Doping: The Figures Behind the Headlines at Tryon

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Cuckson Report | November 8, 2018

The FEI, quite understandably, has flagged up the nearly clean sheet achieved in the extensive sampling carried out at Tryon, save for two endurance horses.

The Equine Anti-Doping and Controlled Medication Programme always goes into overdrive at WEGs and Olympic Games, when so many major players are assembled in one place. The 2018 WEG was no exception; 163 horses were sampled out of (according to other official blurb) 820 participants. That’s a sampling rate of 19.88% of horses present, five times greater than the percentage usually targeted at non-championship fixtures.

“Enhanced” anti-doping measures were rolled out before Tryon, with national federations offered pre-arrival testing and elective testing to ensure horses were clean. The FEI also launched a guide in eight languages.

Naturally, the FEI is pleased the message sunk home, and the results provide another feel-good story to counter all the negative press about Tryon.

However, the FEI press release about these comforting results was issued a week or so before we could all access the negative tests listings on the Clean Sport bit of the FEI website. This list is as interesting for who wasn’t sampled as it is for who was...

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