RMTC Close to Setting Cobalt Test Threshold

The Racing Medication and Testing Consortium (RMTC) is expected to agree upon a cobalt testing threshold at its October meeting.
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A Kentucky racing official said last week the state has been at the forefront of research into cobalt, a naturally occurring element said to have blood-doping qualities if used at high levels, and is part of a team working to develop a standard testing threshold for the substance.

Kentucky Horse Racing Commission (KHRC) equine medical director Mary Scollay-Ward, DVM, in a presentation before the Kentucky General Assembly Interim Joint Committee on Licensing and Occupations, said officials in Kentucky, California, Pennsylvania, and Canada have worked for months on the project. She said about 900 blood samples from racehorses in those jurisdictions were taken and tested.

"We need to separate the risk to integrity from legitimate, ethical care of the horse," said Scollay, who noted cobalt is present in feed and vitamin B-12 supplements regularly given to horses. "(With the test results), we are beginning to understand what normal is and what manipulated looks like.

"This is not a local problem, it's a global problem," she said

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Tom LaMarra, a native of New Jersey and graduate of Rutgers University, has been news editor at The Blood-Horse since 1998. After graduation he worked at newspapers in New Jersey and Pennsylvania as an editor and reporter with a focus on municipal government and politics. He also worked at Daily Racing Form and Thoroughbred Times before joining The Blood-Horse. LaMarra, who has lived in Lexington since 1994, has won various writing awards and was recognized with the Old Hilltop Award for outstanding coverage of the horse racing industry. He likes to spend some of his spare time handicapping races.

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