The Racing Medication and Testing Consortium (RMTC) board granted interim accreditation to the University of Illinois at Chicago (UI Chicago) Analytical Forensic Testing Laboratory at its Feb. 6 meeting

The laboratory is on track to become the ninth to receive full RMTC accreditation since 2013. The UI Chicago laboratory performs testing of Thoroughbred and Standardbred samples for the Illinois Racing Board.

With the addition of the Illinois laboratory, RMTC-accredited and soon-to-be accredited laboratories are now responsible for the testing of samples for 30 of the 34 pari-mutuel racing jurisdictions in the United States, including Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Delaware, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maine, Massachusetts, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Nevada, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Texas, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, and Wyoming.

“We are pleased to see another laboratory in our sport working to meet the RMTC laboratory accreditation standards for testing expertise and proficiency,” said RMTC Chair Alex Waldrop. “We hope to see additional laboratories join the University of Illinois-Chicago within the year