While a policy on uniform medication rules and testing throughout American racing is still just a concept, the Racing Medication and Testing Consortium could be ready to release a progress report following meetings on Tuesday and Wednesday in Lexington.Scot Waterman, D.V.M., executive director of the National Thoroughbred Racing Association's Racing Integrity and Drug Testing Task Force, which works with the consortium, said that the panel would dedicate a major chunk of its meeting time to discussing a proposed policy.

"We're not going to get this done overnight, but we're starting to come to an agreement on some things," said Kent Stirling, executive director of the Florida Horsemen's Benevolent and Protection Association and a member of the consortium committee dedicated to the uniform medication policy.

"Coming up with a uniform policy is a 500-pound gorilla that we want to tackle," Stirling said. "It's out there, and I think that it is getting tackled, but you don't bring it down all at once."

"Even if we were to get an entire policy done, I would think that the consortium would want regulators to look at it before it enters the public domain," Waterman said. "After all, they're the ones that will make it happen in each of their jurisdictions."

The consortium has two other committees, involving testing and implementation, that would be involved in working with the medication policy if it is embraced by the jurisdictions that conduct racing.

The Lexington meeting is the consortium's third since its inaugural gathering in December 2001 at the University of Arizona Racetrack Industry Program's Symposium on Racing. The group second meeting was held in July in Chicago.

Waterman said that he hopes the consortium can begins to develop its own internal structure, especially as it moves closer to releasing the results of its work.—Ed DeRosa