All clear: Kentucky Derby, Oaks runners pass drug tests

All the horses who competed in the 2024 Kentucky Derby and Oaks this month at Churchill Downs passed their post-race drug tests.

“Can confirm that both Oaks and Derby days have been cleared by HISA (and) HIWU,” Kentucky Horse Racing Commission spokesperson Kristin Voskuhl wrote in a text message Tuesday afternoon. “Test samples cleared.”

This was the first year that the KHRC had to defer to the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority and the Horseracing Integrity & Welfare Unit for guidance on the annual notice about the post-race drug tests that were given to the horses in both Grade 1 races.

In the past, the KHRC posted all clear pronouncements as a routine matter in the days following the Derby and Oaks. The notice came  four days after the 2022 Derby and six days after in 2023.

Contacted by Horse Racing Nation on Monday, the commission deferred to the Horseracing Integrity & Welfare Unit, which said it would announce only failed drug tests if there were any.

“HIWU maintains the same results management and public-disclosure procedures for all races,” spokesperson Alexa Ravit wrote in a text to HRN Monday. “These procedures are followed in accordance with HISA's anti-doping and medication-control program rules. As part of these procedures, HIWU does not publicly report negative results. Any adverse analytical findings (positive tests) from the Kentucky Derby or races run on Kentucky Derby weekend would be reported as per the ADMC program’s public-disclosure rules.”

Ravit said the KHRC was free to announce test results "at their discretion."