The chair of the ARCI Drug Testing Standards and Practices Committee, Duncan Patterson of Delaware, informed the ARCI board this week that the cumulative results of state-run medication testing programs for 2022 indicate a significant compliance with the rules and the overall figures are comparable to those governed by the World Anti-Doping Agency.
Patterson's report aggregates official programmatic data from individual states to report the results of horse racing's testing programs for 2022 reflecting Thoroughbred, Quarter Horse, and Standardbred contests.
The report shows data from all racing states except Texas, Maine, Montana, and North Dakota.
In 2022, racing commissions in the United States sent over 206,498 biological samples to a network of independent testing laboratories. These samples included 23,116 samples taken out of competition and 183,382 post-race.
ARCI president Ed Martin, who noted that an expansion of out-of-competition testing in Thoroughbred racing is an anticipated result of the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority program, said, "11.2% of horses tested nationwide were out of competition although only 17 states had an out-of-competition testing program."
The 2022 program was conducted entirely by state racing commissions. In 2023, the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority is responsible for most Thoroughbred testing that occurs after May 22.
"There were 842 adverse analytical findings indicating the presence of a substance that should not be in the sample and a likely violation of the rules," Patterson said. "The overwhelming majority of samples tested—99.59%—were found to be compliant with the rules which were substantially consistent, but not totally uniform, across the jurisdictions."
As a result of the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act, all Thoroughbred races now have uniform rules. State rules governing Standardbred and Quarter Horse racing are substantially similar but not totally uniform as there are minor variations.
Consistent with prior years, the majority of substances detected are indicative of a therapeutic overage (at least 59.2%). Instances that can be clearly described as doping reflect 16% of the substances found, or just 0.02% of all samples tested.
Individual substances are categorized pursuant to the ARCI's Uniform Classification Guidelines for Foreign Substances on a scale of one to five as to the seriousness of a finding in terms of appropriateness to be present in a horse and the ability to affect performance.
The categories of substances detected in 2022 were as follows:
|
Classification |
Number |
Percentage |
|
|
1 |
37 |
4.39 |
Doping |
|
2 |
98 |
11.64 |
Doping |
|
3 |
200 |
23.75 |
(Depends on substance) |
|
4 |
468 |
55.58 |
Therapeutic Overage |
|
5 |
29 |
3.44 |
Therapeutic Overage |
Patterson reported that horse racing's 2022 programs with a cumulative 0.41 adverse finding rate is comparable to Olympic sports.
"The testing done for the Olympics and other sports covered by the World Anti-Doping Agency have shown similar results with 99.35% of samples having no issue," he said.
The following "Total Samples Analyzed" chart from WADA's 2021 Report summarizes the results of all the samples WADA-accredited laboratories analyzed and reported into WADA's Anti-Doping Administration and Management System:
|
|
Samples Analyzed |
AAFs |
% |
|
Olympic Sports |
207,008 |
1,013 |
0.49% |
|
Non-Olympic Sports |
34,422 |
547 |
1.59% |
|
TOTAL |
241,430 |
1,560 |
0.65% |
Patterson noted the magnitude of these medications testing programs in U.S. horse racing.
"Worldwide tests for WADA totaled 241,430 in 2021. In 2022, U.S. state racing commissions conducted over 206,498 tests, not including four states that did not report," he said.
This press release has been edited for content and style by BloodHorse Staff.
