West Virginia moves drug testing to Industrial Labs

Drug testing for horses at West Virginia racetracks will be handled by Industrial Labs in Colorado as of Aug. 12 after the state racing commission voted to allow the state’s current contract with Truesdail Laboratories in California to expire, commission officials said Wednesday.

The commission voted to switch labs at a commission meeting Tuesday, citing concerns about Truesdail that were revealed in a quality-assurance analysis recently conducted by the Indiana Horse Racing Commission, according to Joe Moore, the executive interim director of the West Virginia Racing Commission.

The analysis determined that Truesdail failed to detect illegal concentrations of several regulated medications and did not find a positive for a Class 1 drug. After the analysis was conducted, the Indiana commission terminated its own contract with Truesdail and handed over responsibility for drug testing to Industrial as well.

Moore said the West Virginia commission has yet to sign a formal agreement with Industrial, but the lab will take over drug testing for the state’s tracks when Truesdail’s contract expires effective with the shipment of post-race samples from races Aug. 11.