Horse Racing: New York Racing Authority does away with Security Barns
The cash strapped New York Racing Association has been looking for ways to cut costs but usually that means making compromises. In one of the rare instances of good judgment, NYRA has stumbled onto a win-win situation, cutting costs, improving efficiency and making trainers and owners happy too.
NYRA announced that its’ scrapping the detention barn program which has been in force for 5 years. The program required horses to be isolated prior to any race at any one of the NYRA operated racetracks. The purpose of the program was to deter the use of banned performance enhancing substances. The horses are required to spend 6 hours in detention before a race day. The changes take effect from the first day of the Saratoga meet. The Security barn, unique to the NYRA alone and a source of pride for them, would be replaced by other techniques to stop the use of performance enhancing drugs.
The so called Security Barns cost NYRA 1.5 million dollars to 2 million dollars a year to operate and were extremely unpopular with the trainers and owners. Horsemen initially did not always oppose the detention barns. But they soon fell out of favour with owners and trainers alike. It was claimed that the detentions put a lot of unnecessary stress on horses, enough to affect their performance during the day. They were also concerned that the detentions add to the existing burden of expenses.
There have increasingly more pronounced calls from the racing community to eliminate the barns that ultimately got to the point that horsemen threatened to sit out the last day of Belmont. They argued that pre-race and post-race testing would be as effective as and less disturbing than placing horses in detention.
With the Detention barns out of the picture there is nothing physically preventing horsemen from giving the horses performance enhancing drugs. Previously, only state veterinarians would have access to a horse in detention. NYRA would now have to resort to much more diligent drug testing to ensure a level playing field for all horses. But of course even if NYRA is not forcing horses into six hours of detention, they would still keep a vigilant eye on the horses in addition to testing. Although it would be private veterinarians who would be administering race day drugs, measures would be in place to make sure all drugs administered are legal.
NYRA President, Charles Hayward was confident that they had the tools and technology to track and stop the use of performance enhancing drugs. He said that it was a matter of staying ahead of the abusers and with the new measure they would implement, NYRA would continue to be a step ahead. Charles said that NYRA would not allow drug abuse to tarnish the integrity of the sport.
Although there was pressure from Horsemen and a need for cutting costs the Chairman of NYRA, Steven Duncker, maintained that neither of the two concerns factored into the decision. He said the decision was a response to improvements in drug testing technologies and processes. “There is a better way”, he said and it eliminated the need to isolate horses for six hours. He said that the new NYRA testing policy would include blood-doping agents like EPO which increase red blood cell count and bronchial dilator, which increase airflow. NYRA would use Total Carbon dioxide count as a testing tool too.
Overseeing NYRA’s new drug testing policy would be Dr. George Maylin. Dr. Maylin as Director of the drug testing and research program at Morrisville State College is already heading the largest drug testing program in the US. Dr. Maylin’s presence at the helm would serve to satisfy any doubts about the changes in NYRA policy.
NYRA would also implement harsh penalties. First time offenders would be barred from NYRA for a year, second time offenders for two years and third time offenders would be permanently banned from entering horses in or receiving stalls at NYRA tracks.
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