Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association
Posted: May 21, 2020
The Delaware Thoroughbred Racing Commission May 20 adopted multiple regulations geared toward the health and welfare of the racehorse and also moved forward with a few “house rules” that have been or will be adopted by other regional tracks as part of the Mid-Atlantic Strategic Plan to Reduce Equine Fatalities.
The new regulations, will take effect 10 days from publication in the monthly Delaware Register of Regulations, deal with a ban on bisphosphonates; restricting administration of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs to 48 hours before a race, and a prohibition on the “stacking” of NSAIDs; a 14-day stand-down for all intra-articular injections; and permission to administer electrolytes to a horse with 24 hours of race as long as they don’t contain a drug or create.a positive test.
The regulations will be in effect in time for the delayed launch of the 2020 Delaware Park meet June 17.
The DTRC also asked its legal counsel, Andrew Kerber, to draft a regulation that would change the penalties for positives for Class D substances such as NSAIDs to call for disqualification and loss of purse money instead of a fine. The penalty change was endorsed by a group of Mid-Atlantic racing stakeholders at a May 18 meeting and discussed by DTRC Chair Duncan Patterson at the May 20 meeting of the commission.
The house rules, which are subject to further discussion and fine-tuning before the Delaware Park race meets begins, include horse health and layoff reports for regulatory veterinarians, the transfer of a horse’s health history within seven days of a change in ownership, and a four-hours-per-year continuing education requirement for trainers.