4Racing welcomes report released by the NHA on prohibited substances

4Racing has noted and welcomes the comprehensive report released today by the National Horseracing Authority (NHA) on prohibited substances in the horseracing industry.

The NHA released statistics for the racing seasons for the last seven years, from 2016/2017 up to and including 2022/2023. The NHA Laboratory analysed 34 647 specimens out of a total of 244 998 runners for the period (14,14%), covering 16 305 races.

The NHA said that the percentage positive rate of about 0.2% and 0.3% of specimens has remained quite consistent at the NHA over the past 20 years (clear exceptions being incidents of feed contamination reflected in the 0,67% due to Zilpaterol and Caffeine in the period 2016 - 2018).

The 0.2% and 0.3% positive rate is no higher than in countries where stables are not under direct Horseracing Authority control, such as Australia,  England and Ireland, with the NHA saying South Africa’s positive percentage rates are consistent with statistics in those jurisdictions.

4Racing Chairperson, Charles Savage, welcomed the NHA’s detailed report into the monitoring of prohibited substances in the industry, reiterating 4Racing’s support of the NHA as the mandated regulator of the industry upholding the governance, regulation and integrity of the horse racing industry for all.

“In 4Racing’s view the governance, regulation and with it the integrity of horse racing is the mandate of the NHA, supported and funded by the entire industry, but perhaps most notably especially the operators.  It is our view that this is an area that is not and should not be a point of contention or competition between operators and while we fully support innovation and improvement in these areas we are mindful that all stakeholder inputs need to be considered with the facts in hand, before casting old rules aside or imposing new rules,” said Savage. 

In light of the release of the NHA statistics and after consultation with racing industry stakeholders, Savage said 4Racing would consider its stance on the revised operator conditions in place in Cape Town and Durban.

“4Racing strongly assures racing stakeholders of its zero tolerance approach to any illegal doping in South African horseracing. We support and share the NHA’s view that maintaining the integrity of the sport of horseracing is paramount in ensuring the legitimacy of the racing product both locally and internationally. It is positive to note that the NHA benchmarks South Africa’s statistics against global statistics and this speaks to the global standards that our indusrtry adheres to. Given that our racing is international, it’s a positive step for punters, nationally and internationally, to see that our product compares well alongside international jurisdictions,” said Savage.

4Racing noted that the highest proportion of positive findings at the NHA remains those so-called therapeutic substances which have a legitimate place in the recovery and pain management of injuries and strain which occur during race days.

4Racing also noted, however, that the 2022/2023 year presented 15 positive findings, which incliuded an “extremely noteworthy” high level of 7 plasma findings. Five of the seven positives (a third of these 15 positives) originate from Out of Competition specimen collection.   

These five positives originate from a total of 658 Out of Competition specimens which provides a very high positive percentage rate of 0,76%.  This 0.76% positive rate is noted as one of the highest rates from NHA specimen collection type during the seven previous years of prohibited substance screening at the NHA. 

The NHA’s detailed reports are attached and can also be found on their website www.nhra.co.za.