Horsemen advised on regulatory change for corticosteroids

During a Sept. 28 webinar hosted by the Maryland Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association, veterinary and regulatory officials explained the recent decision by the Maryland Racing Commission to modify a regulation on five corticosteroids to eliminate testing threshold levels and employ limit of detection for the substances—the lowest level a lab can confidently determine that a substance is in a sample.

The MRC, upon the recommendation of its Equine Safety, Health and Welfare Advisory Committee, took the action at its Sept. 23 meeting. The change was filed with emergency status and there will be a public comment period. It is anticipated the update regulation will be implemented Nov. 1.

The five corticosteroids are dexamethasone, prednisolone, betamethasone, isoflupredone and triamcinolone. The current 14-day stand-down period for intra-articular injections will remain in place under 2019 model rules approved by the Association of Racing Commissioners International and Racing Medication and Testing Consortium.