On Monday, August 10, the Breeders' Cup announced an expansion to its steroid ban policy to include all Class 1 and Class 2 drugs, as established by The Association of Racing Commissioners International (RCI) Uniform Classification Guidelines for Foreign Substances
, for this year's Breeders' Cup world championships.
The Breeders' Cup also announced that it will be performing out-of-competition testing for EPO and TCO2.
Trainers of horses that test positive for these drugs at this year's event will face a one-year suspension from the 2010 event; and trainers that violate the policy three times will face a lifetime ban from participating in thoroughbred racing's season-ending championships.
The Breeders' Cup board of directors unanimously approved the 2009 Prohibited Substance Rule as recommended by the Racing & Nominations Committee.
The Association of Racing Commissioners International Uniform Classification Guidelines for Foreign Substances is broken down into five classes of drugs. The ranking of drugs is based on their pharmacology, their ability to influence the outcome of a race, whether or not they have legitimate therapeutic uses in the racing horse, or other evidence that they may be used improperly.
- Class 1 -- Stimulants and depressant drugs that have the highest potential to affect performance and have no generally accepted medical use in a racing horse. Many of these agents are Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) schedule II substances. These include the following drugs and their metabolites: opiates, opium derivatives, synthetic opioids, psychoactive drugs, amphetamines and amphetamine-like drugs. There are at least 51 drugs in this class.
- Class 2 -- Drugs that have a high potential to affect performance, but have less of a potential than Class 1. These drugs are not generally accepted as therapeutic agents in racing horses or they are therapeutic agents that have a high potential for abuse. Among the nearly 350 drugs in this class are Lidocaine, Epogen, Caffeine and snake venoms.
"The establishment of these new regulations strengthens our number one priority of preserving the integrity of our competition and protecting the welfare of our athletes at the World Championships," said Breeders' Cup president and CEO Greg Avioli.
The announced actions further Breeders' Cup policy to ban illegal substances from the world championships. Last year, in conjunction with the California Horse Racing Board (CHRB), anabolic steroid testing was, for first time, conducted on the Breeders' Cup races.
In addition to anabolic steroids and Class 1 and Class 2 testing at this year's event, there will also be out of competition testing for EPO (blood doping) 10 days prior to this year's Breeders' Cup and TCO2 (milk shaking) testing prior to all 14 Breeders' Cup races in the Santa Anita detention barn. A failed EPO test would make the horse ineligible for competition and the trainer subject to suspension. Failed tests for TCO2 will result in purse redistributions and suspensions. The EPO and TCO2 testing policies were first instituted by Breeders' Cup at the 2007 Championships at Monmouth Park.
The official policy adopted by the Breeders' Cup appears below.
Effective with the 2009 Breeders' Cup world championships, for any horse participating in a world championships race that is found by the racing regulatory agency in the jurisdiction where the race is conducted to have tested positive for any substance listed under Class 1 or Class 2 in the Association of Racing Commissioners International Uniform Classification Guidelines for Foreign Substances or to have violated the steroid rule in effect where the race is conducted, in addition to any penalties imposed by the racing regulatory agency in the jurisdiction, the following sanctions shall be imposed:
- (i) the horse shall be disqualified to last in the race and any purse earned by the horse shall be forfeited and redistributed in accordance with the revised order of finish;
- (ii) in the event of a first violation of the prohibited substance rule in a World Championships race, the horse's trainer and all horses directly or indirectly in such trainer's care shall be ineligible to participate in the World Championships races conducted in the year immediately following the final determination that such trainer's horse violated the prohibited substance rule;
- (iii) in the event of a second violation of the prohibited substance rule by a trainer in a World Championships race, the trainer and all horses directly or indirectly in such trainer's care shall be ineligible to participate in the World Championships races conducted in the two years immediately following the final determination that such trainer's horse violated the prohibited substance rule a second time;
- (iv) in the event of a third violation of the prohibited substance rule by a trainer in a World Championships race, the trainer and all horses directly or indirectly in such trainer's care shall be ineligible to participate in all World Championships races conducted for the remainder of such trainer's life following the final determination that such trainer's horse violated the prohibited substance rule a third time.
(With files from the Breeders' Cup)