore clenbuterol to the US Pharmacopeia because of the abuse of the drug, and it infuriates me that it is being abused, because it is a valuable tool for treatment of airway disease in the equine, and I’d hate to see it banned again.
I’m wondering if he mixed clenbuterol with the aloe juice, in effect “spiking” the gallon jug and the worker got the spiked jug instead of the plain aloe.
However it came about , it was inexcusable.
