Stopping Steroids

Progress in racing’s war on drugs started with a report in August 2000 from the National Thoroughbred Racing Association’s Task Force on Racing Integrity and Drug Testing at The Jockey Club Round Table in Saratoga Springs, N.Y. The following

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Progress in racing’s war on drugs started with a report in August 2000 from the National Thoroughbred Racing Association’s Task Force on Racing Integrity and Drug Testing at The Jockey Club Round Table in Saratoga Springs, N.Y. The following year, the American Association of Equine Practitioners organized a “medication summit” held in conjunction with the University of Arizona’s Race Track Industry Program’s Symposium on Racing in December.


Momentum carried over into the spring of 2002, when the Racing Medication and Testing Consortium (RMTC) was formed with a mission to “develop, promote, and coordinate, at the national level, policies, research, and educational programs which seek to ensure the fairness and integrity of racing and the health and welfare of racehorses and participants, and protect the interests of the betting public.” Relying largely on the participants from the AAEP’s summit, the RMTC comprised a broad base of industry stakeholders.


In the ensuing years, progress has been slow but steady. Model rules have been written and, more importantly, adopted by a number of state regulatory agencies. Research has been funded. Drug testing has improved through better coordination and communications among state laboratories and regulators. In short, there is no question the industry is better off because of the work of the RMTC.


Now the consortium is ready to take on anabolic steroids, which are used freely and legally in most racing states. Steroids have been at the center of scandals in numerous sports, particularly track and field and baseball, but the only steroid scandal in racing is that they are legal. Dr. Rick Arthur, a former surgeon and racetrack practitioner who is now equine medical director for the California Horse Racing Board and secretary of the RMTC, thinks the general public is unaware that anabolic steroids are not prohibited in American racing. They are banned in virtually every other racing jurisdiction around the world

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Written by:

Ray Paulick is a former editor of The Blood-Horse magazine.

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