KHRC Approves Move of State's Drug Testing to UK Lab

The Kentucky Horse Racing Commission approved April 20 a motion to establish the University of Kentucky Equine Analytical Chemistry Laboratory as the commission's new drug testing laboratory.

The approval follows an April 9 recommendation for the change by the Kentucky Equine Drug Research Council, an advisory board for the full commission. Dr. Bruce Howard, the KHRC equine medical director, said the anticipated start of testing by the UK EACL would begin with the start of the Ellis Park meet on June 27.

The change to the UK EACL will see the KHRC terminate its contract with Industrial Laboratories in Wheat Ridge, Colo.

"The UK EACL under the direction of Dr. (Scott) Stanley is on the cutting edge of technology," Howard said. "The laboratory conducts ultra-modern anti-doping testing and applied research, they've upgraded testing equipment to remain on the forefront of testing, and has recently broken ground on a new expanded laboratory and testing facility. The UK EACL is committed to identifying new emerging threats in racing. We believe this laboratory will be a leader in the testing world."

Howard said benefits of the KHRC's use of the UK EACL include facilities in close proximity to Kentucky race venues, reductions in time and cost of shipping test samples, the convenience of having a lab nearby for in-person consultation, and using tax dollars to support a Kentucky facility. 

The UK EACL is ISO 17025 accredited and has been granted interim accreditation by the Racing Medication and Testing Consortium. During the April 9 EDRC meeting, Stanley told committee members that the interim accreditation is due to COVID-19 delaying RMTC's accreditation process.

Stanley again spoke at the full commission meeting.

"The racing commission work is something that we've worked with the commission staff for many years in order to get the accreditations required, upgrade the facilities. We've put about two and a half million dollars into the laboratory in the last year and a half, even during most of these challenging COVID times," Stanley said Tuesday. "So we're really excited about being able to provide that, being able to handle the service needs, as well as the research needs by the commission. We're in a position where we can address emerging threats. We can take challenges such as protein and peptide analysis and we can look forward into the future with methods like the equine biological passport, which many of our industry stakeholders have contributed their support."

Commissioner Alan Leavitt expressed concern of blood doping, "which is emerging as the biggest threat we have to the integrity of horse racing in this country," he said, and micro-dosing, and asked about tests the UK EACL has to detect the use of those agents in horses.

Stanley said the UK EACL has tests that the lab feels can identify blood doping and micro-dosing.

"We're implementing more out of competition testing, and we're doing more proteomic testing," Stanley said. "Both of those, I think, will facilitate the detection of micro-dosing and the use of blood doping agents."

The UK EACL, established July 2019, was formerly the drug testing laboratory for the United States Equestrian Federation and still conducts testing for the USEF and its horse shows. The laboratory, its assets, and facilities were transitioned from the USEF to UK, and is now part of the university's College of Agriculture, Food, and Environment. It's currently located on UK's Coldstream Research Campus in Lexington with the new facility being built close by.