by Gerry Connors, the Pennsylvania Harness Racing Commission

Harrisburg, PA — Anton J. Leppler, Executive Secretary of the Pennsylvania Harness Racing Commission, will speak at the upcoming Harness Horsemen’s International meeting about the development and early successes of the state’s new Trainer Responsibility Integrity Program (TRIP), which seeks to reduce the number of human and equine positive tests in Pennsylvania harness racing.

The TRIP allows trainers to sign up for participation in the program, which provides free drug testing for caretakers four times a year. If a person tests positive, the individual will immediately be started on a road to rehabilitation through a Commission-approved program.

This TRIP testing seeks to reduce the number of equine positives that can ultimately be traced back to “casual contamination,” a relatively-recent phenomenon which unfortunately has grown steadily in the last few months. TRIP-enrolled trainers whose horses test positive due to a casual contamination will then having mitigating circumstances when facing any possible sanction the Commission would impose. Trainers not enrolled in the TRIP program will be judged without thought of mitigation, based on the type of positive they receive.

“We feel that the TRIP program will be beneficial in many ways,” said Leppler, the designer and chief administrator of the program. “It gets remedial help to the unfortunate individuals involved, and it will also cut down on the number of equine positive tests by eliminating those resulting from casual contamination. We are very appreciative of the cooperation we have received from the state’s horsemen to date, and I think that explaining the details of the program to horsemen from all over North America will give harness racing another powerful tool to maintain the all-important integrity of the sport.”

The HHI annual meeting is scheduled for March 5-7, and will be headquartered at the Embassy Suites in Deerfield Beach Fla.