In light of the events widely reported in recent weeks, it is welcome news that Kentucky stakeholders have moved swiftly to help tackle the issues of transparency and anti-doping. A number of industry leaders, who represent the best-known organizations in the state, came together to bring Equine MediRecord, world leaders in equine welfare and anti-doping, to Kentucky.
Equine MediRecord, an award-winning Irish company that is well-established in Europe, solves a previously unmet need by allowing proper, timely recording of all regulatory medicines administered to horses, as well as recording their vaccination records. This will ensure that records cannot be lost, damaged or tampered with once closed on the system, greatly increasing transparency and accountability in relation to anti-doping and equine welfare. Kentucky, thanks to the consortium, is the first state to have access to the system.
The Kentucky Thoroughbred Association (KTA) stated “the KTA was pleased to financially support Equine MediRecord to enable them to populate the Kentucky regulations, thus providing Kentucky horsemen and women with new tools to comply with racing reforms on record keeping and trainer responsibility. Moreover, better recordkeeping provides a paper trail that protects trainers, their horses and owners.”
Dr. Will Farmer, Equine Medical Director of Churchill Downs, home racetrack of the Kentucky Derby, stated after seeing the system: “I think this would be a great tool for trainers!” Dr. Jeffrey Berk, a well-respected equine veterinarian in Lexington, agreed, saying “I think that this technology could be a useful tool for trainers to help them accurately record the medications their horses are receiving, as well as an aid to keeping in compliance with the medication rules of any athletic discipline that their horses are competing in.”
Pierce Dargan, CEO of Equine MediRecord, said: “We are happy to provide trainers with an easy-to-use system to keep track of the changing regulations. It can be difficult to keep up with these changes leading trainers to make genuinely innocent errors and have their reputations questioned. Our system provides vital information to trainers and allows technology to assist in ensuring they are compliant and that the very best horse welfare and anti-doping practices are being followed.”
Equine MediRecord was asked to present its system at the Association of Racing Commissioners International 2020 Conference on Racing Integrity and Animal Welfare in New Orleans in April, but this was unfortunately cancelled due to the Coronavirus pandemic. The KTA approached Equine MediRecord directly to enable their launch into the U.S.
The Kentucky Thoroughbred Association is a trade organization, representing thoroughbred owners, breeders and trainers, working to broaden the support base and increase visibility on issues that impact the Thoroughbred industry on local, state, and national levels, while continuing to promote the Kentucky Thoroughbred racing and breeding industry at home and around the world.
Equine MediRecord is the global leader in equine anti-doping and horse welfare software. They operate in Ireland, the UK, France and now the USA. They recently partnered with the Arabian Racing Organisation (ARO) in the UK to make the ARO the first in Europe and second in the world to mandate electronic medical records be kept by their registered trainers. They then partnered with the Irish Veterinary Welfare Commission to make Irish Standardbred horses the first in the world to mandate medical records digitized not only for horses in training, but for breeding stock as well. Equine MediRecord based on The Curragh, county Kildare, has been strongly supported from its foundation by the Kildare Local Enterprise Office and Trinity College Dublin.
For more information about Equine MediRecord, click here.
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