AS from July 1 the Harness Racing New South Wales Integrity Division will swab all winners across all NSW TAB meetings – a first in Australasian harness racing.
The majority of winners were previously post-race tested, however, this new initiative further adds to HRNSW’s drive of creating an even playing field according to HRNSW chief executive John Dumesny.
“Whilst HRNSW has the strongest integrity measures in place, as it is from July 1 these will be enhanced to the extent that every winner at every NSW TAB meeting will be swabbed,” said Dumesny.
“This concept of swabbing all winners has been discussed for many years at all levels of the industry and it is a credit to the current HRNSW Board Members that they have resolved to commence this policy.”
In FY2018 there were 2,599 NSW harness racing winners tested and in FY2020 this number will rise to a projected 3,861.
A total of 8,181 equine drug tests were conducted in FY2018 with the 10,000 target to be broken in the upcoming financial year.
“It is the goal of the Board Members, Executive Management and Integrity Division of HRNSW to provide an assurance that every effort is being taken to allow their horses to compete on their natural ability and training.”
Another new initiative HRNSW is bringing on board to protect the welfare of juvenile horses is a new policy for two-year-old pacers which also has an aim to provide for longevity of a horse’s racing career.
“HRNSW has a duty of care to prevent the younger horses being over-raced and the new policy which provides for a minimum number of days between race and re-trial starts assists with this objective,” said Dumesny.
“We currently provide opportunities for the two-year-olds to race through our guarantee scheme but we also require to be observant of our future viability and for these same horses to race on as five and six-year-olds and beyond.
“We don’t see that it is in the best interests of juvenile horses to race again within five days so the new policy has a six-day limit between race starts.”
The Two-Year-Old Racing Policy can be viewed at: https://www.hrnsw.com.au/uploads/files/hrnsw%20policys/652.3%20-%20two-year-old%20racing%20policy.pdf
Approved By Dean Baring www.harnessbred.com
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