WITHDRAWAL TIMES ISSUE 27:Jerkins feature.qxd
21/8/09
13:35
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VETERINARY
There has been a growing awareness recently that racing needs to have more uniform regulations when it comes to performance-enhancing substances and treatments. In this section of the magazine we have one article on the efforts to standardise the recommendations on drug withdrawal times across Europe, and one article on the evolution of rules in America, which are moving away from placing all blame squarely on the trainers’ shoulders, and taking into account the actions of the vets.
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NTERNATIONALLY, racing’s regulatory authorities take a clear and firm stance on the presence of prohibited substances in the horse at the time of racing. European “Doping control” applies the so-called “Zero Tolerance” approach for substances having no therapeutic effect that are used with the intent to affect performance. Most jurisdictions additionally practice “medication control” for legitimate veterinary medicines, and beyond this, many state racing authorities
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in the US allow horses to race on “permitted medications” such as phenylbutazone (“Bute”) and furosemide (“Salix”). European countries currently require that all horses race free from the direct effect of any medication, although there is a trend towards medication control based on measurement of “irrelevant” levels of veterinary medicines. Prohibited substances are often considered to be synonymous with drugs (pharmaceutical medication). However, this is not the complete picture. There are a
variety of substances of differing origins that will be regarded as prohibited under the Rules of Racing including but not restricted to: Approved equine veterinary drugs Veterinary drugs approved for species other than horses Human drugs Herbal products (human and animal) ‘Natural products’ Dietary supplements Pharmacologically active dietary constituents and contaminants Endogenous substances In contrast to other sports-governing bodies such as the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the Federation Equestre Internationale (FEI) (policies are under review), European racing authorities do not have a definitive list of banned drugs. They do have an essentially generic list that identifies prohibited substances according to the physiological systems upon which they act, for example “substances acting on the nervous system; substances acting on the cardiovascular system; substances acting on the musculoskeletal system”. In almost all instances, any substance (see list above) administered to a horse by any means or route, beyond normal nutrition, is prohibited where there is the intention to attempt to alter the animal’s racing performance. Indeed, the mere presence of