The Kentucky Equine Drug Research Council unanimously advanced a motion April 9 that would change Kentucky's drug-testing laboratory from Industrial Laboratories to the University of Kentucky Equine Analytical Chemistry Laboratory. The switch could potentially become effective with the Ellis Park meet that begins June 27, the EDRC was told.
The EDRC is an advisory board for the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission that makes recommendations to the full commission. The KHRC regularly passes EDRC recommendations.
Dr. Bruce Howard, equine medical director of the KHRC, said the UK laboratory, run by Dr. Scott Stanley, is on the cutting edge of technology. He endorsed the laboratory switch, citing UK's "very near proximity to our racing venues, reducing the shipping times and costs of our samples, convenience of having the lab and its director physically nearby for in-person consultations, and the financial benefit to the state of using our tax dollars to support a Kentucky facility."
The UK laboratory is ISO 17025 accredited but does not have the full Racing Medication and Testing Consortium accreditation of eight other laboratories, including Industrial Laboratories, located in Colorado. Stanley told the board that UK has only interim accreditation due to COVID-19 delaying the RMTC accreditation process.
EDRC board members also voted in favor of adding an EDRC administrative secretary and expressed interest in proposed horse research projects presented by Stanley, Dr. James MacLeod, and Dr. Allen Page.
