The Horseracing Integrity & Welfare Unit released a list of 19 covered horses found to have had an intra-articular injection within seven days of a timed and reported workout, making them ineligible to race or breeze for 30 days from the date of injections.
HIWU said the ineligibility to work or race was done “in order to protect the horse's health,” adding that the horses were still allowed to jog and gallop during their period of ineligibility.
Under Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority regulations, trainers are not permitted to order joint injections within 14 days of a race or seven days prior to a timed workout. While trainers face a 60-day suspension for violating the rule, a June 26 operational bulletin from HISA said the trainer penalty would not be enforced until July 15 as it relates to intra-articular injections prior to workouts. The horses, however, would be ineligible to work or race for 30 days.
The trainer penalty is in effect, starting May 22, for racing a horse within 14 days of an IA injection. There is one current case on the HIWU website involving trainer Douglas Nunn and the horse Smithwick's Spice, who won a Delaware Park allowance race on June 9 after reportedly being injected on May 31.
In a press release, HISA said it would “continue to apply its rules equally and justly to all racing participants and will continue to work to ensure racing participants are adequately informed of HISA's rules and how to ensure compliance.”
The 19 horses listed by HIWU as provisionally suspended (with names of trainers added, using Equibase as a source) follows. HIWU said this covers the dates May 22-June 30.
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