Tuesday, 15 September 2009
New rule requiring compulsory treatment recording in racing stables
Trainers and other industry participants are notified of the introduction of AR.178F, effective 1 September 2009, which makes compulsory for trainers the keeping of accurate records of any and all treatments administered to racehorses in their care. AR.178F reads:
“AR.178F
(1) A trainer must keep, and retain for a period of twelve months, a record of any treatment administered to any horse in his care. Each record of treatment must, as a minimum requirement, include the following information:
(a) name of the horse;
(b) date of administration of the treatment;
(c) name of the treatment (brand name or active constituent);
(d) route of administration;
(e) amount given;
(f) name and signature of person or persons administering and/or authorising treatment.
(2) For the purposes of this rule “treatment” includes:
(a) all Controlled Drugs (Schedule
administered by a veterinarian;
(b) all Prescription Animal Remedies (Schedule 4), including those listed in AR.178C(2);
(c) all Prescription Only Medicines (Schedule 4), prescribed and/or dispensed by a veterinarian for off-label use;
(d) all injectable veterinary medicines (intravenous, intramuscular, subcutaneous, intra-articular) not already included above;
(e) all Pharmacist Only (Schedule 3) and Pharmacy Only
(Schedule 2) medicines;
(f) all veterinary and other medicines containing other scheduled and unscheduled prohibited substances;
(g) all alkalinising agents;
(h) all herbal preparations.
(3) When requested, the records of treatment kept by trainers in accordance with the provisions of subrule (1) must be made available to the Stewards.”
These records must be retained for at least 12 months and be produced if requested by the Stewards, for example, during a stable inspection or at an official Stewards’ inquiry.
Provided the required details as specified in AR.178F are entered for each treatment, there is currently no prescribed format for the recording of treatment. This is because methods of record keeping for invoicing and other purposes vary from stable to stable, depending on the size and complexity of the operation.
Suggested methods include the use of an A4 day-to-a-page diary where the required treatment details are entered daily for each horse on the corresponding page. Columns on each page would include racing name of horse, treatment administered, route of administration (oral, IV, etc), amount given, name and signature of person administering treatment, and name of person authorising treatment.
Alternatively, an A4 or similar-sized page-numbered account book might be used to enter the required treatment details on a page (or pages) for each horse in consecutive order as treatments are administered, ensuring the same details under the headings specified above are recorded, but also including the date of administration.
Electronic records using appropriate computer software are also acceptable, provided the required details as specified in AR.178F are entered, especially including the name of the person administering and/or authorising the treatment.
It is anticipated, as shown in overseas jurisdictions, that compulsory treatment recording will improve stable medication practices more generally, and will hopefully reduce the incidence of inadvertent positives to therapeutic medications (the vast majority of “positive swabs” in racing). Recording all treatments, including herbal and other preparations, can also be of assistance to both trainers and Stewards where accidental contamination of a product with a prohibited substance may have occurred during manufacture.
