The Horseracing Integrity and Welfare Unit, the enforcement arm of the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority shared with BloodHorse this Industry Voices column from its advisory council in a question and answer format. The questions are from HIWU and the answers are from members of the advisory council.

The advisory council meets regularly with HIWU’s executive team to discuss current topics of interest and challenges in regard to administering the HISA’s Anti-Doping and Medication Control (ADMC) Program. The group is composed of experts in human and/or equine anti-doping, and its members call on their extensive experience in these areas to share their insights with HIWU leaders.  

Jonathan Taylor (Chairman)
Taylor is a London-based partner and leader of the Sports Group at the international law firm Bird & Bird. Taylor has a deep and extensive background in anti-doping issues in international sports, including previously serving as the chair of the World Anti-Doping Agency’s (WADA) Compliance Review Committee, an independent standing committee under WADA’s executive committee. Taylor is also long-standing outside legal counsel to the International Equestrian Federation and the British Horseracing Authority.

Dr. Larry Bowers
Bowers is the former chief science officer at the United States Anti-Doping Agency. During his time at USADA, Bowers played a significant role in developing the first WADA international standard for laboratories and established research funding programs for both USADA and the Partnership for Clean Competition. Prior to joining USADA, Bowers made significant contributions to anti-doping science.

Dr. Larry Bramlage
A world-renowned equine orthopedic surgeon at Rood & Riddle Equine Hospital, Bramlage has received numerous awards for his contributions to equine health and welfare. He was awarded The Jockey Club Gold Medal in 1994 and is a member of that organization’s board of stewards and Thoroughbred Safety Committee. He is also a past chairman of the research advisory committee of the Grayson-Jockey Club Research Foundation and serves on the board of directors for that organization. Bramlage has been honored with a British Equine Veterinary Association’s Special Award of Merit, the American College of Veterinary Surgeons Legends Award, and the Thoroughbred Club Testimonial Award. He has received the American Association of Equine Practitioners Distinguished Service Award twice and is a former president of that organization.

Günter Younger
Younger is the director of intelligence and investigations at WADA. Prior to joining WADA, Younger served as the head of the cybercrime division at the Bavarian Landeskriminalamt in Germany. During this period, he also served on WADA’s three-member independent commission that investigated and exposed widespread doping in Russian athletics.

JONATHAN TAYLOR (CHAIRMAN)

HIWU: What do you consider to be HIWU’s biggest success(es) and challenge(s) up to this point?

Taylor: Creating a uniform and harmonized set of rules and regulations was just the start. HIWU has also had to put in the people, policies, and procedures in place to ensure that those rules and regulations can be implemented and enforced consistently and effectively across the country. Unsurprisingly, some teething issues have already arisen with the rules, and refinements have had to be made. That is inevitable in an undertaking as ambitious as this, and I am sure that process will continue in the future. But I am also sure that very soon the sport’s stakeholders will begin to realize the benefits that come from all of these labors. The challenge will be to keep them working with HIWU along the way until the system has had a chance to bed in and the benefits really start to be seen.

HIWU: You’ve been involved in the creation of multiple integrity units that have been charged with overseeing complex anti-doping programs. How has the creation of HIWU compared to those past experiences?

Taylor: It has taken sports governing bodies many years to understand that the protection of the integrity of sport needs to be entrusted to expert independent bodies that are free from any actual or perceived conflicts of interest and that can focus exclusively on developing the rules and systems needed to protect the fairness of the sport and the safety of all its participants. The creation of independent bodies such as the World Anti-Doping Agency, the Athletics Integrity Unit, the International Tennis Integrity Agency, and others shows that this lesson has now been learned.

In 2001, WADA published the first World Anti-Doping Code, which harmonized the anti-doping rules and procedures across all (non-equine) sports and gave WADA the power to oversee and ensure the effective implementation and enforcement of those rules. HISA has now done the same by adopting a harmonized set of rules and regulations for U.S. horse racing and by establishing HIWU to be the independent enforcer of those rules and regulations. This means the U.S. racing public can have confidence that effective rules will be applied and enforced fairly and uniformly across the board for the benefit of all participants, without fear or favor. That represents an enormous advance on the previous situation, and one that can be just as beneficial for U.S. horse racing as the advent of WADA and the World Anti-Doping Code have been for other sports around the world.

DR. LARRY BOWERS

HIWU: What should racing participants know about the process of harmonizing laboratories and the challenges faced in human sports? How are they similar to or different from HIWU’s challenges with harmonizing labs for equine drug testing?

Bowers: Laboratory harmonization is a challenge in every setting—hospital laboratory, environmental testing, forensic analysis, and anti-doping. With an ‘open-ended’ list of substances to detect it becomes even more difficult—especially if the amount of the substance (as opposed to just its presence or absence) is involved. All measurements have uncertainty—even the same laboratory using the same method on the same sample would not get exactly the same result every time. The harmonization program needs to incorporate this knowledge into its quality control sample preparation. A large number of substances compared to a relatively small number of control samples each year illustrates another challenge to laboratory harmonization.

The performance harmonization process for sophisticated laboratories like human and equine anti-doping laboratories is very similar. It takes several years to obtain representative samples and organize an effective double-blind program. It requires recruiting staff that can operate a program. All programs go through a transition from a limited program to a fully built-out program. No one can ‘flip a switch’ and make laboratory harmonization happen.

HIWU: How do laboratories detect new substances that don’t have tests yet?

Bowers: Chromatographic methods separate substances in time. ‘New’ substances can be detected when mass spectral features common to other banned substances are detected in time windows where ‘routine’ substances don’t normally appear. The anabolic steroid norbolethone was identified in this manner.

Intelligence can also be very helpful in looking for a ‘designer’ drug. An example in human anti-doping was the discovery of tetrahydrogestrinone (an illicit substance used by athletes including Barry Bonds and Marion Jones) in a powder submitted by a whistle-blower.

DR. LARRY BRAMLAGE

HIWU: Why were you drawn to participate in HIWU’s Advisory Council? What has been the most rewarding part of being involved?

Bramlage: Only one thing would have convinced me to take on another obligation and that is the belief that uniform, fair, consistent, and expeditious nationwide medication and safety regulation is essential to the ability of racing as we know it to thrive and perhaps survive.

The most rewarding thing to me has been the chance to get to know, and to admire, the key people that have been put in place to run the program. The people who are in charge are remarkable in their individual credentials, but more importantly, they have impressed me by the job they have done to implement the program. Their ability to come into a sport, foreign to many of them, and adjust and implement their specialties at the level that they have has been amazing.

HIWU: In terms of equine safety and welfare, can you explain the importance of regulating the use of controlled medications not just in post-race testing, but also in post-work and Vets’ List testing?

Bramlage: In terms of safety of the horses, the major point that needs to be made is that drugs are not the most important culprit in equine safety. It is our inability to adequately monitor subclinical injuries that predispose them to more major subsequent injury. Do medications play a role? They certainly do because they can mask subtle hints as to the fact that a horse is vulnerable. This is where HISA and HIWU need to be. Elimination of ill-advised use of medication will not eliminate injuries, but it will reduce them. That is where we are, but we can do more.

Horsemen do not purposely injure horses, but ill-advised medication can do so without intention. The adoption of the paradigm that lameness is not the enemy, but just a sign that there may be a problem brewing is where we are going, and need to be. We need to take the monitoring of the horses to before medication, and before racing or working, not just after the fact. Well-thought-out medical care is essential to all athletes. Rote programed medication programs before works or races are dangerous. So, testing plays a role, but we are on the doorstep of electronic monitoring of exercise, which is where our future lies. Already in high-level use in professional sports and routinely on the wrists of scores of fitness-conscious individuals, we need to move this technology to the horse and our athletic injury monitoring. That is likely how we will make the most progress in safety and welfare in the near future. This will move HISA and HIWU out of solely policing and condemnation after the fact, and more toward regulation before and during treatment, which will significantly reduce the horse’s vulnerability to injury.

SONJA KEATING

HIWU: What do you hope to see from HIWU/the HISA ADMC Program in 2024 and beyond? What are you most excited about?

Keating: In 2024, I hope to see the pro bono program well received and useful to trainers who cannot otherwise afford to retain legal counsel. I hope to see growth in the awareness of the regulations as well as the adjudication process. Additionally, I hope that the social license to operate the sport is strengthened by an increase in the public’s confidence in the regulation of the sport and horse wellbeing.

HIWU: How does the anti-doping program for U.S. equestrian sports compare to the ADMC Program for Thoroughbred racing? What are the shared challenges?

Keating: The two programs share many similarities, such as the concepts of prohibited substances and methods, the process for collecting samples, and the science involved in developing methods to test the samples. While the adjudication process differs between the two programs, they share the same challenges in ensuring that their respective programs are streamlined in the way they operate and that the process is perceived as fair and transparent. Providing resources for trainers and owners as to how the process works is critical for both programs.

GÜNTER YOUNGER

HIWU: In your experience, what are the most effective tactics that should be utilized to catch cheaters in professional sports, i.e., should the focus be on testing, investigations, or both?

Younger: The tactics to catch cheaters should be based on five main pillars:
1) Education: It is important to train relevant stakeholders in order to prevent unintentional mistakes.
2) Testing should be continued for deterrence and credibility purposes; however, tests should be driven by intelligence and investigations.
3) Under intelligence and investigations, there should be an emphasis on the confidential source program. Actively recruit informants and whistleblowers (based on hotspots or blind spots); and provide testing/education departments with intelligence to help inform educational programs.
4) Law Enforcement: It is very important to establish a good and close relationship with law enforcement to also use their power to detect doping criminal networks.
5) International partners: Establish a network with international experts in intelligence and investigations to learn more about the modus operandi of dopers and collaborate on international cases.

HIWU: What are the main differences between human anti-doping investigations and equine anti-doping investigations? Is one more difficult or complicated than the other?

Younger: There are of course some differences, but it doesn’t matter in terms of the ability for a good investigator or intelligence analyst to investigate both aspects; it is easier to teach an investigator/analyst about the specifics of the topic such as equine or human doping than to teach a topic expert about investigations, as it is mainly based on experience over numerous years investigating different subjects. The human being involved in doping activities usually acts with the same intentions and techniques.