During its meeting on Thursday, November 2, in Louisville, Ky., the board of directors of the Racing Medication and Testing Consortium (RMTC) announced future plans regarding anabolic steroids and out-of-competition drug testing, and received an update on ongoing projects related to the development of withdrawal times for therapeutic medications.

The RMTC also announced it has retained Jim Gallagher, who most recently was executive director of the Kentucky Horse Racing Authority, as a regulatory and security consultant.

Following a presentation from a sub-committee on the predominately unrestricted use and lack of uniform testing protocols for anabolic steroids in U.S. horse racing, the RMTC reaffirmed its commitment to present recommendations to the industry on the regulation of these drugs in December at the University of Arizona Symposium on Racing.

In light of the recently introduced confirmation test for the blood-doping agent Erythropoietin (EPO) by the University of Pennsylvania, the RMTC approved a proposed draft of a rule regarding out-of-competition drug testing that will be forwarded to the Model Rules Committee of the Association of Racing Commissioners International