Travers contenders to be monitored continuously

Triple Crown winner American Pharoah and the other horses expected to compete in the Travers Stakes at Saratoga on Saturday will be required to be on the track’s grounds by Wednesday and will be subject to around-the-clock surveillance until the race.

The requirements are part of a six-month-old set of protocols put in place by the New York State Gaming Commission and the New York Racing Association, which operates Saratoga and the state’s two other largest Thoroughbred tracks. The protocols had been implemented in selected high-profile races in New York for three years, but earlier this year, the requirements were implemented for 11 Grade 1 races in New York, including the Travers, on a permanent basis.

American Pharoah is scheduled to ship to Saratoga on Wednesday from Del Mar in Southern California, where he has been training since his win in the Aug. 2 Haskell Invitational in New Jersey.

Under the protocols, all of the horses pointed to the Travers Stakes also have been subject to out-of-competition testing, regardless of where they train or are based. Lee Park, a spokesman for the New York State Gaming Commission, said Monday that out-of-competition samples have already been pulled on horses who were expected to be entered in the race, but he declined to name the horses, citing the protocols. The Jockey Club has provided funding for the out-of-competition testing program.

Once on the grounds, horses entered in the Travers will be guarded continuously in the 72 hours leading up to the race. Any visitors to the stall have to sign in, and any treatments provided to the horses will have to be logged. The vet records for the horses will be posted on the New York State Gaming Commission website. Security personnel have the right to search any visitors or seize any substances for testing.

Horses entered in the Sword Dancer Invitational on the Travers undercard also are subject to stricter security protocols, though those rules do not require 24-hour surveillance.

Other states and racetracks have implemented so-called “enhanced security protocols” for major races similar to the New York rules during the past three years to address public-perception concerns about the integrity of horse racing. Since the protocols have been implemented, no racing commission or racetrack has announced that a horse participating in a race with such protocols in place has tested positive for a banned substance.