anti-doping

Edited Press Release Racing Medication and Testing Consortium (RMTC) has announced their support of post-doctoral training by funding a Fellowship Program beginning in 2022. The need for establishing such a program is two-fold:   To promote a sustained research program with a core focus on anti-doping, to include topics related to drug testing, development of new analytical methods with application to racing chemistry, pharmacokinetics/pharmacodynamics, forensic toxicology, or other related disciplines. The future of horseracing's anti-doping programs requires mentoring young scientists to become researchers, racing laboratory directors, and industry leaders. Innovation...

In Swedish racing, there's a new tool being used to catch drug cheats, one with four legs and a wet nose. A 2 1/2-year-old Giant Schnauzer named Lykke (Swedish for happiness) has been put to work by the Swedish Trotting Association (ST) as part of its efforts to wipe out cheating. Lykke is able to detect the presence of illegal substances in a horse by smelling their urine. "It is impossible to say how common doping would be in Swedish trotting, but it would be naive of me to think...

Last month, the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) announced that in Dr. Tessa Muir, it had plucked from foreign shores a new hire to head its equine program at a time when the agency plays an integral role in implementing the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act (HISA), overhauling the industry's governing status quo. Before Muir joined the USADA staff roster, she had hopscotched her way up the industry ladder, from exercise rider to private veterinarian to head of the British Horseracing Authority (BHA)'s anti-doping program between 2013 and 2019. Her...

The last of a series of Oireachtas Hearings into horse racing in Ireland concluded on Tuesday with representatives of the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine the latest to answer questions. The independence of the Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board (IHRB) was a topic of discussion among deputies. Representatives of the IHRB were involved in two sessions this month along with Horse Racing Ireland (HRI), while the Irish Racehorse Trainers' Association (IRTA) were also invited to meet the joint Oireachtas committee. This followed a number of high profile comments made...

Following Irish trainer Jim Bolger voicing his concerns on doping in Irish racing this past weekend, a strong statement against doping was issued by the Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board on Monday evening. The statement read: "Following comments made recently, the IHRB can once again stress there is a zero-tolerance approach to doping in Irish racing and we operate to the highest level using LGC Laboratories in Newmarket, who are one of five International Federation Horseracing Authorities certified laboratories in the world, and the same laboratory used by the British Horseracing...

This is Part 2 of the Thoroughbred Idea Foundation's (TIF) series "Wagering Insecurity."    Faced with remarkable competitive pressure from the rise of legal sports betting, horse racing is at a crossroads. Confidence amongst horseplayers and horse owners is essential to the future sustainability of the sport. Efforts to improve the greater North American Thoroughbred industry will fall flat if its stakeholders fail to secure a foundation of integrity. Achieving this is growing increasingly difficult after the sport has neglected its core base--horseplayers--for decades. "Wagering Insecurity" details some of that...

This week on the TDN Writers' Room, USADA's CEO Travis Tygart joins to explain how his anti-doping team will clean up racing.