The Ontario Racing Commission (ORC) and the Canadian Pari-Mutuel Agency (CPMA) will launch a pilot project that will allow for the collection of Official (blood) samples at the same time as TCO2 samples.

The pilot will take place at The Raceway at Western Fair District, commencing on November 15, 2013 and will run throughout the 2013/2014 racing season.

In this pilot project Official blood samples will be collected by the TCO2 Technician from selected horses in their paddock stall pre-race. The pilot has been designed to run in conjunction with the current CPMA drug control program consisting of post-race Official sample collections. This means that horses that are selected for pre-race Official sample collections may also be selected for post-race Official sample collection.

The full five-page release from the ORC is available below, or available here.