New York establishes thresholds for cobalt

Horses who race in New York will now be subject to thresholds for the naturally occurring mineral cobalt under a rule passed by the state’s gambling commission on Thursday.

The cobalt threshold was one of a number of rules the New York State Gaming Commission approved Thursday during a marathon meeting that included 12 agenda items related to rule-making for Thoroughbred and Standardbred racing. All but one passed unanimously.

The cobalt thresholds will be set at 50 parts per billion and 300 ppb in the blood. Although cobalt is a dietary need for horses, most scientists agree that a horse cannot ingest so much of the mineral that a blood sample would test higher than 50 ppb, and a 300 ppb level could only occur if a horse was administered highly concentrated cobalt sulfates.

Trainers around the world have reportedly been abusing cobalt under the belief that the mineral can act as a cheap blood doper. Although no scientific evidence exists that suggests the mineral can increase red-blood-cell production, cobalt scandals have occurred in nearly every major racing country in the world in the past year.

Under the cobalt rule, a trainer whose horse tests positive for cobalt in excess of 50 ppb will be suspended for 15 to 60 days, and the horse will be prohibited from starting until the concentration drops below the threshold. A positive in excess of 300 ppb will be treated as a blood-doping violation, which can carry a suspension of up to 10 years.

The commission also passed a rule that will prohibit the use of more than one nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug within one week of a race. Under the rule, trainers will still be allowed to administer one NSAID up to 48 hours prior to a race. The new rule was formulated to prevent trainers from “stacking” NSAIDs in the hopes of enhancing the anti-inflammatory and painkilling effects of the drugs while still testing under the threshold levels for the individual drugs.

Another rule passed Thursday will prohibit the administration of stanozolol, an anabolic steroid. The prohibition will replace a threshold level for the drug that was set at a low level to prevent abuse of the drug, which can have therapeutic effects on a horse but leads to muscle-building when used often and regularly. The prohibition will go into effect six months after the rule is placed on the books to allow horses to eliminate the drug from their systems.

The commission also passed a rule that will require trainers who have made 12 or more starts in New York in the past year to complete four hours of continuing education to retain their licenses. The rule, which will also apply to assistant trainers, has been suggested by a number of racing organizations over the past year, including The Jockey Club, which has continuing-education materials available on its website.

Finally, the commission passed rules that standardize the policies on scratches and surface changes for pick four, pick five, and pick six wagers.