NEWS
Drug tests on Breeders’ Cup horses are clean
Posted: Tuesday, November 10, 2009 4:10 PM
None of the horses that ran in the Breeders’ Cup World Championships tested positive for TCO2 or any prohibited substances, the California Horse Racing Board announced on Tuesday.
All samples collected from the Breeders’ Cup horses were cleared by the Kenneth L. Maddy Equine Analytical Chemistry Laboratory at the University of California-Davis, which completed testing on Tuesday morning after the samples were couriered overnight. That allowed testing to begin within 24 hours of the Breeders’ Cup Classic (G1) on November 7.
All horses underwent pre-race testing for TCO2 levels in blood. Post-race testing for prohibited drugs was performed on the first three finishers in all 14 Breeders’ Cup races plus additional random horses selected by the stewards.
Post-race testing was done on both blood and urine samples. The Maddy laboratory’s standard protocols look for more than 45 anabolic steroids and hundreds of other prohibited drugs.
In addition to the routine testing, 25% of all horses pre-entered in the Breeders’ Cup randomly were selected for out-of-competition testing. The out-of-competition samples were analyzed at the French, English, and Irish racing laboratories for international competitors, while all U.S. samples were analyzed at the Maddy laboratory. All out-of-competition samples were cleared before Breeders' Cup entries were taken.
“The cooperation for the Breeders’ Cup’s out-of-competition testing program has been wonderful,” said Rick Arthur, DVM, equine medical director for the CHRB. “This was not a simple process. Veterinarians in four countries and four states participated in the sampling process and made sure the samples reached the four participating laboratories within the necessary time deadline.”
