For the first time in the history of anti-doping and medication control at the Olympic Games, Post-Arrival Elective Testing (PAET) will be made available to the participants in the Olympic and Paralympic equestrian events held in Hong Kong. The objective of this procedure is to minimise inadvertent medication violations at the Olympic and Paralympic equestrian events by assisting the competitors to determine whether or not residues of legitimate medications are present in urine samples collected from their competition horses immediately upon their arrival in Hong Kong.

This unique initiative, which is a major step in the fight to prevent positive test results, has been made possible by the commitment of the FEI and the capabilities of the Hong Kong Jockey Club Racing Laboratory. 

Post-Arrival Elective Testing is a VOLUNTARY testing service provided by the FEI’s Reference Laboratory in Hong Kong, i.e., the Hong Kong Jockey Club Racing Laboratory, to all competitors of the 2008 Olympic and Paralympic equestrian events. All horses (competition and reserve) can have their urine samples checked for the medications listed at the end of this document. The possible maximum is of about 230 Olympic and 75 Paralympic PAET samples.

How will PAET work?

To make use of this service, a urine sample (not blood) must be collected, labelled and submitted together with a completed application form (Medication Form PAET) within 12 hours of arrival of the horse at the Olympic Post Arrival Isolation (PAI) stables in Sha Tin. Security guards of the Hong Kong Jockey Club will receive the collected and labelled urine samples on site together with the completed application forms and deliver them to the HKJC Racing Laboratory immediately for testing. The laboratory reserves the right to refuse the PAET service for any sample (such as late samples, samples with inadequate volumes, i.e. a volume less than 100ml, etc.). In such a case, a rejection notification will be sent to the Contact Person provided on the application form, and the sample will be destroyed.

How will the results be announced?

Provided that not more than 20% of the PAET samples will be tested positive, the normal turnaround time for these samples (including the positive ones) should be three to five days from sample receipt at the HKJC Racing Laboratory. The confidential test reports (limited to qualitative, positive or negative, results only) will be transmitted to the relevant team vet or representative as per details on the PAET application form. It should be noted that the test results are unofficial and for reference only.

The FEI has requested that results of PAET be reported to it in anonymous fashion after the end of all competitions.

Sanctions

No sanctions will be imposed for medications found in the PAET samples.

The results of PAET are unofficial and for reference purposes only.

What is the cost of PAET? Who will pay for the service?

The testing of the first urine sample will be paid for by the FEI and will therefore be free of charge for the competitors.

After receiving the PAET results, the Person Responsible might wish to submit a sample at his/her own expenses to follow up on any medication(s) detected. For details, please refer to the document, Elective Testing (in Hong Kong) - Important Conditions and Requirements, available on the FEI website.

List of substances tested through PAET

PAET will be undertaken only for the following substances (or their metabolites), which are legitimate medications, i.e. the FEI "medication box" substances and those within the scope of FEI Elective Testing at the normal sensitivity of analysis as for the official Medication Control samples.

These tests will not cover doping agents and any medications not on the scope of FEI Elective Testing.

The HKJC Racing Laboratory will continue to accept Elective testing samples up to its maximum capacity of about eight per day.