Racing organizations are moving ahead with plans to implement a points-driven penalty system for equine medication violations.

The Racing Medication and Testing Consortium (RMTC), in a June 6 release, said its board of directors gave preliminary approval to a multiple violation penalty, or MVP, system by which trainers will accumulate points for each drug violation. Mandatory suspensions will range from 30 to 360 days.

Meanwhile, the Association of Racing Commissioners International (RCI) Regulatory Attorneys Committee also advanced a proposal to enhance penalties for trainers with multiple drug violations. RCI said June 6 the plan is "similar to the approach taken by the Federal Sentencing Guidelines that imposes an additional penalty to an underlying violation based on multiple offenses."

Violations would be tracked by RCI, which would assign points. Enhanced penalties would be added to a fine or suspension imposed for the underlying violation once a trainer exceeds a certain point level, RCI said