By the numbers: HISA’s anti-doping arm releases annual report

The Horseracing Integrity & Welfare Unit released its 2023 annual report, which details its activities as the independent enforcement agency of the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority’s anti-doping and medication control program. Among the highlights are statistics on testing, results management, the adjudication of cases, investigations and educational efforts.

“The data in this report shows that the overwhelming majority of horsemen are complying with the ADMC program and protecting the safety and welfare of the horses in their care,” HIWU officials wrote in the report. They also noted that 2024 will be the first time that all three Triple Crown races and the Breeders’ Cup will be run under AMDC rules.

The full report is available here.

Among the highlights:

Of HIWU’s 50,324 sample-collection sessions in 2023, 0.49 percent resulted in an adverse analytical finding, or positive. The most AAFs, 41, were in California, where 12,386 sample-collection sessions were conducted. Pennsylvania was next, with 40 AAFs from 3,986 sessions, followed by New York with 35 from 6,307 sessions.

There were 31 atypical findings, which are positives for a prohibited substance that may be the results of environmental contamination or occurs naturally in the horse. In such cases, HIWU works with the responsible person, usually the trainer, to investigate. Last year, two of the findings were found to be adverse, eight are pending, and the others resulted in a negative finding.

HIWU served 66 equine anti-doping violation notices in 2023 and 172 equine controlled medication violation notices. Of that total of 238 charges, 224 resulted in charges being filed.

HIWU said it received 122 tips through its anonymous tip line and that more than 40 of them led to an investigation. It conducted 141 barn searches at 38 tracks, resulting in five different banned substances found and 11 possession cases.