KHRC Approves Regulations for Mineral Cobalt

The Kentucky Horse Racing Commission on Aug. 18 gave final approval to regulations that would provide penalties for excessive levels of the mineral cobalt in post-race tests.

While naturally occurring in horses, there have been increases in high levels of the drug in post-race tests. Dr. Mary Scollay, the KHRC's equine medical director, said that while cobalt may enhance performance, science to show that cobalt such an effect in horses is lacking.

Despite that, Scollay said the Racing Medication Testing Consortium recommend that Kentucky and other states regulate out of concern for the health and welfare of the equine athletes.

Under the regulation approved Tuesday, the trainer of a horse testing positive for 25 parts per billion (ppb) would be subject to a warning and fine, with the horse placed on the veterinarian's list that restricts when the horse can run again. A level over 50 ppb would result in a suspension, up to a $1,000 fine, and/or purse revocation.

Commissioner Alan Leavitt indicated the penalties needed to be stiffer as a deterrent, saying he has seen post-race tests showing cobalt levels of up to 350 ppb in some harness horses.

"There was quite a bit of debate (within RMTC's scientific committee) about how to establish a penalty for cobalt," Scollay said. "We have ruled it out as a blood-doping agent, at least based on the way it act humans. That is not to say it doesn't have an effect on performance. We have not been able to document that scientifically.

"The RMTC has elected to treat cobalt as a welfare issue. There are some videos on the RMTC website of horses treated with cobalt salts and they get quite sick. It's not a good thing."

Scollay noted that cobalt has a much slower half-life than other drugs and that based on that a horse testing positive at the 25 ppb level and being placed on the vet's list could be unable to run for up to five weeks until its cobalt level was below 25 ppb.

Leavitt said he does not believe being placed on the vet's is enough to preclude trainers from giving the much higher dosage; after all, he said, they will just run other horses in the stable.

The commission also approved increasing the recommended withdrawal time for flunixin to 32 hours from the previous 24 hours. The change was based on a recommendation from the RMTC.

The new regulations must go through a regulatory process that could take up to six months before being implemented.