Putting microchips in racehorses for identification purposes will remain secondary to standard identification procedures such as tattooing and DNA testing, according to a panel of industry experts Tuesday afternoon at The Symposium on Racing and Gaming being held this week near Tucson, Ariz.

The Jockey Club will not mandate the use of microchips as a requirement of the registration of foals in the near future, however, it will adapt its database to include microchip identification numbers, said Matt Iuliano, Jockey Club Registry vice president.

“Although we couldn’t identify sufficient benefits to justify the added cost to make microchiping a requirement of registration, we believe identification is fundamental to the Stud Book and as such we are modifying our systems to enable the reporting, storage, and retrieval of this information for Thoroughbreds,” Iuliano told audience members.

Iuliano said beginning in 2006, horse owners who elect to have their horses implanted with a microchip can report the implantation and ID number through the Jockey Club’s online interactive registration