Lazarus on UK Report: Labs 'No Longer Working in Silos'

In a Sept. 17 press conference that followed alleged testing misconduct by former laboratory director Dr. Scott Stanley at the University of Kentucky's Equine Analytical Chemistry Laboratory, Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority and Horseracing Integrity and Welfare Unit executives credited their safeguards and procedures.

"In March, we launched an investigation. We promised you transparency in delivering the results, and today, we're making good on that promise," HISA CEO Lisa Lazarus said during remarks that began the press conference. 

ANGST: UK Plans to Fire Stanley

She said HISA and HIWU are "accountable to the racing industry," and "We are also holding all of our stakeholders accountable."

In this case, the performance of a laboratory, one of what had been a half-dozen used by HIWU at the start of the year and had been accredited by the Racing Medication & Testing Consortium. That number is down to four after the Lexington lab lost its accreditation and, most recently, the University of Illinois at Chicago Analytical Forensic Testing Laboratory's loss of accreditation for nonconformity.

Though the UK laboratory fell short in HIWU's view of its responsibilities, and HIWU relied on the laboratory, Lazarus views the investigation and findings as an illustration that HISA is working.

"To be clear, this was an institutional, pre-existing problem, something we inherited as the HISA act required us to use the Kentucky laboratory for Kentucky samples," Lazarus said. "But HISA rules, harmonization, its integrity program, all of that working together, exposed this deception in under a year. This is the benefit of uniformity. You have to show your work to your peers. Labs are no longer working in silos, and no one can hide."

After initially using labs approved by the industry's RMTC to get up and running, as planned, HIWU will shift to use HISA's Equine Analytical Laboratory accreditation Jan. 1. HIWU and HISA officials believe HEAL accreditation will include enhanced compliance oversight by HIWU and improved quality assurance.

After the investigation raised concerns about the lab, HIWU went back and tested a number of samples of concern. It found two instances of positives it believes should have been called by the lab and two instances of positives that should not have been called. HIWU executive director Ben Mosier and Lazarus declined to identify the parties its investigation showed involved the two false positive cases involving controlled medications, explaining that the parties still needed to be notified.

After that notification HIWU plans to use its standard procedures for public disclosures to update who the cleared individuals are.

"Those two false positive cases affected will be dropped, and HIWU will withdraw the sanctions imposed in those cases, including making sure that the affected parties are made whole financially," Mosier said. "Fortunately, no trainers or horses served suspensions as a result of those false positives."

The false positives and alleged problems at the lab, however, figure to aggravate concerns from equine defense attorneys and horsemen's groups, many of whom have been critical of HISA and HIWU, its enforcement arm. Among the criticisms of HIWU is that it can provisionally suspend covered persons and that contesting cases can come at great expense for those not qualifying or using HISA's pro bono legal defense program.

On the other hand, it is HISA and HIWU, along with the University of Kentucky, that helped expose the alleged problems at the lab.

"I think the very fact that massive changes are happening in the laboratory space since HISA and HIWU came into effect should be an indication to folks that we have very stringent standards and protocols and that we don't let anything go that doesn't meet our expectations and our standards," Lazarus said.

"Also, the fact that HIWU went back and tested every single sample that they thought had any potential concerns or any sort of flag, should make everybody feel very confident and comfortable," she later added.