By: Jeremy Balan
The ongoing fight against the use of prohibited drugs in racehorses now features a drug-sniffing dog named Chini.
A 3-year-old Belgian Malinois, Chini was deployed by Ruidoso Downs during its summer meet in 2018, which runs from Memorial Day to Labor Day. Track president and general manager Jeff True explained the program during a panel on racing integrity Dec. 4 at the University of Arizonaโs Global Symposium on Racing in Tucson, Ariz.
โWeโve got a dog that can smell clenbuterol. Weโve got a dog that can detect albuterol. We put that dog on the stable gate at 5 in the morning, and we were sweeping cars,โ True said during a discussion titled โTools of the Regulatory Trade: Insuring Integrity in Racing.โ
Drug-sniffing dogs are not entirely foreign to racetracks, as theyโve been used to detect recreational drugs in barn areas, but True said Chini is likely the first dog used to detect prohibited equine medication. While Chini was working on detecting equine medications, another dog was working to find recreational human drugs.
โWe found some substances in the shedrows and in vehicles, the vehicles we were looking at, and we either handed that material over to local law enforcement in the case of human drugs, or we sent them to the stewards if they were in possession of a syringe that they werenโt supposed to have,โ True said after the session.
True said that discovered medications were sent to a lab to get a report on exactly what the substance was composed of, and once identified, those results were submitted to the New Mexico Racing Commission or the track stewards, although he said the main function for Chiniโs involvement at Ruidoso initially was as a deterrent.
โWe were trying to make the statement that weโre going to be in your barns looking for stuff,โ True said. โIt was about deterrence, not about trying to bust a bunch of folks. โฆ Would we like to find a bad actor? Of course. But the dog is just the tip of the spear.โ
True said the dogs discovered โabout a dozenโ drugs, both for equines and recreational substances for humans, and explained the strength of Chiniโs abilities, even to detect the plastic of an unused syringe and 12 types of medications.
โThe level of sensitivityโthe car stops at the stable gate, stops, and while theyโre checking the license the dog is sweeping, and if the dog hits on something, we send them for secondary search,โ True said. โWe had a lady with a purse on the floorboard with an albuterol inhaler inside the purse. Thatโs the level of sensitivity weโre talking about.โ
Ruidoso owns Chini, and the trackโs horsemenโs integrity liaison, Luis Alvarez, is working toward becoming a certified handler. True said he has also offered Chiniโs services to other New Mexico tracks.
Earlier in the discussion New York Racing Association regulatory veterinarian Dr. Jennifer Durenberger gave a presentation on the โRegulatory Veterinary Intervention Rate,โ which is calculated as a combination of any action a regulatory veterinarian takes to remove an unsound horse from competition, injuries or deaths in racing or training, and medication violations, divided by the a trainerโs total number of starts at one track.
โHereโs the uses for this. If youโre an operator, you might want to consider whether a trainerโs entries or stall app continue to be welcome at your racetrack,โ Durenberger said. โWeโve got an objective number that shows the horses in that trainerโs care, custody, and control require the regulatory vets to do something at a much higher than expected rate. As a result of this, the safety and welfare of all participants at the track could be unfairly jeopardized. The integrity of your wagering product could be called into question. โฆ A trainer with a very high RVI โฆ is essentially a liability.โ
Scott Wells, the president and general manager of Remington Park, wrapped up the presentations for the panel.
โI donโt think the cat-and-mouse game will ever go away,โ Wells said. โWeโre always going to be chasing people who come up with new and more sophisticated ways to cheat.โ
