JRC set to introduce random drug testing of local riders
Published:Saturday | July 13, 2024 | 12:09 AMOrane Buchanan/Staff Reporter
Chairman of the Jamaica Racing Commission (JRC) Clovis Metcalfe says random drug testing of jockeys at Caymanas Park will soon become a reality. Metcalfe, in an interview with RJR Sports, shared that the implementation of the rule is in keeping with international racing standards.
“Random drug testing applies to all other sports, so I felt like we should continue with international standards and introduce that. We are going to do it mildly, as we’ve been having classes and educational courses since we’re heading in that direction,” he stated.
The veteran racing administrator explained that, in light of recent occurrences at Caymanas Park, his team felt compelled to make the move, in order to protect the lives of both the jockeys and thoroughbreds.
“The last thing we want to know is that, because of drug abuse, a jockey causes another jockey to lose his life. As far as the racing commission is concerned, we’ve noted in recent times that a few jockeys were falling off horses and there has been rumours that some of them are drunk when they mount the horses, and we can’t take that lightly. The JRC is all about the integrity of the sport, so any little innuendo needs to be investigated,” Metcalfe explained.
Antoine Nembhard, chief steward at Caymanas Park, revealed that the governing body is in the final stages of implementing the rule which he anticipates should come into effect before 2025.
“We’re now putting the final touch to the policy and we’ve given ourselves until the end of the year. We’ve successfully engaged and executed a number of the workshops through the National Council on Drug Abuse (NCDA) and I think we’ve advanced to the level where we can get a framework in place of the policy much quicker than we had anticipated. Looking towards November into December, we could see the rolling out of the policy,” he stated.
Nembhard explained that numerous stakeholder groups have been involved in the process, in a bid to iron out all the necessary details about the implementation of the drug testing rule.
“We partnered with the NCDA and, in their association with us, our team of leaders had to go through a series of training in order to identify drug misuse. Afterwards, we got the stakeholder groups involved: trainers, jockeys, grooms, owners and grooms, and they also went through the training exercise. The drug testing isn’t something that is created independently of the stakeholder groups, and all will have a say in the policy and the crafting of it,” he stated.