RNSW_Oct 21_Col_W

undertaken by the Stewards or official person. Samples will not be received at the Laboratory directly from trainers, veterinarians or connec- tions of the horse. The results of any analysis will only be reported to the Chairman of Stewards of the relevant region, or in his absence a delegated authority. Results cannot be obtained directly from the Laboratory. Samples will be disposed of within a week of reporting the results to the Stewards. The fees (inclusive of GST) for the non race day testing service are:- Procaine Anabolics and corticisteroids Sample received 9:00am 2 days prior to raceday $202.73 $251.81 Sample received 9:00am 1 day prior to raceday $442.38 $598.90 Payment is accepted by credit card, cash or direct debit. Details are includ- ed on the sample submission form. Payment must be made in full prior to analysis. Important disclaimers A negative result in a non race day sample does not absolve the trainer from their responsibility in the event of a positive result arising from a horse competing at a registered race meeting. The excretion pattern of long acting drugs often exhibits a "saw-tooth" urinary concentration profile over time. The reliance on the result of a single sample could therefore be misplaced. It should only be used in conjunction with other information, such as the date of administration, route of administration and the treating veterinarian's advice on the matter. Any detection of the declared drug or its metabolite will be reported. Due to the limited time available for this testing, confirmatory analysis of the drug detected will not be attempted. Apart from the declared drug, the presence of other drugs or metabolites will not be tested or reported. Trainers are reminded that only the Australian Racing Forensic Laboratory has the appropriate equipment and experience to test for these drugs. Drug analyses conducted by other, non-racing laboratories cannot be guaranteed to yield results comparable with those obtained by the Australian Racing Forensic Laboratory. Trainers are warned that a negative drug screening result obtained from any other non-racing laboratory does not necessarily mean that the horse will produce a clear sample when presented for racing at a registered race meeting. For further information on this service, please contact your regional Stewards. POSSIBILITY OF CONTAMINATION The results of three studies designed to investigate the possibility of con- tamination of stables or feed in certain circumstances following the administration of particular therapeutic substances were presented at the 13th International Conference of Racing Analysts and Veterinarians held in 2000. Trainers should be aware that some drug treatments could potentially cause low level contamination of the immediate stable area. The studies indicated that this is most likely to occur with the administration of gran- ules or powders mixed into feed or with the administration of paste prepa- rations for oral administration. Urine and manure may also contain low levels of a drug after treatment by any route of administration. These three overseas studies may be relevant to trainers in certain situa- tions. However, it is stressed that the significance of the findings present- ed in these studies must be considered in the following context: • The findings have not been shown to occur in or be relevant to current Australian conditions. They are overseas studies (in the UK and Europe) using testing methods (and therefore sensitivities of testing) that may differ substantially to those in Australian laboratories. • They primarily relate to long-term oral drug administrations. Oral treat- ments are often chronic and generally involve the use of larger amounts of drug than with injectable treatments. In addition, spillage into the stable environment may occur when the drug is added to and/ or mixed with the feed. 'Messy' eaters may also contaminate the envi- ronment. Similarly, cross-contamination of unmedicated feeds may occur during preparation if appropriate precautions are not taken. In summary, the three studies referred to are: 1. A Swedish study where untreated horses were found to have evi- dence of traces of the non-steroidal antiinflammatory drug flunixin after being placed in stables from which horses treated with flunix- in had been removed at the completion of their course of treat- ment. The residues were found after five-day courses of treatment with both oral and injectable flunixin. However, only the oral treat- ment resulted in detectable levels of flunixin in untreated horses. 2. A British study that found that the long-term administration of isoxsuprine powder resulted in the contamination of feed, feed bins and the stable environment, and the long-term detection of isoxsuprine in the urine of a treated horse. 3. Another British study where a horse had a detectable level of ibu- profen (an anti-inflammatory agent for human use) after being given feed mixed by a person whose hands were contaminated after treatment with a topical ibuprofen gel. In view of these studies, trainers should be aware that: • Low level drug contamination of stables may occur after treatment, especially when administered in the oral form. Where possible, a sep- arate stable (preferably a dedicated medication stall) should be used for all treatments. Treated horses should be removed from this stall after the completion of treatment. • All therapeutic medications, particularly those administered orally and topically, must be carefully administered by a responsible person and then stored securely after use. • Medicated feeds should be prepared separately so as to avoid any possibility of cross-contamination or feed mix-ups. • Disposable gloves should be worn when adding and/or mixing any drug into feed. They must also be worn if the person mixing the feeds is using any topical medication for their own medical condition. • Medications such as gels, pastes or creams administered topically to horses may have the potential to accumulate in the hair or on the skin and act as a substantial reservoir of the substance. Horses may also lick the treated area and ingest the substance. In the event of the detection of a prohibited substance in a sample col- lected from a horse presented to race, the possibility of "recycling" or environmental contamination due to medication administered to that horse or another horse in no way absolves a trainer from their responsi- bilities under the relevant Australian Rules of Racing with respect to that positive finding. OUT OF COMPETITION TESTING Australian Rule of Racing AR.177B facilitates out of competition testing in the thoroughbred racing industry. The Rule is designed to assist in the control of use of substances that are considered to have no place in racing, such as the peptide hormones and illicit drugs. The substances to be tested out-of-competition, as well as their metabolites, isomers and artefacts, are specified in the Rule. Although the Rule allows for the testing of a racehorse at any time whilst in training, out of competition testing will not apply to testing for the use of legitimate therapeutic substances within normal stable routines. The Rule is as follows: “AR.177B: (1) When a sample taken at any time from a horse being trained by a licensed person has detected in it any prohibited substance specified in sub-rule (2): (a) The trainer and any other person who was in charge of such horse at the relevant time may be penalised unless he satisfies the Stewards that he had taken all proper precautions to prevent the administration of such prohibited substance. (b) The horse may be disqualified from any race in which it has com- peted subsequent to the taking of such a sample where, in the opinion of the Stewards, the prohibited substance was likely to have had any direct and/or indirect effect on the horse at the time of the race. (2) For the purposes of subrule (1), the following substances are specified as prohibited substances:- (a) erythropoiesis-stimulating agents, including but not limited to erythropoietin (EPO), epoetin alfa, epoetin beta, darbepoetin alfa, and methoxy polyethylene glycol-epoetin beta (Mircera), (b) non-erythropoietic EPO-receptor agonists, (c) hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF) stabilisers, including but not limited to cobalt and FG-4592, (d) HIF activators, including but not limited to argon and xenon, (e) allosteric effectors of haemoglobin, including but not limited to ITPP (myo-inositol trispyrophosphate), (f) oxygen carriers including but not limited to perfluorochemicals, efaproxiral and modified haemoglobin products, (g) haematopoietic growth factors, including but not limited to fil- grastim, (h) insulins, (i) growth hormones and their releasing factors, (j) insulin-like growth factor-1, (k) synthetic proteins and peptides and synthetic analogues of endog- enous proteins and peptides not registered for medical or veteri- nary use in Australia, (l) corticotrophins, including adrenocorticotrophic hormone (ACTH) and tetracosactrin (tetracosactide), and corticotrophin releasing factors, (m) anabolic androgenic steroids (other than an anabolic androgenic steroid which is present at or below the relevant concentrations set out in AR.178C(1)), (n) selective androgen receptor modulators (SARMS), (o) selective estrogen receptor modulators (SERMS), (p) selective opioid receptor modulators (SORMS), (q) peroxisome proliferator activated receptor ? (PPAR?) agonists, including but not limited to GW 1516, (r) AMPK activators, including but not limited to AICAR (5-amino-1- ?-D-ribofuranosyl-imidazole-4-carboxamide), (s) other agents that directly or indirectly affect or manipulate gene 131 www.racingnsw.com.au PROHIBITED SUBSTANCES