Thoroughbred Safety Coalition adds four new recommendations

A group of racing companies and organizations has issued four new recommendations for the racing industry, including a 48-hour ban on all medications and substances that are not “specifically authorized” by regulators.

The recommendations from the Thoroughbred Safety Coalition, which was formed late in 2019 to push for industry-wide reforms to racing practices, were added to the organization’s platform, a list of established priorities. In addition to the 48-hour ban, the group recommended that requirements be imposed on “the identification and treatment of hypothyroidism” in horses; the adoption of testing and maintenance standards for racing surfaces; and the adoption of protocols developed by a separate group, the Racing Medication and Testing Consoritum, regarding the operation of test barns.

The 48-hour ban would apply to any “intravenous, intramuscular, transmucosal, topical, nasal, and oral administration of medications and substances” that regulators have not already approved for use.

The recommendation on hypothyroidism would address a problem that several racing commissions have already begun to take up after revelations that some trainers were administering drugs to treat the condition regardless of a diagnosis. In the past four months, racing commissions in California and Kentucky have approved regulations that require a specific diagnosis of hypothyroidism before a horse can be treated with a drug.

With the four new recommendations, the coalition has now approved 32 practices for its platform. The group has been tracking progress on those priorities on its website.

The expansion of the platform comes five weeks after the U.S. Congress passed a bill authorizing the creation of a national oversight organization for racing as part of a year-end omnibus spending package. Under that bill, the national organization will have an effective date of July 1, 2022.

The oversight agency is expected to address most of the reforms being advocated by the coalition, which signaled its support for the bill in the fall of 2020.

“Building out our reform platform remains the coalition’s top priority as we continue to advocate for uniform measures that will protect the well-being of our horses and the integrity of our sport across state racing jurisdictions,” said Shannon Arvin, the president and chief executive of Keeneland Association, the racetrack and sales company. “Testing, whether it’s for racing surface consistency, hypothyroidism or controlled substances, strengthens accountability and ensures an even playing field.”