The Kentucky Horse Racing Commission (KHRC) approved a pair of recommendations from the Kentucky Equine Drug Research Council (KEDRC) July 17, including a "rapid response" protocol to examine emerging illegal drugs.

The KHRC approved a process that will readily provide the state’s testing facility, HFL Sport Science, funds to research the use of reported new illegal substances and develop testing for such substances.

As part of the protocol, HFL Sport Science will receive up to $250,000 annually to spend on such research. Funding will be set aside for HFL to take more immediate action in such situations, in concert with the KHRC equine medical director (Mary Scollay, DVM), KEDRC chairman (currently Jerry Yon, MD), KHRC executive director (currently John Ward), and KHRC chairman (currently Robert Beck Jr.).

Emerging threats will be reported to the equine medical director, who will conduct a preliminary investigation to determine the relative threat in Kentucky. She will work with HFL at this stage and will inform the KEDRC chairman and KHRC executive director of the investigation