The blood sampling and TCO2 level analysis which was rolled out at the Dundalk PMU meeting on Sunday 4th June was continued at the two day Portmarnock meeting last weekend.
All horses were sampled at both the Dundalk meeting and the Portmarnock Saturday event pre warm-up with a percentage of those samples being tested with the TCO2 blood-gas analyser. On Sunday at Portmarnock a random selection of horses from all races were sampled and all of those samples were analysed.
All TCO2 results to date are within the satisfactory range and this process is expected to continue for the foreseeable future and will be rolled out to the remaining racing venues countrywide.
All results are now logged in our ongoing register of blood-gas levels for the Standardbred racing industry in Ireland.
In conjunction with the pre warm-up sampling there is a continuation of the existing regime of sampling both random and selected race winners.
Both of the major final winners at Portmarnock on Saturday and Sunday were sampled in conjunction with a number of other winners.
We would like to take this opportunity to thank the trainers and handlers for their cooperation with this new process and in particular to the Irish Equine Centre who have taken a hands-on approach with the TCO2 testing process and provided on site assistance at both Dundalk and Portmarnock to ensure a smooth transition of the overall process.
The IHRA’s Veterinary & Welfare Commission is proud to acknowledge that the Standardbred racing industry is the first equine discipline in Ireland to introduce TCO2 pre-event testing and others are now expected to follow.
