NTRA's Waldrop testifies on steroids in racing

February 28, 2008

On Wednesday, National Thoroughbred Racing Association president and CEO Alex Waldrop spoke about the use of steriods in horse racing before the Congressional Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade and Consumer Protection on one of two panels on its "Drugs in sports: Compromising the health of athletes and underminding the integrity of competition." Below is a transcript of his testimony:

"Mr. Chairman, Ranking Member Whitfield and Members of the Subcommittee, I am Alex Waldrop, president and chief executive officer of the National Thoroughbred Racing Association. The NTRA is a not-for-profit trade association for Thoroughbred horseracing. Its members include 65 racetracks and 40 national and state horsemen�s groups drawn from 23 states. NTRA member racetracks and horsemen account for about 90 percent of all races run in North America.

In 2007, nearly 107,000 U.S. horses made 918,000 starts in 116,000 races. Our industry tested at least one horse from every one of those races. We test every race, every day, screening for up to 200 drugs in one sample. Collectively, racing spends between 30 and 35 million dollars annually on equine drug testing at 18 private or university laboratories. In addition, the industry annually spends almost $1.4 million on research and development into new tests and testing procedures necessary to stay current in the detection of performance enhancing drugs and medications.

Our labs test for a vast array of drugs, including stimulants, narcotics, bronchodilators and anti-inflammatories. Of the 130,000 samples tested across the United States in 2006 (the latest year for which complete statistics are available), only three were positive for a purely performance-enhancing Class I drug like cocaine. The other 27 so-called "drug positives" in 2006 were for overages of properly prescribed, legal, therapeutic medications. The vast majority of these overages were caused by human error in judging withdrawal times for prescribed therapeutic medications prior to a race.

While NTRA is not a "league office" with the power to sanction teams or players, the organization uses its convening authority to address a broad range of initiatives of national importance to the horseracing industry. Equine medication is a national issue that all stakeholders agree is central to our industry�s integrity.

As such, racing and its 38 state regulatory bodies have been proactive in identifying and banning illegal, performance-enhancing drugs and regulating the use of prescribed therapeutic medications that may affect a horse�s raceday performance.

As a sport and a pari-mutuel wagering industry, horseracing is regulated at the state level by individual racing commissions. These organizations provide oversight for drug testing under the model rules of the Association of Racing Commissioners International, known as RCI.

RCI develops its model rules in conjunction with the Racing Medication and Testing Consortium, or RMTC.

The RMTC is governed by a board of directors consisting of 23 industry stakeholder groups including regulators, veterinarians, and chemists, as well as horse owners, trainers, breeders, and racetracks from all racing breeds including Thoroughbreds, Standardbreds and Quarter Horses. In addition to serving on the Board of the RMTC, the NTRA provides funding for RMTC and communicates and endorses RMTC policies to its membership.

The RMTC together with RCI have done important work in the area of therapeutic medications and drug-testing policy. Most recently, the RMTC and RCI called for the adoption of model rules that would effectively prohibit the use of anabolic steroids in racehorses by the end of 2008.

Let me be clear, anabolic steroids have therapeutic value in treating racehorses. They are most often prescribed when a horse is recovering from illness or surgery. However, horsemen, tracks and breeders all agree that racehorses should not compete on anabolic steroids.

In practice, that means that anabolic steroids must be withdrawn from a horse�s medication regimen at least a month before its next race. This ensures that any benefit the animal received as a result of the administration will be gone by the time of the race. In addition, minute levels of only four individual anabolic steroids will be permitted in post-race samples. Two anabolic steroids, stanozolol and boldenone, are approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration for use in horses. Boldenone and two other accepted anabolic steroids, nandrolone and testosterone, are also naturally occurring substances. The model rules state that no more than one of these anabolic steroids may be present in any given sample. Any other anabolic steroid is simply illegal.

The purpose of the model rule is clear: to ensure that these medications are used solely for therapeutic purposes and none is used in a manner that enhances the performance of a horse in any race.

The model rule has been or is being adopted by Washington, Arkansas, Iowa, Illinois, California, Indiana, Pennsylvania, Delaware, New York and Virginia. Kentucky, Texas, Florida and Maryland are among the many other states that are expected to support the model rule as well. The states mentioned here account for nearly 60 percent of races run in the United States and we continue to work with the remaining jurisdictions to secure their support.

The current rule is based on 30 years of science and testing in European and Asian countries utilizing urine samples. Our industry supports further research to provide threshold levels and withdrawal times in both urine and blood plasma. Testing in plasma may be more accurate and less expensive. RMTC currently is funding research at the University of Florida that will provide guidelines for plasma samples. Similar research is underway in New York, Texas and Pennsylvania.

What remains at issue is the very practical concern of uniform enforcement of the model rule while we await additional research. As previously mentioned, a number of states have already adopted the model rule. Others want to wait until the science is more complete. NTRA, RMTC and RCI are united in saying, �be in compliance by Dec. 31, 2008.�

Working in conjunction with the RCI, the RMTC provides the horse industry with something that every sport needs�a credible, scientifically based, industry-led forum for addressing the multitude of drug and medication issues presented by modern day veterinary medicine. The RMTC has proven to be the best way to balance the legitimate interests of our industry�s numerous constituencies. The horse industry is united in its efforts to protect the health of our equine athletes and the integrity of our sport.

Mr. Chairman, we appreciate this opportunity to speak to this committee on this important issue and welcome your questions."

« Back