Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Thursday, 8 July 2021

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine

Alleged Issues in the Horse Racing Industry: Discussion

Dr. Lynn Hillyer:

That is on the racecourse. The urine is part of the picture. When we take out-of-competition sampling, it is typically the other way around. It is blood, with hair in addition. As I outlined earlier, all these matrices are important; none is better than the other. They do the job according to what we are trying to detect on the day. On race day, it is important that we have a deep, extensive coverage of what is present. When we take out-of-competition samples, because they are unannounced and people do not know we are coming, the blood sampling together with the hair sample is, generally, the correct combination.