The Fédération Equestre Internationale (FEI) Tribunal has issued its final decisions on prohibited substances cases involving seven endurance athletes, three trainers, and nine horses from three different stables competing in events in Abu Dhabi and Dubai between Nov. 26, 2016, and Jan. 14, 2017.

The FEI imposed provisional suspensions in January following positive findings in eight of the horses for the controlled medications caffeine (a stimulant), theobromine (a vasodilator), theophylline (a bronchodilator), and paraxanthine (which, at the time of the finding, was a banned substance), with the ninth sample also containing flumetasone (a corticosteroid).

Since the proceedings were opened, the FEI Equine Prohibited List has been amended in order to downgrade paraxanthine (caffeine’s main metabolite) to a controlled medication before it was further reclassified as a specified substance, effective Jan. 1, 2018. The FEI said specified substances should not in any way be considered less important or less dangerous than other prohibited substances; rather, they are substances which are more likely to have been ingested by horses for a purpose other than the enhancement of sport performance, for example, through a contaminated food substance. In the case of a positive for a specified substance, provisional suspensions are not automatic.

The Tribunal has therefore agreed to the lift the provisional suspensions further to a request from the FEI given paraxanthine’s reclassification