Survey on 9 years of anti-doping controls in horse races in Italy.

Background: Doping in racehorses is a threat to horse welfare and the integrity of the sport. Despite its relevance, the literature on the prevalence of anti-doping violations worldwide is limited.

Objectives: To analyse anti-doping violations in racehorses in Italy.

Study design: Retrospective observational study.

Methods: Data on horse races, anti-doping testing, and confirmed violations between 2014 and 2022 were collected and analysed. Positivity rates, most common drug classes and parent drugs, and differences between trotting and galloping horses were investigated.

Results: During the considered 9-year timeframe, the national laboratory analysed a total of 104,770 samples. A total of 536 horses were confirmed to be positive (92.8% positivity rate at second analysis). The average prevalence over the years was 0.48 ± 0.15% in trotters and 0.50 ± 0.15% in gallopers. Seventy-seven parent drugs, belonging to 29 different drug classes, were detected. The five most represented drug classes were steroidal anti-inflammatories (19.0%), stimulants (16.4%), NSAIDs (15.5%), anabolic steroids (9.9%) and sedatives (9.7%). The five most frequent substances were dexamethasone (8.4%), cocaine (7.1%), testosterone (6.5%), caffeine (5.6%) and theophylline (4.1%).

Main limitations: Our data derive from official analyses performed in compliance with the national regulation on anti-doping controls in racehorses; information on the concentration of the detected analytes was not available. Testing only the best-placed horses does not allow for correlating drug administration and improved performance; horses with less chance of winning might slip through the control system with negative consequences on their welfare.

Conclusions: The percentage of confirmed doping violations in horse races in Italy in the 9 years (2014-2022) evaluated in this study was low (0.49 ± 0.15%). Considering the drug classes found most frequently, violations might have been more often the consequence of deliberate administration rather than accidental feed contamination.