The Kentucky Equine Drug Research Council has reaffirmed its support for a 20-horse training stable that will be used to produce samples for drug-testing research, but implementation of the program will wait until the Kentucky Horse Racing Authority approves it and also hires an equine medical director.

The research stable would be funded by the drug council, which would provide about $500,000 a year, and the national Racing Medication and Testing Consortium, which would operate it and spend about $40,000 a year on testing of primarily blood samples. The purpose is to develop solid threshold levels and withdrawal times for commonly used therapeutic medications.

KHRA executive director Lisa Underwood, during an April 3 drug council meeting, said she recommends first hiring an equine medical director whose duties would include oversight of the training stable. Underwood said there are six to 10 candidates for the position, which she hopes is filled in a few months.

RMTC executive director Scot Waterman, DVM, said the training stable would be the first of its kind in the country because of the size of the stable and the extent of the drug testing. Officials would have 20 sets of data on a variety of drugs that would be administered at various times to ensure a range of results