The industry's Racing Medication and Testing Consortium will recommend that the anabolic steroid stanozolol, currently allowed for therapeutic use up to 30 days prior to racing, be eliminated from the list of substances with a recommended threshold level.
The change was one of several actions taken by the RMTC board of directors during its regular meeting Sept. 17 in Denver.
The recommendation will be presented to the Association of Racing Commissioners International. That group makes model rule recommendations that it encourages state regulator members to adopt.
The stanozolol recommendation would mean the anabolic steroids would not be permitted at any concentration in a horse's system on race day. The previous threshold allowed stanozolol to be administered up to about 30 days prior to racing.
Stanozolol is a synthetic anabolic steroid previously marketed as Winstrol but is now only available as a compounded product. Studies have shown a wide variation in concentration levels of the compounded product, which makes it difficult to put an effective withdrawal time recommendation in place.
In other moves:
• The RMTC board voted to grant interim accreditation status to the Ohio Department of Agriculture Racing Laboratory. The Ohio Department of Agriculture Laboratory will become the third fully accredited laboratory upon successful completion of a site inspection, as it has previously fulfilled the other requirements for RMTC accreditation. The University of California-Davis Kenneth L. Maddy Laboratory and HFL Sport Science Inc. Laboratory in Lexington, were the first two laboratories to be accredited by the RMTC. Five other laboratories have applied for accreditation.
• The RMTC board voted to support the effort for nationwide adoption of uniform medication rules, penalties, and laboratory accreditation reforms, and directed RMTC staff to provide any scientific expertise needed by racing commissions to support adoption of these reforms.
• The RMTC board voted to form a committee to review the existing model rule for out-of-competition testing and to recommend any necessary changes to the protocol for the collection and testing of out-of-competition samples at the request of The Jockey Club.
• The RMTC board voted to authorize the RMTC's Scientific Advisory Committee to explore whether scientific research will support separate medication rules for Standardbreds in regard to the withdrawal times for clenbuterol and intra-articular corticosteroids at the request of the United States Trotting Association.
• The RMTC board elected Alex Waldrop, president and chief executive officer of the National Thoroughbred Racing Association, to succeed Dr. Bobby Lewis as chairman of the RMTC board. Lewis, who served as chairman for the past six years, will continue to represent the American Association of Equine Practitioners on the RMTC board. "I am very proud of what the RMTC has accomplished since its inception," stated Dr. Lewis. "I look forward to seeing the implementation of the National Uniform Medication Reform program that has been the focus of much of our work over the past six years."
The RMTC consists of 24 racing industry stakeholders and organizations that represent Thoroughbred, Standardbred, American Quarter Horse, and Arabian racing.