BHA commits £1 million in funds to fight against gene doping of horses

The BHA will spend an initial £1 million to investigate ways in which racing can protect itself from gene manipulation, a leading sports anti-doping conference was told last week.

The study will be conducted by the LGC laboratory in Newmarket, with scientists looking at a range of potential applications including attempts to improve performance, change breeding outcomes and speed recovery from raceday effort and even injury.

The Racing Post reported last October that the International Federation of Horseracing Authorities and the International Stud Book Committee had "agreed principles to combat the problem and a road map for adopting practical deterrents" as first steps to combating a problem which is viewed in human sport as the next frontier after blood doping.

The day after the 2018 Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe the IFHA's gene doping sub-committee chair, Dr Kunichi Kasano, warned the body's annual conference in Paris that gene doping could "endanger the integrity of the sport and wagering, and will risk creating genetically modified thoroughbreds".

LGC's head of animal sports testing Dr James Scarth joined 2005 World Marathon Champion Paula Radcliffe and former Word Anti Doping Authority director general David Howman among the speakers at the three-day Partnership for Clean Competition conference in London.

Dr Scarth told the Daily Mail: "We've been talking about this for a long time, I know the industry has. But we are now seeing the dawning of a new era."

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