New rules take effect for positive tests for cocaine, ecstasy, more

Under new rules announced Friday, the Horseracing Integrity & Welfare Hunit will no longer provisionally suspend trainers after an A sample comes back positive for banned substances recognized as substances of abuse in humans. These include substances like cocaine, methamphetamine, MDMA or ecstasy and THC, the psychoactive ingredient in marijuana.

HIWU made this change after discussions with the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority's anti-doping and medication control committee. A provisional suspension will only be imposed if a B sample confirms the presence of the banned substance or if the trainer waives analysis of the B sample. Consequently, in compliance with Rule 3610(b), such cases will not be published on the HIWU website’s public disclosures page until after these steps occur. This makes procedures for banned substances commonly abused by humans consistent with current procedures for controlled medications.

This policy applies retroactively to current pending cases, and provisional suspensions have been lifted on all covered persons who have not been charged and are waiting for B sample results to be issued. This update is intended to address concerns within the industry that the names of covered persons were being publicly disclosed in cases involving the aforementioned types of substances before the covered persons had an opportunity to determine the source of the substance at issue, including whether it was the result of unintended human transfer.

The change to HIWU's handling of provisional suspensions for substances commonly abused by humans comes one week after a provisional suspension of trainer Keri Brion was announced on the HIWU website. According to that announcement an A sample on Chasing After You, who won a claiming race at Presque Isle Downs on Sept. 19, tested positive for either cocaine or cocaine metabolites. Brion posted to the social media platform X that she retained an attorney to fight the case.

According to an Oct. 14 report from Bill Finley of Thoroughbred Daily News, she retained attorney Drew Mollica. "I am surprised that before any B sample came back this became a public issue," Mollica told TDN. Despite the new rule, Brion's provisional suspension was still visible on the HIWU website as of noon EDT on Friday.

This is the second major change to the handling of provisional suspensions for banned substances. Under the original rules, trainers whose A samples came back positive for a banned substance had to immediately begin serving their provisional suspensions. Their horses were scratched and the trainers were ineligible until either the B sample came back clear or the suspensions were served in full.

In July, HISA and HIWU issued a revised policy allowing trainers to continue working after a positive test on an A sample, pending the test on the B sample. Provisional suspensions were still posted to the HIWU website as pending matters, though the published list noted which suspensions were lifted due to pending B sample tests.

This change was enacted after trainer Mac Robertson served three weeks of a provisional suspension after a sample from gelding Johnny Up tested positive for altrenogest, a progestin that is banned in all but female horses able to breed. Robertson was reinstated after Johnny Up's B sample came back negative.