On Tuesday, March 10 at a public meeting, the Indiana Horse Racing Commission unveiled the details of its 2015 drug testing program.

A synopsis presented by the commission’s executive director, Joe Gorajec, includes a new primary testing laboratory, a unique-to-the-industry audit laboratory, expanded out-of-competition testing and cobalt testing. Several new elements in this year’s program are consistent with recommendations made by The Jockey Club in its much publicized 2014 McKinsey Report titled ‘Raising the Standard of Testing and Enforcement.’

Primary Laboratory: Truesdail Laboratory in Tustin California has been selected by the Indiana Department of Administration to be the Commission primary laboratory. Truesdail is accredited by the Racing Medication and Testing Consortium. Truesdail’s contract will include performance based metrics ensuring the quality of its testing and the timeliness of reporting.

Quality Assurance Program: The quality of Indiana’s testing will be further ensured by the addition of an audit laboratory, which will perform periodic testing. A number of samples will be simultaneously sent to this laboratory for quality assurance. The commission has committed up to $100,000 towards its audit program. Industrial Laboratory in Denver, Colorado will perform this important audit function for the commission.

Out of Competition Testing: The commission will increase its target for out of competition to 500 horses for 2015. This increase represents a doubling of its historical average of annual out of competition tests. The new benchmark will raise Indiana’s out of competition tests to over 10 per cent of the total number of horses tested annually. Indiana was amongst the first states in the nation to initiate an out of competition testing program. Since 2007, Indiana has conducted over 2,000 such tests. In Indiana, out of competition testing is conducted at race tracks, training centres and private farms.

Cobalt: The commission will continue to test for cobalt in 2015. The threshold will remain at 25 parts per billion. Indiana, the first state in the nation to regulate cobalt, experienced a decrease of 87 per cent in horses racing with elevated levels, once a regulatory threshold was established on September 30, 2014. Additionally, cobalt has been included in the list of substances regulated through out of competition testing. The commission has allocated up to $50,000 for cobalt testing in 2015.

(With files from the Indiana Horse Racing Commission)