Presentations by the United States Trotting Association’s (USTA) Phil Langley and Mike Tanner, along with the Ohio Horsemen’s Benevolent & Protective Association’s (HBPA) Dave Basler and trainer William Cowan, and the Ohio Harness Horsemen’s Association’s (OHHA) Renee Mancino and trainer Virgil Morgan, Jr. highlighted the Ohio State Racing Commission (OSRC) monthly meeting held March 30 in Columbus.

Robert K. Schmitz, OSRC chairman, asked the representatives of the various horsemen’s organizations to explain their position regarding the controversy surrounding the approval of model medication rules and testing procedures.

The one common denominator between the USTA, HBPA, and OHHA is that all parties said that medication rules should be breed specific, meaning that the adopted policies should be defined and clarified to meet exacting standards specific to either the Standardbred or Thoroughbred racehorse.

Langley, USTA president, was adamant in the need for different rules between the breeds, emphasizing the variances in the training and racing of Standardbreds and Thoroughbreds. He also stressed that Standardbreds use certain medications on a weekly basis for therapeutic purposes as a matter of course since harness horses typically race every week to ten days