On Monday, August 10, the Breeders' Cup announced an expansion to its steroid ban policy to include all Class 1 and Class 2 drugs, as established by The Association of Racing Commissioners International (RCI) Uniform Classification Guidelines for Foreign Substances, for this year's Breeders' Cup world championships.
Trainers of horses that test positive for these drugs at this year's event will face a one-year suspension from the 2010 event, and trainers who violate the policy three times will face a lifetime ban from participating in the Breeders' Cup.
"The establishment of these new regulations strengthens our number one priority of preserving the integrity of our competition and protecting the welfare of our athletes at the world championships," Breeders' Cup president and CEO Greg Avioli said Monday.
Drugs are broken down into five classes, with rankings based on their pharmacology, ability to influence the outcome of a race, whether or not they have legitimate therapeutic uses in the horse or other evidence that they may be used improperly.
Class 1 drugs banned from the Breeders' Cup include opiates, opium derivatives, synthetic opioids, psychoactive drugs, amphetamines and amphetamine-like drugs. There are at least 51 drugs in this class of stimulants and depressant drugs.
Class 2 drugs banned include lidocaine, epogen, caffeine and snake venoms. There are nearly 350 drugs in this class.
Last year, anabolic steroid testing was conducted for the first time at the Breeders' Cup. Besides testing for steroids and Class 1 and Class 2 drugs, there will be out of competition testing for EPO 10 days before the event and TCO2 before all 14 Breeders' Cup races.
A failed EPO test would make a horse ineligible for competition and the trainer subject to suspension. Failed tests for TCO2 or milk shaking would result in purse redistributions and suspensions.
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