Jockey Club Offers Funds for Added Testing

With an abundance of graded stakes on tap in the coming months, The Jockey Club March 17 said its Graded Stakes Out-of-Competition Testing Grant Fund program again will be in effect in 2016.

The funding is designed to encourage more out-of-competition testing for the presence of blood doping agents and Class 1 substances under Association of Racing Commissioners International Guidelines.

Racetracks in California, Florida, Kentucky, New York, and the province of Ontario have participated in the program since its inception in 2014.

Gulfstream Park was the first racetrack to use the Graded Stakes Out-of-Competition Testing Grant Fund, which was announced at The Jockey Club Round Table Conference in August 2013. Thoroughbred racetracks that elect to participate may receive reimbursement to defray some costs associated with out-of-competition testing subject to certain criteria.

"Thoroughbred racing needs to greatly expand its out-of-competition testing," Dr. Rick Arthur, equine medical director for the California Horse Racing Board, said in a release. "The Jockey Club's grant program for graded stakes has made a positive impact in California, and I would encourage other racetracks in other states to use the grant fund to implement or enhance out-of-competition testing programs."

"Out-of-competition testing is an extremely important weapon in the quest for integrity and fairness, and in the past few weeks we've seen how much other sports rely on such testing and punish those who violate drug rules," Jockey Club president James Gagliano said. "As a sport and as a business, we need to take every measure we can to ensure the integrity of competition, and we encourage racetracks and regulatory authorities to participate in our Graded Stakes Out-of-Competition Testing Grant Fund program once again this year."

To be eligible for reimbursement from the grant fund, tests should be conducted on samples collected from nominees to graded stakesno closer than seven days before the race. Racetracks may apply for reimbursement upon written request to The Jockey Club that includes invoices and other supporting documentation for the charges.

In addition, all requests for reimbursement must include the following information: the graded stakes the grant fund was used to test, the number of horses sampled, and the number of horses sampled that started in the graded stakes.

The graded stakes that are eligible for out-of-competition funding are those scheduled for March 26, 2016, or later. Racetracks interested in participating in the grant program in 2016 can contact Jamie Haydon, Jockey Club manager of industry initiatives, at jhaydon@jockeyclub.com or (859) 224-2750.