HRI Publishes Anti-Doping Report

Horse Racing Ireland has approved a budget of €1.845 million for new laboratory equipment to ensure Ireland's drug-testing regime operates to international standards. The equipment will be installed in phases beginning this year, and HRI will also support the annual cost of additional sampling, higher levels of out-of-competition testing and the creation of a new anti-doping unit within the Turf Club.

These plans were just one aspect of a report published by HRI Thursday on the Irish Thoroughbred Industry Anti-Doping Task Force's recommendations to protect Irish racing and breeding. The task force, which is comprised of 16 industry members and chaired by HRI Vice-Chair and Senior Steward of the Turf Club, Meta Osborne, also included in its recommendations a lifetime ban for any horse illicitly administered a prohibited substance; no automatic therapeutic use exemption for anabolic steroids; consideration of a single national equine drug control laboratory; increased out-of-competition testing and samples analysed annually; establishment of a dedicated anti-doping unit and equine welfare officer; support of an ongoing research program into new and emerging threats in equine doping; liability to test any horse entered at public auction in Ireland; and standardization of testing for horses at sales, in training or at the racetrack. The Anti-Doping Task Force issued the following statement:

“Illegal performance-enhancing drugs have no place in the Irish racing and breeding industries. In particular, the Task Force supports the position of the International Federation of Horseracing Authorities that the use of anabolic steroids should not be permitted in or out of competition. Doping is cheating, and cheating is fraud: cheats have no place in our industry. Doping confers an unfair advantage on one individual over another, has the potential to pose serious welfare risks to horses and damages the perception of racing and breeding. Ultimately it places at risk the valuable trade in Irish bloodstock and the business of betting on Irish racing. The organisations represented on the Task Force are committed to ensuring that the drug testing regime in the Irish racing and breeding sectors is one that can meet current and future challenges. The organisations that we represent strongly support a robust anti-doping strategy in Irish racing and breeding. Furthermore we encourage all stakeholders to continue to pass on any information that they become aware of about the importation and/or use of illegal drugs to the Turf Club or the Department of Agriculture, Food and Marine.”

Meta Osborne said, “I am delighted that the Anti-Doping Task Force has produced an agreed consensus statement and report which the industry has been able to support and unite behind. The key objectives are to eliminate cheating and to ensure that horse welfare is paramount. The announcement of a lifetime ban for any horse found to have been illicitly administered any substance “prohibited at all times” including anabolic steroids is an unequivocal statement that cheats will not be tolerated within Irish racing. The Turf Club will continue to work with Horse Racing Ireland in this vital area to ensure that we have the resources and structures in place to maintain the highest levels of integrity in our sport, and thereby to safe-guard the international reputation of the Irish Thoroughbred industry.”