We clearly have no possibility to enforce these rules,
as it is up to each country to follow our guidelines andto implement them nationally. Because of mutual
respect and mutual understanding, we have made giant
steps in harmonization. We are an executive that
represents the principal countries of the world. We
show that we are all working to guarantee the integrityof horse racing, to protect the welfare and integrity ofthe judges and the horses. We want to give confidence
to the bettor, because the sport is based on generating
huge turnovers, so you have to give confidence topeople and protect the image of the sport.

With LOUIS ROMANET
By Barry Irwin
Addressing the annual meeting of the IFHA
(International Federation of Horseracing Authorities)
Irwin: Why are you so keen to create uniform rules forrecently in France, the organization's leader Louis
medication?
Romanet began his remarks about drugs by stating,
Romanet: It's clear that a sport with medication today"Whatever will be the term of my position of Chairman,
is unacceptable in any other sports federation around
I can guarantee you that the fight against medication
the world. Why should it not be the case for horses?
will remain as my absolute priority. We must eradicate
Medication is strictly controlled around the world. So
it in all graded and black-type races, which are thewe discuss the issues in specific countries, because
races that make the breed worldwide."
how can you call a horse a world champion that has
Well, that certainly grabbed my attention. Mighty
run on medication? In bicycling, there has been a lot ofbold words, especially considering that the one
scandal for the first big use of steroids, at a time when
jurisdiction sticking out like a sore thumb is the United
we already had been disqualifying our athletes for thisStates, which has sputtered in its recent attempts tofor five years.
eradicate Lasix from graded races.
So I think it is the objective of the federation to
As so many American owners and horsemen haveencourage
the people to follow our strict guidelines, totried and failed in their attempts to wean our stock off
protect the integrity worldwide, knowing that there are
the drug, I decided to interview Monsieur Romanet todifficult situations and we do not have the power tofind out exactly how he planned to accomplish this
impose our rules.
challenging goal.
Irwin: So basically what you have is influence. Your
Barry Irwin: What authority do you have as chairman ofposition is not unlike that of the United States, where
your organization that gives you the clout to be able to
we have several jurisdictions with their own rules. We
do this?
have no national body. The
Louis Romanet: I have theJockey Club is the titular headauthority of talking on behalfof racing, but like you, theyof the Federation of 60
It'sclear
thatasportwithmedication
cannot enforce anything, theymembers from around thecan only influence it, which istoday is unacceptable in any otherworld which have beena situation that has become
working together since the firstsports federation around the world.
extremely frustrating to thoseinternational conference wasinterested in embracing
Whyshouldit
notbethecaseforconducted by my father ininternational medication rules.
horses?
1967. Since I became
Romanet: I am from a country
Chairman 20 years ago, I have
–Louis Romanet
where the racing authority has
been working to harmonize theall the powers. It is totallyrules of racing to achieve whatdifferent in the U.S., but you
other
have
anorganization
witha leadership position in The
sports federations do, but with
Jockey
Club,
which
was
afounding member of theone big difference: otherinternational
federation
withFrance, England andfederations generally organize
Ireland.
I
understandabout
theracing commission, butthe big events like world
you
also
have
somepowersofinfluence
like we havechampionships. Our federation
andclearly
theBreeders'Cupisone,asisThe Jockey
cannot authorize any bigClub.
Fantasticprogress
wasmadein
thetwoyears
international events because weaftertheBig
Brown
steroidcase.
We
hadabig
cannot impose our rules. So we
discussion on steroids. There was clear agreement thattalk to our members in order toanabolic steroids have no place in horse racing. I spoke
establish guidelines. We seek aon behalf of everybody when I said they should not belevel playing field, where aused in or out of competition and everybody agrees.
positive in one country would beLouis Romanet
We work with jurisdictions to permit exceptional use
a positive in another country,
Racing Post photowith stringent control and a minimum standard periodthat the welfare and security of
the horse is the absolute priority. to limit the performance-enhancing effects.

Everybody knows that this cannot be done in a day,especially in a continent like North America, or SouthAmerica, when there is no control outside of racing. In
the States, horses are under control of their own yards
or training centers, so Federal rules are needed toaddress the situation. I don't know, it's not up to me totell the American jurisdiction what to do.

However we've not yet been successful.
The Breeders= Cup board has been changing its mind
and I hope the board members will follow, but I think it
can only come from the position of leadership, as when
you see an American horse going to win the Dubai
World Cup, crossing the world to run in the heat andhumidity without medication.

Irwin: No concrete steps have been taken to rid Lasix
from graded races. Is it possible that a threat from you
could be used by them to take action in America?
Romanet: That's a very good question. I've beenfighting for this since I've been involved in the racing
industry. I spent more than 45 years with the racing
authority France-Galop and the IFHA. I've always been
trying to convince people. I've never been trying toblackmail or put pressure on people because I think
when you do that it's impossible if you don't have theconcrete power to exclude some countries. It's very
difficult to succeed. Just one important point--in 2009,
I made a speech at The Jockey Club Round Table
exactly for that, for protecting the 4% of the breed's
black-type races in America. I explained quite strongly
the policy and what we were doing about the testingand screening limits to harmonize detection ofsubstances, especially. The Round Table had the top
people in the racing industry and I was really surprisedby the positive reception. Should all the people in thatroom decide to do it, you can achieve it. But we allknow what happened when the Breeders' Cup madechanges with the rules for use of Lasix.

Irwin: In your position as IFHA Chairman, explain yourrelationship with SITA.
Romanet: I was the original chairman of IRPAC(International Grading and Race Planning AdvisoryCommittee), which is subcommittee of the IFHA. SITA
(Society of International Thoroughbred Auctioneers) isrepresented on IRPAC, which is an advisory group in
charge of introducing the principle of regulation of races
in Part I, II and III countries. SITA ratified an order thatit implemented in (public auction) sales catalogs. But
the principle is established by IRPAC. It was IRPAC afew years ago that indicated an international ranking in
our world rankings of horses that have run undermedication. We studied it and it became a very difficult
issue because clearly the consent of medication isdifferent in different states in the United States, thedeclaration is different in some countries, and we foundout that in both North America and South America it
was very difficult to have consistent policy. Probably, it
will become easier when we are able to eradicate Lasixand steroids in most of the countries. Today thebiggest pressure on North America is South America,
which is why I welcome this South American
conference, where we will have a round table with all
the countries. It's very disappointing the Breeders' Cup
steppeddown
You will have Ireland, France andon theLasix,
England staging the three biggest
but weracing weekends before the Breeders'mustCup. The risk is that the foreign
not say
thathorses will no longer go to run there.
nothing–Louis Romanethashappen
ed in the States, because a lot of issues have been
happening. I hope we can find solutions also concerninguse of steroids in out of competition. So I think we aremaking progress.

Irwin: What do you think of recent talk amonginternational racing men about using a symbol to lessen
the importance of graded races in sales catalogs?
Romanet: I do not propose personally to put anasterisk on black-types. SITA (Society of International
Thoroughbred Auctioneers) are in charge of that. It's
hard to do it. I
think it's betterto haveinfluencing
bodies like The
Jockey Club,
Breeders' Cup,RMTC and ARCI
make a decisionand haveeveryone follow
their lead. We
Animal Kingdom, 2013 Dubai World Cup.
saw in South“I
think it can only come from the position
America theof leadership, as when you see ansuccess ofinfluence. IAmerican horse going to win the Dubai
consider that aWorld Cup, crossing the world to run in
lot of progress
the heat and humidity without
has been mademedication.”in the States
Racing Post photoover the last
four years.

Irwin: If Keeneland and Fasig-Tipton spearheaded amovement, do you think SITA members would have anappetite to put the American Graded Stakes Committee
on notice that unless it changes its policy to award
graded status to major U. S. races in which Lasix isused that these fixtures will lose their designations?

Romanet: I would think it would make the world totallydifferent if Keeneland and Fasig-Tipton would support
it. It would complicate it. These houses are incompetition against each other. Sales companies formany years have been trying to put the house in orderso that catalog pages would be uniform throughout theworld. It has beena great challenge.
I don't understandhow the Breeders'
Cup can havereversed its
decision, it was a
logical approach,a positive
approach, andwith some timethey could havedelayed with theextension of one
year from 2013 toRomanet at the 2013 IFHA Conference:
2014.
At the same“If we do not handle the issue properly
time they are
we will fail to win the new generation
trying tobecause we will still have people saying
encourage
racing is full of medication issues.”
foreign-trainedMichele MacDonald photohorses to comeover, we now
have new big things happening in Europe. This year you
have the British Championships and next year the Irish
Championships beginning. You will have Ireland, Franceand England staging the three biggest racing weekends
before the Breeders' Cup. The risk is that the foreign
horses will no longer go to run there. Clearly over here
there is some bad feeling with the quality of theBreeders' Cup and it's very clear that it has been
sending very disappointing signals to see the Breeders'
Cup reversing its decision. I was ultimately planning not
to go to the Breeders' Cup this time, but I came out of
this weekend and decided to go out there and talk to
the people to exchange views, to see how we could
still make steps on the issues because we will all losefrom it. Soon there would be fewer Europeans buying
horses in the United States, there will be fewer SouthAmerican stallions under Lasix, and I think everybody
will be harmed at the end.
Irwin: Americans, in and out of racing, increasingly
have become isolationists and shown a disdain for
Europe. They don't want to be told what to do by
Europeans. Do you sense this?
Romanet: Well I think so. Everything depends on theattitude of the new generation. I think I am a good
example of somebody who has been in too long. When
you've been in it for 46 years and your family for 100years, people can say he's just talking, not achieving. Ithink we've made a lot of progress, but I think a lot will
depend on the thought of the new generation. That's
where the big issue is, because I'm absolutely confident
that the medication issue is fundamentally acommunication issue for the young generation, if wewant to attract them to our world.

If we do not handle the issue properly we will fail towin the new generation because we will still havepeople saying racing is full of medication issues. We
only hold a part of the truth, but I think together wemust continue the dialogue. I understand what youmean, but when I spoke at the Round Table, I had theimpression by the reaction of the people in the roomthat I wasn't wasting my time.
Irwin: Which entity, if any, has the best chance of
finally ridding American Graded races of the stain ofdrugs?
Romanet: IRPAC and SITA both. IRPAC with SITA
around the table draft the recommendations for theblack-type book. But to take strong action against one
country? That would have to be ratified by both theparties. That is the way we established it 50 years ago.
When I was there, something like 40 years ago westarted a principle that the racing authorities, thebreeders, and sales companies are represented andshould make the decision to harmonize the cataloging
page. At that time we had some negative reaction frompeople who would talk to me about commercial worth.
We are talking the same language. We will achieve it
now that we have quality control with rankings allaround the world. We still are making a lot of progress
on medication issues, we have established rankings allover the world and I think that's where it can be done
hand in hand with SITA, because SITA will be the one
implementing it with a commercial impact on thecatalog page.
Tomorrow: Irwin talks to a round table of industry
leaders regarding Romanet's pledge to eliminate race
day drugs from graded races worldwide, including Jim
Gagliano (President and COO of The Jockey Club), DanMetzger (TOBA CEO), Carl Hamilton (Chairman of TheJockey Club Information Systems) and Matt Iuliano(Executive Director of The Jockey Club).