Keeneland Adds New Sale Condition for Steroids

In an effort to provide steroid-free assurance and as a means to help international buyers meet new British Horse Racing Authority (BHA) testing guidelines for horses they plan on exporting, Keeneland Association, Inc., announced a new sales condition on Wednesday. 

At the time of sale, the buyer will check the appropriate box for BHA testing on the Acknowledgement of Purchase and Security Agreement for horses which will be exported to Great Britain within 60 days of purchase. Keeneland will then arrange for a blood sample to be taken by a veterinarian immediately after purchase and prior to the horse leaving the sales grounds. The sample will be sent to a laboratory in England selected by the BHA. If the BHA post-sale test is positive for anabolic steroids, the buyer has the right, within 24 hours of notification, to rescind the sale and return the horse to the consignor.

BHA anti-doping guidelines that went into effect Mar. 2 mandate that “a horse must not be administered an anabolic steroid at any point in its life” under penalty of being ineligible to start in Britain for 14 months.

In addition, United States-based Thoroughbreds exported into Britain to race must now have registration paperwork turned in 14 days prior to arrival and must be in the country and available for testing 10 business days in advance of their intended race (permanent imports have a separate, although similar, set of guidelines). The new Keeneland testing option will help speed up that process.

“By implementing this new condition of sale, which addresses the BHA’s enhanced policy, our British and European buyers will have added confidence that horses bought here can train and race in Great Britain,” Keeneland President and Chief Executive Officer Bill Thomason said.

Keeneland–like the Fasig-Tipton, Ocala Breeders’ Sales, and Barretts Equine Limited sales companies–already abides by a 2008 Sales Integrity Program guideline that prohibits exogenous anabolics in horses 45 days prior to an auction.

Keeneland currently offers buyers the right to order a $500 blood test on any horse purchased at its sales to ensure that the horse meets the 45-day steroid-free rule. If the horse tests positive, the buyer has the right to have the sale rescinded.

A Keeneland press release stated that the new BHA-related condition of sale “mirrors” the U.S. version of anabolic steroid testing, but there is actually a subtle nuance: The U.S. testing only guarantees that a horse is steroid-free for 45 days. The BHA standard is supposed to ascertain that a horse has been steroid-free for its entire lifetime.

When the preliminary BHA guidelines were first announced in 2014, hair sampling was defined as the testing standard, because hair sampling is considered more exacting than blood sampling in determining the lifetime presence of substances.

But in March 2015, the BHA announced that blood testing would be used while hair testing got phased in. Then, on June 4, BHA chief executive Nick Rust told delegates at the Pan American Racing Conference in New York that, “We don’t have enough confidence yet in hair testing…as science improves, we would expect to introduce that at a point in the future. At the moment, we’re relying on the blood samples.”

So Keeneland exports to Britain will have blood drawn for the time being, rather than having hair clipped for the more accurate hair tests that are envisioned as the eventual British standard.

Geoffrey Russell, Keeneland’s Director of Sales, affirmed that no matter what time standard or testing method the BHA uses, buyers will have the right to have their sales rescinded if the test comes up positive for steroids.

“Their results are final. If the BHA test comes back as positive, the buyer has the right to rescind the sale,” Russell said. “I’m not a scientist, so I don’t know how far back they can go to test blood. They will be developing into hair testing, which will definitely be able to test the lifetime of the horse.”

In its press release announcing the new testing initiative, Keeneland said no horse from its sales has ever tested positive based on the 45-day rule. Russell said he did not have information immediately available to confirm how many horses actually undergo the U.S. version of the elective testing.

“BHA rules of racing do not seek to regulate any international racing or breeding industries,” BHA Director of Raceday Operations and Regulation Jamie Stier said. “However, we welcome the proactive, constructive and collaborative approach taken by Keeneland to offer this extra service to their customers who are intending to purchase a horse to enter the British market.”

When asked if he got a sense from international buyers and sellers that there was a desire for the U.S. to move toward Britain’s zero-tolerance policy on steroids, Russell said, “I haven’t had any discussions like that with any European buyers.”

Russell added: “The conditions of sale are always very flexible and fluid. As the market changes, so do the conditions of sale. Keeneland’s attitude is that we wish to remain the global marketplace, so we have to adapt.”