Section 60. Medications and prohibited substances

A. Medications and prohibited substances are divided into five classes. The classes are:

1. Class 1. Substances found in this class have no generally accepted medical use in the racehorse and have a very high pharmacological potential for altering the performance of a racehorse. These substances should never be found in the horse's system through post-race testing or in the possession of any holder of a permit within the enclosure of a horse racing facility licensed by the commission. Such substances are potent stimulants of the nervous system including opiates, opium derivatives, synthetic opioids, psychoactive drugs, amphetamines and U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) Schedules I and II controlled substances.

2. Class 2. Substances in this class have a high potential to affect the outcome of a race. Most are not generally accepted as therapeutic agents in the racehorse. Many are products intended to alter consciousness or the psychic state of humans and have no approved or indicated use in the horse. Some, such as injectable local anesthetics, have legitimate uses in equine medicine but should not be found in a racehorse through post-race testing. The following groups of substances are in this class:

a. Opiate partial agonists or agonist-antagonists;

b. Nonopiate psychotropic drugs, which may have stimulant, depressant, analgesic or neuroleptic effects;

c. Miscellaneous substances that might have a stimulant effect on the central nervous system (CNS);

d. Drugs with prominent CNS depressant action;

e. Antidepressant and antipsychotic drugs, with or without prominent CNS stimulatory or depressant effects;

f. Muscle-blocking substances that have a direct neuromuscular blocking action;

g. Local anesthetics that have a reasonable potential for use as nerve-blocking agents (except procaine);

h. Other biological substances and snake venoms or chemicals that may be used as nerve-blocking agents; and

i. Erythropoietin (Epogen), darbepoietin, oxyglobin, hemopure, or other blood-doping agents.

3. Class 3. Substances found in this class may or may not have an accepted therapeutic use in the horse but have a potential to enhance performance, and their presence in the horse's system is prohibited on race day. The following groups of substances are in this class:

a. Substances affecting the autonomic nervous system that do not have prominent CNS effects, but that do have prominent cardiovascular and respiratory system effects (bronchodilators are included in this category);

b. Local anesthetics that have nerve-blocking potential but also a high potential for producing urine residue levels from a method of use not related to the anesthetic effect of the substance (procaine);

c. Miscellaneous substances with mild sedative action, such as the sleep-inducing antihistamines;

d. Primary vasodilating/hypotensive agents;

e. Potent diuretics affecting renal function and body fluid composition; and

f. Anabolic and/or androgenic steroids and/or growth hormones other than boldenone, stanozolol, nandrolone, and testosterone, which are classified elsewhere in this section.

4. Class 4. Substances in this class are primarily therapeutic medications routinely used in racehorses. These may influence performance, but generally have a more limited ability to do so. The following groups of drugs are in this class:

a. Nonopiate substances that have a mild central analgesic effect;

b. Substances affecting the autonomic nervous system that do not have prominent CNS, cardiovascular or respiratory effects:

(1) Substances used solely as topical vasoconstrictors or decongestants;

(2) Substances used as gastrointestinal antispasmodics;

(3) Substances used to void the urinary bladder; and

(4) Substances with a major effect on CNS vasculature or smooth muscle of visceral organs.

(5) Antihistamines that do not have a significant CNS depressant effect (this does not include H1 blocking agents, which are listed in Class 3).

c. Mineral corticoid substances;

d. Skeletal muscle relaxants;

e. Anti-inflammatory substances that may reduce pains as a consequence of their anti-inflammatory actions, which include:

(1) Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs);

(2) Corticosteroids (glucocorticoids); and

(3) Miscellaneous anti-inflammatory agents;

f. Boldenone, stanozolol, nandrolone, and testosterone, individually but not in combination, at levels stipulated in 11VAC10-180-75;

g. Less potent diuretics;

h. Cardiac glycosides and anti-arrhythmics including:

(1) Cardiac glycosides;

(2) Anti-arrhythmic agents (exclusive of lidocaine, bretylium and propranolol); and

(3) Miscellaneous cardiotonic drugs;

i. Topical anesthetics agents not available in injectable formulations;

j. Antidiarrheal agents; and

k. Miscellaneous substances including:

(1) Expectorants with little or no other pharmacologic action;

(2) Stomachics; and

(3) Mucolytic agents.

5. Class 5. Drugs in this class are therapeutic medications for which concentration limits have been established as well as certain miscellaneous agents. Included specifically are agents that have very localized action only, such as anti-ulcer drugs and certain anti-allergenic drugs. The anticoagulant drugs are also included.

B. Disciplinary actions.

1. In issuing penalties against individuals found guilty of medication and drug violations a regulatory distinction shall be made between the detection of therapeutic medications used routinely to treat racehorses and those drugs that have no reason to be found at any concentration in the test sample on race day.

2. The stewards or the commission may use the most recent revision of the Association of Racing Commissioners International (RCI) Uniform Classification Guidelines for Foreign Substances and the Multiple Violations Penalty System as the guideline in the penalty stage of the deliberations for a rule violation for any prohibited substance.

3. If a licensed veterinarian is administering or prescribing a drug not listed in the RCI Uniform Classification Guidelines for Foreign Substances, the identity of the drug shall be forwarded to the commission veterinarian to be forwarded to RCI for classification.

4. Any drug or metabolite thereof found to be present in a pre-race or post-race sample that is not classified in the most recent RCI Uniform Classification Guidelines for Foreign Substances may be assumed to be an RCI Class 1 Drug and the trainer and owner may be subject to those penalties as set forth in schedule "A" unless satisfactorily demonstrated otherwise by the Racing Medication and Testing Consortium, with a penalty category assigned.

5. Any permit holder of the commission, including practicing veterinarians, found to be responsible for the improper or intentional administration of any drug resulting in a positive test may be subject to the same penalties set forth to the trainer.

6. Any veterinarian found to be involved in the administration of any drug carrying the penalty category of "A" shall be referred to the respective state licensing board of veterinary medicine for consideration of further disciplinary action and/or license revocation. This is in addition to any penalties issued by the stewards or the commission.

7. Any person who the stewards or the commission believe may have committed acts in violation of criminal statutes shall be referred to the appropriate law-enforcement agency. Administrative action taken by the stewards or the commission in no way prohibits a prosecution for criminal acts committed, nor does a potential criminal prosecution stall administrative action by the stewards or the commission.

8. Pursuant to 11VAC10-60-70 E, all horses in the care of a trainer who is suspended for more than 10 days must be transferred to another trainer approved by the stewards. During the period of suspension the suspended trainer shall have no communication with the new trainer, the new trainers' staff, or the horse owner; shall not benefit financially from transferred horses in his stable during the time of suspension; and shall not be permitted on the grounds except with the permission of the stewards.

Historical Notes

Derived from Volume 12, Issue 24, eff. September 18, 1996; amended, Virginia Register Volume 14, Issue 22, eff. August 20, 1998; Volume 16, Issue 23, eff. July 10, 2000; Volume 18, Issue 19, eff. May 10, 2002; Errata, 18:20 VA.R. 2681 June 17, 2002; amended, Virginia Register Volume 21, Issue 16, eff. March 31, 2003; Volume 21, Issue 16, eff. May 18, 2005; Volume 23, Issue 20, eff. May 18, 2007; Volume 24, Issue 16, eff. April 14, 2008; Volume 26, Issue 19, eff. May 29, 2010; Volume 28, Issue 15, eff. April 16, 2012; Volume 30, Issue 08, eff. January 1, 2014.

Statutory Authority

§ 59.1-369 of the Code of Virginia.