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By Gregory A. Hall

ghall@courier-journal.com

The Kentucky Horse Racing Commission approved a change in post-race drug testing Tuesday that will require less testing of blood and urine samples.

At least as many samples will be drawn, but under the new policy, owners and trainers won’t know which samples are to be tested, said Mary Scollay, the commission’s equine medical director.

“The deterrence factor is still high,” she said.

Every winner is still going to be sampled and trainers won’t know if the sample will be tested by the commission’s lab in Florida, she said. The lab, which is under contract to the commission, will decide which random samples to test.

Testing fewer samples is expected to save racetracks 25 percent to 30 percent of the post-race testing costs, which for a six-month period this year cost $455,400. Currently all samples taken are tested.

When the policy change will be implemented has yet to be determined, commission officials said. Also still to be determined is whether the change requires legislative review.

Under the new policy, samples would be taken from at least two horses, including the winner. Race stewards would select those horses.

The stewards are given suggested guidelines to use in deciding whether to require that a sample be tested: a beaten heavy favorite, a long-shot with an unusual performance, a horse involved with what appear to be unusual betting patterns, a trainer on a winning streak or intelligence gathered by security.

Samples would be retained by the lab. If one of the horses in the race was found to be in violation of a medication rule, other samples from the race would also be tested.

Certain stakes races would be subject to increased testing, as is the current practice. For graded stakes races like the Kentucky Derby, samples would be taken from — and tested — for at least the top-three finishers. Currently, the top four finishers are tested.

The policy changes are based on an early 1990s industry paper called the “McKinsey Report” that suggested random testing could be an effective and cheaper approach to medication regulation.

Scollay said Kentucky would be the first state to implement an approach similar to what the report suggested.