Truesdail lab under scrutiny by RMTC

The Racing Medication and Testing Consortium has sent a report to Truesdail Laboratories outlining concerns arising from a recent site inspection but has not yet made a decision on whether the lab’s accreditation is in jeopardy, according to the head of the RMTC.

The RMTC sent an inspector to the laboratory in September after the Indiana Horse Racing Commission released a report in July contending that the laboratory failed to detect seven regulated or prohibited drugs in samples sent to the facility as part of an audit. The IHRC terminated its contract with Truesdail as a result of the report.

Truesdail, located in Tustin, Calif., was one of the first laboratories to be accredited by the RMTC under a program launched several years ago. Up until the Indiana report was released, the laboratory had one of the best reputations in the racing industry, but the failure to find the medications in the Indiana samples has raised questions about the lab’s competencies.

Dionne Benson, the executive director of the RMTC, said she could not discuss details of what the site inspection revealed until an RMTC-related committee, the Horse Racing Testing Laboratory Committee, meets to discuss the findings. However, she said the findings have been relayed to Truesdail management.

“[The inspector] saw some things that the committee asked Truesdail to correct, and Truesdail seemed very willing to address those and correct them as quickly as possible,” Benson said.

Officials of Truesdail had not responded to a request for comment by early Friday afternoon.

Under uniform rules that the RMTC is encouraging racing jurisdictions to adopt, racing commissions are required to use the services of an accredited laboratory for drug testing. Benson said Truesdail’s accreditation status remains intact, but the Horse Racing Testing Laboratory Committee will reassess the status as part of the process of evaluating Truesdail’s response to the site visit.