The Bangalore Turf Club has put up a strong defense against the malicious allegations that there was an attempt to cover up one of the horses testing positive for the presence of a therapeutic drug Procaine Penicillin in bay filly Queen Latifa. The following is the full text of the Press Note issued by the Chairman of Bangalore Turf Club Y Jagannath at a Press Briefing on Sunday.

``This press note is being addressed to rebut allegations made in regard to the medication administered to horse b f QUEEN LATIFA for treating an abscess of the horse at the Club. The unfounded allegations have been made by disgruntled elements to bring disrepute to the Sport of Horse Racing by indulging in a disinformation campaign on an incident at the Racecourse, which essentially involved therapeutic medication to b f QUEEN LATIFA at the Club`s Veterinary Hospital. The horse is owned by Enthusiast`s Racing Syndicate and trained by Mr. Neil Darashah. The facts are as under:

· Queen Latifa was treated at the Club`s Veterinary Hospital for ten days between 27th January and 7th February 2017, with a course of procaine penicillin to alleviate the suffering to the horse, as part of a routine veterinary exercise.

· After a period of 25 days, Queen Latifa raced on 5th March 2017.

· The horse placed first in the Karnataka Racehorse Owners Association Trophy and the sample was collected and forwarded by the Club to the Testing Laboratory at New Delhi (NDTL) for testing, as per the procedure adopted for testing samples of all winners at Bangalore Races.

· On receipt of the report on 23rd March 2017, which indicated the presence of procaine, the Deputy Chief Veterinary Officer exercising his technical judgement and as a matter of abundant caution, sought quantification from the Laboratory in order to determine the following:

``Whether the residues of the therapeutic drug remained in the urine sample, especially in view that the clearance period of 21 days had been followed before the filly raced on 5th March 2017.

(1) Whether the filly had been exposed to any other source of the drug, independent of the treatment logged officially at the Veterinary Hospital.

(2) Whether the testing laboratory had followed the in-house screening limit before reporting the result, since as per European Horse Racing Scientific Liaison Committee recommendation, the screening limit had been approved at minimum 10 nanograms per ml of urine.

· This was done so that a clear picture emerged, prior to reporting the matter formally to the Stewards, especially considering that the horse had been legitimately treated at the Club`s Veterinary Hospital.

· The whole process of obtaining the first report and the quantification report took about 10 days (from March 23, 2017 to April 3, 2017).

· The matter was thereafter reported to the Stewards on 8th April 2017 at a scheduled meeting.

· The Stewards considered the report and came to the conclusion that the first sample had been reported for the presence of procaine.

· The trainer was given the opportunity of opting for confirmatory analysis as per the prevailing procedure.

It may be mentioned here that no horse is considered as positive till the second sample confirms the presence of the drug and the enquiry can be concluded only after completing all formalities. Thereafter the procedures for taking action on the trainer will be initiated by the Club, thereby providing the professional with an opportunity to present his defense. In the instant case, following receipt of initial report, the matter was still under enquiry.

Following widespread baseless allegations made by certain vested interests that it was a case of doping and that the horse was subjected to a performance enhancing drug, as extensively covered in the media, the Animal Welfare Board of India, an independent Statutory Body, vide letter dated 26th April 2017, directed the Turf Club to send the split sample for complete analysis for all prohibited substances in order to ensure that the welfare of the horse and the integrity of the sport was upheld in the best spirit.

The second sample was sent to Quanti Lab, Mauritius, one of the listed reference Laboratories of the Club, on 28th April 2017. The lab in its report dated 5th May 2017 has certified that the sample was free of any prohibited substance. The Chief Scientist of NDTL, New Delhi, Dr. Ahi has since informed the Veterinary Commission, Turf Authorities of India that they would also be henceforth following the international standard of keeping 10 nanograms as in-house screening limit for procaine.

``It is obvious from the disinformation campaign that a desperate attempt had been made to portray the administration of an antibiotic procaine penicillin for treating an abscess of the horse at the Club`s Veterinary Hospital, as an act meant to influence the conduct of racing. It must be clarified here that this is an absurd assumption going against the tenets of veterinary sciences. The detection of procaine initially to an extent of 1.22 nanograms per ml of urine sample in b f QUEEN LATIFA is technically negligible and is far below the minimum reporting levels accepted internationally. It may be noted that administration of procaine penicillin is legitimate and can excrete from the horse urine for long periods at a very low concentration.

``Horse Racing across the country is an extremely well regulated sport and the Turf Authorities of India is a Member of the International Federation of Horse Racing Authorities, whose primary objective is to promote Horse Racing and its integrity. In terms of this objective, the Bangalore Turf Club is always committed to ensuring the highest standards of integrity in terms of medication of horses, the conduct of racing and administration of racing in the best possible manner.

``Racing in Bangalore is held in high esteem because of these measures. Veterinary protocols in Bangalore are on par with international standards, both in respect of medication, testing of prohibited substances and the action thereof by the Club under Medication Rules. This coupled with betting exclusively on the Totalisators and elimination of bookmakers has ensured that racing at Bangalore is free from undesirable practices. The turnover of rupees 2000 crores on the Club operated Totalisators is the highest in the country, by miles, and clearly reflects the confidence of public in the racing conducted at Bangalore, squarely negating the allegations made against the Club. The allegation that the Club is the medium of illegal betting and doping is preposterous and deserves to be rejected with the contempt it deserves.

``This Press Note is being issued to clear the false propaganda that has been carried out to damage the reputation of the Club. It must be mentioned here that the process of enquiry cannot be construed as an attempt to conceal any information from the racing fraternity or to benefit any person.

We are confident that our Press Release will clear the misconceptions. Truth unfortunately had been sacrificed at the altar of propaganda. The Turf Club has come out with the clarification that the path of enquiry, as adopted by the Club was the best procedure to be followed.

``We wish to reiterate that truth is incontrovertible. Malice may attack it, ignorance may deride it, but in the end, we always trust that truth eventually prevails.