Testing for drugs in horses

Drug testing today depends primarily on post-race urine testing, with blood testing and pre-race testing as adjuncts to the testing process. Drugs are extracted from urine by a process called liquid-liquid extraction, and then screened for the presence of illegal agents. Screening is generally done by Thin Layer Chromatography (TLC analysis). If a drug is detected in the screening process, its presence in the sample is confirmed by other chromatographic methods, and most especially by Gas Chromatography-mass Spectrometry (GC-MS.) The qualitative detection of drugs in forensic samples is a well worked-out art, and most drugs can be identified in blood or urine samples with a high degree of accuracy. Drugs can be quantitated in blood or urine with an accuracy of plus or minus 25% or more. Thesescientific determinations on a sample can be independently verified in referee samples, and form the scientific basis of the regulatory process of medication control.