by USTA Communications Department

Columbus, OH — With the 2015 World Trotting Conference scheduled to open on Wednesday (Feb. 25) in Australia, two of the most anticipated topics for discussion will be Integrity and Equine Welfare.

On Saturday (Feb. 28), racing integrity issues involving medication classification, testing and enforcement will be discussed in a session labeled “Catching The Cheats.” Equine Welfare is on the agenda for the closing day of the conference on Tuesday (March 3).

Since the previous World Trotting Conference that was held in June 2013 in France, the U.S. Trotting Association has been a leader in the United States in efforts seeking fair and consistent rules regarding the use of medications in harness racing.

“We formed expert committees to consider these complex issues as well as funding critical research to combat the use of illicit medications that most threaten the integrity of the game and the welfare of our horses,” said USTA President Phil Langley. “Equally important, we have led the effort to separate illegal substances from other therapeutic medications that legitimately and humanely address routine maladies and challenges that impact our equine athletes.”

Most recently in June 2014, the USTA announced the funding of a partnership with Dr. George Maylin from the New York Drug Testing and Research Program at Morrisville State College for research into developing regulatory controls for the use of cobalt in race horses.

Dr. Maylin was assisted on the project by Director Dr. Karyn Malinowski and Associate Director Dr. Ken McKeever from the Equine Science Center at Rutgers University.

A major challenge for Dr. Maylin was to find equipment that could accurately test for cobalt and then to obtain the funding for the research. The USTA funded a five-year lease on a state-of-the-art Spectrometer for use in the research and testing.

At the end of September 2014, results of the intensive, scientific study to ascertain the appropriate regulatory level for determining the excessive presence of the naturally-occurring substance cobalt were announced.

Based upon that extensive research, the scientists concluded that 70 parts per billion in blood is the appropriate regulatory threshold, which varied significantly from the 25 parts per billion level recommended by the Racing Medication and Testing Consortium (RMTC) that was being instituted by some state regulatory commissions. The USTA-Maylin recommendation guards against false positives, while identifying those who are engaged in artificial administration with the intent to enhance a horse’s performance.

A year before in September 2013, in protest of Medication Rules put forth by The Association of Racing Commissioners (RCI), the USTA Executive Committee unanimously voted to reject the proposed model rules on the basis that they didn’t take into consideration the differences in the racing breeds and were constructed only for Thoroughbreds. In addition, the committee unanimously voted to withdraw from its membership from the RMTC. Prior to its withdrawal from RMTC, the harness racing industry had supported them with $1 million in contributions over the previous 10 years.

At that time, the USTA stated its support for uniform medication policies customized for each breed.

A month later, USTA President Phil Langley appointed a diverse panel of experts to a new USTA Medication Advisory Committee to develop comprehensive proposals on the use of therapeutic medications and recommended penalties for violations in harness racing.

The members of the USTA Medication Advisory Committee are eminent researchers Dr. George Maylin and Dr. Thomas Tobin; practicing veterinarians Dr. Jay Baldwin, Dr. Janet Durso and Dr. William Moffett; trainers Mark Ford, Sam Beegle, Ray Schnittker and David McCaffrey; racing commissioners Bob Schmitz and Alan Leavitt; attorneys Joe Faraldo and Chris Wittstruck; racing investigator Brice Cote; Hambletonian Society President and CEO Tom Charters; and Phil Langley, Mike Tanner, and T.C. Lane from the USTA.

The USTA Medication Advisory Committee continues to work on developing proposals on the use of therapeutic medications and recommended penalties in harness racing, including overall effects of cobalt and other substances in the racehorse in greater detail.