Regulators report 99.59% compliance with drug rules in 2022

The Association of Racing Commissioners International reported Friday that U.S. states reported a 99.59 percent compliance rate with medication guidelines in 2022, the last year before the federal Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority assumes responsibility for drug testing.

The overall compliance rate for the year, based on a review of state records by the association’s Drug Testing Standards and Practices Committee, remained comparable to the rate for human sports overseen by the World Anti-Doping Agency, which oversees testing of Olympic athletes among many other sports.

The report stated that U.S. state racing commissions sent more than 206,498 biological samples to a network of independent testing laboratories during the year. The total represents 23,116 samples taken out of competition and 183,382 post-race samples.

“There were 842 adverse analytical findings indicating the presence of a substance that should not be in the sample and a likely violation of the rules,” said Duncan Patterson, chair of the association’s testing and practices committee. “The overwhelming majority of samples tested – 99.59 percent – were found to be compliant with the rules which were substantially consistent, but not totally uniform, across the jurisdictions.”

Consistent with prior years, most substances detected during testing were indicative of a therapeutic overage – at least 59.2 percent, the report stated. Instances that could be clearly classified as doping reflected 16 percent of the substances found, or just 0.02 percent of the total, it said.

The annual report was based on data reported by all states conducting pari-mutuel wagering on horse racing during the year, with the exception of Texas, Maine, Montana and North Dakota, which did not report results.

The 2022 program was conducted entirely by state racing commissions. In 2023, the federal authority is responsible for most Thoroughbred testing that occurs after May 22.