The IHRA Integrity Stewards with consultation from the Stakeholder, Breeding & Racecourse committees wish to update the procedures and sanctions in relation to TCO2 testing with immediate effect.
The following was recommended by the committees:
• Restricted warmups will be enforced at all tracks for all remaining fixtures.
• Random TCO2 testing will take place at all meetings
• Following a blood sample being taken from a horse and analysed in the blood gas analyser, if the reading is above the international threshold, the horse will be retained for an additional 30 minutes and a second sample will be analysed. Should the second reading be above the threshold, the following sanctions will apply:
1st Offence: The horse is automatically withdrawn from its race; €100 fine is imposed on the trainer and he/she is suspended for 7 days.
2nd Offence: The horse is automatically withdrawn from its race; €100 fine is imposed on the trainer and he/she is suspended for 14 days.
3rd Offence: The horse is automatically withdrawn from its race; €100 fine is imposed on the trainer and he/she is suspended for 30 days.
• If a trainer intentionally exercises a horse outside its allocated permitted time, the horse will be treated as guilty and the above sanctions will apply.
• If a trainer has a reading above the threshold, the integrity stewards reserve the right to sample all his/her horses entered on that race day.
• The integrity stewards reserve the right to send any horses sample for a confirmatory test and a fine and/or suspension will apply should a positive result be obtained; however the above sanctions will still be enforced regardless of the sample being sent for a confirmatory.
VDM Memorial August 10th & 11th 2019 Track Rules
1. Declarations close both days at 12.30pm
2. Any horse not declared at this time will be placed at the back of the field.
3. Restriction on warm-ups will take place (please see the table below for work out times).
4. Horses may only warm up in the time allocated and prior to their race.
5. All horses must be in the paddock before 2pm, otherwise a penalty of €1000 will be automatically applied to the connections.
6. First Race Sat & Sun is 2pm.
7. All horses must be on the track 10 minutes before post time.
8. All horses must parade unless permission is granted by the stewards; In this case a horse not parading must still be on the track and a handler may be with the horse if required.
9. Gate positions are printed on the race card for each race.
10. 1st, 2nd & 3rd in each race will receive a rosette and must return after the race to collect.
11. The winning driver of each race must be available for a post-race interview in the studio.
12. No children are permitted drive the winning horse back to the paddock and any adult doing same must wear a helmet. Any person found guilty of this liable to an automatic fine.
13. Pre & Post Integrity testing will be carried out over the festival.
14. All trainers will be requested to sign the new TCO2 testing protocol to agree to the terms and conditions set out by the IHRA Integrity Stewards.
RACE WORK OUT TIME
1 13.00-13.15
2 13.15-13.30
3 13.30-13.45
4 After Race 1
5 After Race 2
6 After Race 3
7 After Race 4
8 After Race 5
9 After Race 6
10 After Race 7
11 After Race 8
12 After Race 9
13 After Race 10
