The Indiana Horse Racing Commission has terminated its contract with Truesdail Laboratory, which had been its primary lab, after the regulator says the Tustin, Calif., facility failed to report positive findings in three samples that contained drugs in violation of Indiana's medication rules.
The drugs, isoflupredone and betamethasone, were detected by the IHRC's audit laboratory, Industrial Laboratories in Denver, Colo., and confirmed by referee laboratory LGC Science in Lexington. The IHRC said concentrations of the drugs found were approximately two to five times the thresholds established by Indiana's medication rule, which is the same threshold as the Association of Racing Commissioners International model rule.
Truesdail did not immediately respond with a comment after a May 14 call from Blood-Horse.
The IHRC has a quality assurance program in which some samples are sent to an alternate lab for testing. The IHRC said Truesdail's inability to detect the foreign substances in the three samples is a failure to meet agreed-upon performance metrics.
The IHRC immediately shifted all testing of equine samples to Industrial Laboratories, its new primary laboratory.
"The commission established its quality assurance program for just this reason, to double-check the proficiency of its primary laboratory," IHRC executive director Joe Gorajec said. "The program worked well and we are now able to improve our drug testing moving forward."
The three positive audit findings came after only three weeks of racing at Hoosier Park's Standardbred race meet, which opened March 27. Once the audit of Truesdail's testing is complete, a staff report will be issued to the IHRC and Indiana Department of Administration.
The IHRC has no plans to proceed with disciplinary action related to any of the medication overages it said Truesdail failed to detect when it was serving as the primary laboratory.
