Eric Mitchell, The Blood-Horse's editor-in-chief and editorial director, shares thoughts on why he thinks racing needs to beef up out-of-competition testing.

As part of the ongoing debate about the future of medication testing and enforcement in American racing, let’s hope out-of-competition testing takes on a greater sense of urgency.

Being able to test a horse at any time serves an important role in finding banned substances that would otherwise go undetected because they could have cleared a horse’s system by race day. More importantly, putting trainers and veterinarians on notice that a horse could be tested with only an hour’s notice serves as a powerful deterrent. Combine out-of-competition testing with a stricter code of penalties and racing could make significant progress toward culling the cheaters from its ranks.

Right now the United States, compared with other major racing jurisdictions, is way behind the curve on out-of-competition testing