More UAE dope-testing after string of positives

The FEI is to ‘substantially increase’ the number of tests

DOPE-TESTING at FEI endurance rides in the Middle East is being “substantially increased,” following a staggering 10% positive results from the 50 horses sampled in the first half of the UAE winter season.

Positive returns from other disciplines is just 1.57%, according to most recent FEI figures.

FEI anti-doping results analysed by H&H also show that 2.2% of the 2,247 starters in UAE fixtures in October, November and December were sampled, compared with the “ball park” 5% target in other disciplines.

So far this year, five endurance horses have failed dope tests in UAE rides, with 14 riders from Qatar and Saudi Arabia and UAE awaiting disciplinary hearings.

“Following analysis of the results throughout 2017, it was again clear that endurance rides in Group VII [Middle East] remain high-risk events in terms of violations,” said FEI veterinary director Göran Akerström.

“As well as the standard anti-doping carried out, the FEI conducts targeted intelligencebased testing and, in response to the ongoing high numbers of positives in Group VII, we have once again substantially increased the levels of testing in the region.”

Testing has taken place at all FEI rides in Qatar this season; 86% UAE rides targeted in the first quarter of 2018. Elsewhere, doping control is carried out at fewer than 60% of FEI events.

One UAE horse testing positive at Al Wathba, Abu Dhabi, in December was the fatally injured Sumer, a six-year-old on his first FEI start. He tested positive to triamcinolone acetonide, recently in the news after controversially being taken by cyclist Bradley Wiggins using a theraputic use exemption for asthma.

UK national rides attract UAE horses based in East Anglia during the summer, though only 12 of the total 690 sports horses sampled nationally from July 2015 to June 2017 were endurance horses.

Endurance GB (EGB) declined to name the rides sampled “to ensure the integrity of the testing programme”.

But EGB vice-chairman Harry Ingram said: “We are committed to the BEFAR [British Equestrian Federation Anti-doping Rules] testing programme and continue to allocate funding to pay for this as part of our ongoing promise to put the integrity of the sport at the heart of everything we do.

“We would very much like to see BEFAR undertake more testing which we fully support the delivery of, and are working towards ways to increase visibility around testing with the BEF.”