DRUGS DISCUSSED AT ROUND TABLE

by Mike Kane
The Jockey Club will pursue federal legislation to bring about a national policy on medication reform in racing, the organization’s chairman Ogden Mills Phipps said Sunday. 
In remarks that concluded the 62nd annual Round Table Conference on Matters Relating to Racing in Saratoga Springs, N.Y. (click for a replay of the conference), Phipps followed through on his statements last year and again in March that The Jockey Club would look to the federal government if states were slow to adopt proposed uniform rules. Phipps also said The Jockey Club would seek to develop an alliance with the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) to manage drug testing and enforcement. 
Phipps noted that some progress has been made and cited the recent statement by a group of prominent trainers that it favors the elimination of race-day medication. 
“We should all think long and hard when we hear individuals with their experience and accomplishments weigh in on a topic of this importance,” Phipps said. “At the end of the day, it is clear that we need to do more.” He continued, “Yesterday, the Board of Stewards of The Jockey Club authorized our management team to devote resources and support to develop and implement a national legislative strategy that builds upon the efforts to date and takes advantage of the momentum from the recent trainers’ announcement.” 
? 
Phipps added, “To be clear, this broadened strategy will include federal legislation.” 
Phipps’ announcement followed a report earlier in the two-hour program by McKinsey & Company that illustrated the wide range of medication rules and enforcement standards in place in the United States. Stuart S. Janney III, vice chairman of The Jockey Club and chairman of the safety committee, preceded Phipps, discussing some of the findings of the McKinsey study and what has been accomplished in the drive to have the 38 racing states use uniform rules. 
“The bottom line is that five states: Delaware, Indiana, Massachusetts, North Dakota and Virginia, have adopted all four phases of the program,” Janney said. “Absent are the states which are generally considered to be major racing states. 
“There are those who look at these numbers and believe that given enough time the industry will achieve uniformity, that uniformity is just around the corner. I wish I did. We’re better than before, but it would be a stretch to call it uniformity. Nevertheless, I count myself as an optimist in this industry. To some extent I draw inspiration from what other sports have done.” 
Janney pointed to testing and enforcement policy in place in the NFL, the Olympics and international cycling.

“We are now where others have been and we need to go to where they are,” he said. 
Phipps acknowledged that seeking federal rules won’t provide an quick solution to the issue to change public perception of racing and might produce other problems. 
“We fully realize that legislation doesn’t happen overnight and even when bills become law implementation takes time,” he said. “We also appreciate the perspective of those that firmly believe that pursuit of federal legislation could have unintended consequences and may have opened Pandora’s Box with the Interstate Horse Racing Act of 1978, which is so vital to the economic health of our industry. But we believe that this is the correct route to take. I can assure you that we appreciate all these concerns and will proceed cautiously and thoughtfully at all times.” 
Dan Singer, a senior partner and leader at McKinsey & Company said that his firm estimates that $44 million is being spent annually in the U.S. on drug testing and enforcement. That number is approximately $60 a start, about the same that was being spent per start in 1991. Singer said that six states now have out-of-competition testing programs in place, but that U.S. lags far behind some other countries. Eleven percent of tests in Hong Kong and 10% in France, for example, are out of competition, while just 1% of U.S. tests are out of competition. 
“Risk of detection in out-of-competition testing acts as a deterrent,” he said. 
Singer said that two-thirds of the USADA’s tests and more than 50% of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) tests and 59% of swimming’s tests are done on athletes away from competition. He said that states need to update rules to allow for wider testing, develop reciprocity agreements that permits horses that train in one state and race in another be screened, that the number of out-of-competition tests be raised, and hair and urine be collected, in addition to blood. 
McKinsey’‘s research showed a disparity in the cost of testing from state to state, a range of $55 to $230. Those tests, Singer said, look for as few as 15 substances to as many as 1,800. He cited a pair of international tests with price tags exceeding $300, which screen for more than 2,000 substances. 
The analysis also revealed a wide range of variations in specifications for testing laboratories, medication regulations and penalties for violations. 
Martin Panza, the Senior Vice President of Racing Operations for the New York Racing Association, made a presentation on how racing organizations must deal with the impact of smaller foal crops. The Jockey Club has projected that the 2015 foal crop will be 22,000. The figure shows some stability after years of declines, but the foal crop in 2008 was 35,000.
“Race day schedules have to be reduced,” Panza said. “Our fans deserve and demand better wagering opportunities. If there is not a reduction in the race days at the very least there must be a reduction in the number of races offered. The game is undoubtedly going through a transitional period and it seems to me with some thought and proper planning we may have an opportunity to reinvent ourselves. The days of carding 11, 12 or 13 races may be over. They should be. It’s just not working.” 
Panza said that tracks ought to consider limiting its programs to races with eight to 10 starters because they are much more appealing to horseplayers and proposed rotating 60-day regional meets to deal with the shortage of horses. 
“Personally, I think big event days are the way to go,” he said. “American racing needs more large-scale national events, if possible. We have the Triple Crown races and the Breeders’ Cup event, but after those events racing seems to become very much a regional games. We must find a way to grow these regional days into much larger national days.