Having gotten field reports that racehorses are receiving vodka intravenously in an attempt to calm them down before races, the Racing Medication and Testing Consortium (RMTC) has authorized laboratories to develop a test for alcohol.

The RMTC also plans to increase surveillance at racetracks on days that don’t feature major stakes. In 2005, the organization put together “big event teams” to increase security on major racing days at Thoroughbred, Standardbred, and Quarter Horse tracks.

RMTC officials and horsemen’s representatives said they’ve heard vodka is being used in horses, but they don’t know to what extent. They believe it’s injected about four hours prior to a race because it quickly metabolizes and thus becomes difficult to detect.

“There hasn’t been a test for it—that’s part of the problem,” RMTC executive director Scot Waterman, DVM, said. “We feel we can develop a test, and the labs are working on it. We’re hearing (alcohol) actually is being used to calm a horse down that might be nervous. They’re trying to take off the edge (when a horse is in the paddock)