Following discussions with the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority's Anti-Doping and Medication Control Committee, the Horseracing Integrity & Welfare Unit will no longer impose provisional suspensions on Covered Persons upon notice of a positive test result in horses for banned substances that are recognized as substances of abuse in humans. Examples of banned substances under this category include cocaine, methamphetamine, methylenedioxymethamphetamine, and tetrahydrocannabinol.
If a Covered Horse's initial test sample is positiveĀ for one of these banned substances, a provisional suspension will not be imposed on the relevant Covered Person until the second sample, known as a B Sample, confirms the presence of the banned substance or if the Covered Person has waived the analysis of the B Sample. Such cases will not be published on the HIWU website's public disclosures page until after these steps occur. This change to the public disclosure protocol is consistent with current procedures for presence violations (i.e., positive tests) for controlled medication substances.
This policy applies retroactively to current pending cases, and provisional suspensions have been lifted on all Covered Persons who have not been charged and are waiting for B Sample results to be issued.
This update is intended to address concerns that the names of Covered Persons were being publicly disclosed in cases involving the aforementioned types of substances before they could determine the potential source, including whether it was the result of unintended human transfer.