ARCI

The University of Louisville (UofL) Equine Industry program launched the first-ever Racing Investigator Certificate Program Monday. The two-day program, an initiative of the Association of Racing Commissioners International (ARCI), was conducted online, but the ARCI is working with UofL and the University of Arizona's Racetrack Industry Program to hold future programs in person. "The job of a racing investigator is a specialty involving knowledge not only of police procedures concerning interrogation and evidence gathering, but also of horse racing, the backstretch, and the horses themselves," said ARCI Chair Tom Sage....

Tony Chamblin, a longtime horse racing industry executive and ambassador for the industry, passed away peacefully Sunday at his home in Lexington, Ky. He was 81. Chamblin played an instrumental role in the passage of the Interstate Horse Racing Act of 1978 and the Pari-Mutual Licensing Simplification Act of 1988, and later became an early supporter of federal legislation intended to align U.S. equine medication policies with International standards. He served in a number of executive capacities during his nearly 50-year career in the horse racing industry As chief executive...

In a settlement agreement and mutual release with the California Horse Racing Board (CHRB), leading California trainer John Sadler has been fined $15,000 and handed a 60-day suspension--45 days of which are stayed--for three medication violations dating from 2019. The suspension runs June 29 through June 13. As part of the agreement, Sadler has been placed on probation for one year, ending June 28, 2021. If he incurs any medication violations during that period, the 45 days of stayed suspension will be imposed following a noticed hearing. As first reported...

Thirty-six years ago, I was dispatched to cover the annual gathering of the Association of Racing Commissioners (now ARCI). I had been covering Thoroughbred racing and breeding full-time for all of about three months. That night I found myself sitting at dinner with the head of a state testing lab. "I listened to the session on uniform medication," I told him. "Seems logical." "Never happen," he said matter-of-factly. "Every state has its own racing commission. Every state has its own testing procedures. No one wants to let go of that."...

Eight horses trained by Joe Sharp at the Fair Grounds meet have been disqualified after testing positive for the drug levamisole. Sharp said that he had another five horses who tested positive for the same drug last fall at Churchill and he is awaiting word from Churchill Downs stewards on that matter. The Louisiana positives were first reported by the Daily Racing Form. The Louisiana horses were all placed last and Sharp was fined $1,000 for each infraction. Levamisole, which Sharp said was found in an over-the-counter deworming product he...

Dr. George Maylin, the director of the New York Equine Drug Testing Programs, has confirmed the presence of IOX-2, a small molecule synthetic doping agent and a threat to both human and equine sport, in a pair of Standardbred horses racing at Yonkers Raceway. IOX-2 is a blood and gene doping agent that Dr. Maylin warned attendees about at the annual ARCI conference in Arcadia, California. The New York horseracing lab is believed to be the first--either in horse racing or the worldwide WADA network of testing labs--to screen for...