Dope testing stirs up a hornet’s nest

There’s nothing like the hint of a doping scandal to get tongues wagging in racing.

Since the National Horseracing Authority put out a statement on Friday evening about “out of competition” drug screening swoop and the withdrawal of horses from an imminent race meeting, the air has been thick with a thousand opinions.

The media release kicked off: “Pending the results of the NHA laboratory analysis, on-site observatory evidence along with evidence provided by the officials and after careful consideration of the contents of the Veterinary Treatment Register (VTR), Axel Collins, Napolean and Youre My Sunshine were withdrawn from race meeting on 27 July 2023 at 09h25, in terms of Rule 4.2.18.”

Prohibited substances

As everyone by now knows, these horses are trained by Tony Peter, a promising young trainer at Turffontein who landed his first Grade 1 race just three days after the sorry events described above.

At least part of the problem was that substances detected in the horses’ bloods by the NHA officials had not been recorded in the VTR. But two of the horses also had “four prohibited substances” in their systems.

The testing was done at Randjesfontein Training Centre and Turffontein Racecourse on Monday 24 July, ahead of the 27 July race meeting at Turffonein. It is understood that similar screening was done at Summerveld Training Centre and Greyville Racecourse on 30 June and 1 July, but no media release followed that.

An inquiry to the NHA about the names of the dodgy substances was politely deflected – as was a question about how long such drugs remain detectable.

Vee Moodley, CEO of the NHA, did confirm that these substances are commonly used on horses out of competition – both in South Africa and elsewhere – and that they are prohibited.

Moodley added: “There is an ongoing investigation and a pending inquiry, until then, I cannot comment on all of your questions.”

‘Horse welfare’

Racing administrators like Moodley are in an unenviable position. On the one hand, their job is to police the game, strictly enforcing the rules to ensure a minimum of fraudulent behaviour and undergirding punter trust and confidence. On the other hand, their duty of care for racing’s reputation means the last thing they need is a doping scandal that could turn people off a game struggling for survival.

The media release says the current investigation “has raised a host of serious concerns in relation to horse welfare, including the liberal and regimented use of medications and/or treatments administered to horses during the days preceding racing and the accuracy of the recordal of such treatment in the relevant VTR.”

It adds that this practice has become “widespread and therefore not limited to an individual veterinarian or trainer”.

Clearly we’ll be hearing a lot more on the matter – and not only about the drugs involved but also training regimes. And maybe Tony Peter will not be the only fall guy.

The release concludes: “The NHA advocates a fair and level playing field for all horses and, most importantly, for only fit and healthy horses to participate in races. The initial findings of this investigation have raised a myriad of alarming concerns and the NHA is in the process of conducting further investigations into practices, methodologies, mitigatory procedures, as well as considering possible amendments to the rules, in order to eliminate such practices that some stakeholders wrongly believe to be acceptable and humane!”

That exclamation mark is an uncommon flourish from a generally dispassionate organisation – and suggests it is coming out swinging. The words also hint at grey areas in terms of the legality of “practices etc” – which must be sorted out ASAP.