As Drug Test Grant Money Goes Unclaimed, Jockey Club Ramps Up Awareness of OOC Program

  
By T.D. Thornton—When the topic of expanding drug testing comes up, one common lament within the United States racing industry is that there isn’t enough money available to broaden existing protocols. 
  
Yet in 2014, the first year that The Jockey Club budgeted $250,000 to supplement out-of-competition (OOC) testing for horses nominated to graded stakes races, the bulk of that grant money—a staggering $150,000—went unclaimed. 
  
“This year we hope additional states will take advantage of it,” said Matt Iuliano, executive vice president and executive director of the Jockey Club, who confirmed that only “about $100,000 or so” was paid out in 2014. “The design of the program is to extend the reach and effectiveness of existing OOC testing programs to allow deeper testing. This year we’re actively promoting it again under that same mission.” 
  
The guidelines are simple enough, so it’s baffling why more jurisdictions aren’t applying for the money: Tracks only need to make a written request to The Jockey Club, showing invoices and supporting documentation (name of graded stakes race, number of horses sampled, number of horses that started). The tests must look for blood doping agents and Racing Commissioners International Class 1 banned substances, and be collected from nominees no closer than seven days before the graded race. 
  
Iuliano said OOC test costs vary depending on the regulatory labs used by each state, but average between $150 and $500 per horse. Beyond the actual testing, the grant money can be used to pay for ancillary costs, such as sending veterinary personnel to an off-track site to collect samples, as well as shipping and processing fees. 
  
Tracks in California, Florida, Kentucky, New York and Ontario participated in the program in 2014. Iuliano said two of the three G1 Triple Crown races—the Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes—specifically used Jockey Club funds to augment existing OOC testing at Churchill Downs and Belmont Park. But Pimlico Race Course did not apply for money to test Preakness Stakes nominees. 
  
“Maryland didn’t participate last year, but we think that’s going to change this year,” Iuliano said. 
  
“Olympic sports and other major sports have been relying more on OOC testing as a complement to other testing,” said Iuliano. “In horse racing, post-race testing has been the principal mechanism for catching cheaters, and we think it’s important to further the reach for states that already have OOC rules on the books. We’re trying to get regulators and racetracks to embrace OOC testing into the mix for their drug testing protocols” 
  
Iuliano listed California, New York and Kentucky as U.S. industry leaders in OOC testing, noting that those jurisdictions also collectively represent the highest concentration of graded stakes races in the U.S. 
  
Gulfstream Park was the first track to make use of the OOC testing grant money, which was announced at The Jockey Club’s Round Table Conference on Matters Pertaining to Racing in August 2013. At that time, The Jockey Club committed to funding $250,000 for both 2014 and 2015. 
  
“With these two years as a pilot project, we’re hoping racetracks will see the value and begin to embrace OOC testing mechanisms,” Iuliano said. “When we look at those early adopters from last year, it’s the states that we would predict would be early adopters, because they’ve got very robust graded stakes programs, they have a lot of racing, and they already have OOC testing protocols in place. We expect that a lot of other states are going to follow suit now that they’ve seen those early adopters.” 
  
Looking forward, Iuliano said he expected The Jockey Club will fund the program beyond 2015, with the hope of creating a “trickle down” effect as OOC protocols become more widespread. 
  
“The reason that we restricted the program to the graded stakes is that those are the races with the highest visibility, and typically, those are the races that generally have out of competition testing already associated with them,” Iuliano said. “We would entertain proposals [in future years] from racetracks if they wanted to discuss out of competition testing on their other races. We’ve made a commitment for 2014-15 only for the graded stakes races, but if a racetrack has races other than graded stakes that they do out of competition testing for, we’re willing to listen.”