DOPING CHARGES Change Urged In Procedure

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31586, 25 January 1968, Page 5

DOPING CHARGES Change Urged In Procedure

(A’eio Zealand Press Association) WELLINGTON. A recommendation that in cases of doping all evidence be placed before a panel which would submit its findings for consideration by the stewards was put to delegates at the final session of the Asian Racing Conference in Wellington yesterday.

The recommendation was included in the report to the conference by the chairman of the veterinary sub-commit-tee. Mr J. M. Stewart

The committee’s report said that to maintain uniformity in such cases all evidence, including an analyst’s report, should be placed before a panel consisting of an official veterinarian, a racing analyst, a racecourse inspector or stipendiary steward, and a pharmacologist, who would submit their findings for the consideration of the stewards before charges were laid.

"We feel that this is advisable 1n the interests of the owners and trainers of suspected horses, and of the administration involved,” the committee's report stated.

Mr Stewart said that discussions which arose from items put forward by Thailand, on the use of drugs to camouflage the use of stimulants, and by the New Zealand Veterinary Association, on the control of doping, with emphasis on procedure after notification of an analyst's report of a positive swab had been most interesting.

"From comments made by al most all veterinary delegates it soon became apparent that, as professional men, they were not altogether satisfied that the present method of administering the rules relating to doping was the best one,” Mr Stewart said.

Mr Stewart also asked delegates to make available as soon as possible to the veterinary associations of member countries any information gained from research into equine virus abortion.

A Japanese delegate reported on virus abortion to the veterinary conference.

This is a subject in which veterinary practitioners in this country are virtually inexperienced. The disease is unknown in this country and, for that matter, in Australia," Mr Stewart said. "But the matter is one of tre mendous importance to all practitioners throughout the world, as the disease has now spread from the United States to Japan and cases have been registered in England and other European countries. “We were fortunate enough to receive from Mr Humphrey Finney, representing the United States, a paper recently produced in that country and presented to a stud managers' course by the University of Kentucky which has shed some light on possible preventive measures in that country. "But it is also obvious that our knowledge is far from complete. I earnestly implore delegates to make available any further information which comes to light," said Mr Stew art.