Association of Racing Commissioners International to review penalties for medication violations

The Association of Racing Commissioners International, an umbrella group for racing commissions, will conduct a review of its recommended penalty guidelines for medication violations, the organization announced on Monday.

In a statement, the president of the RCI, Ed Martin, said the recommended penalty guidelines had not been reviewed “for many years” and suggested the group would consider stronger penalties for known performance-enhancing substances and weaker penalties for violations of regulated medications like phenylbutazone, a painkiller.

“Some have argued that the recommended penalties may not be tough enough for the most egregious violations or that isolated minor offenses are treated too harshly,” Martin said.

The RCI’s model rules and recommendations are distributed to its member jurisdictions for adoption. The recommendations are usually given strong weight by racing commissions when considering amendments to their rules.

In addition, the RCI said that its Model Rules Committee will wait to adopt a final recommended rule on the use of the riding crop until regulators settle on “a clear definition of the term ‘chance to respond’ in order to provide clarification/direction to stewards in determining a violation.”

Several racing commissions have recently sought guidance on adopting a rule limiting the use of the riding crop, but the term “chance to respond” has been interpreted in different ways in jurisdictions that have adopted the limits.