The Stipes reports from the various centres are not consistent in their disclosures. The July day report does not list the horses tested. The Turffontein reports and the Fairview reports do. In the past 5 meetings at Turffontein there has not been a TCO2 scratching since 16th June.
At Kenilworth the last meeting in June, horses were scratched above 36 on subsequent tests and the horses tested are listed. Our scheduled July meetings have been washed out.
At Fairview on 5th July there was one scratching. Previously horses were scratched if the subsequent tests were above 36. In this report it says the horse was above 37 on the subsequent test. Hence it is clear that the new level of 37 is being applied, but as usual the communication from the NHRA leaves a lot to be desired.Â
It would seem that the deliberate milkshaking which can result in levels in the mid 40s has been stopped by the testing protocols, and that the  new level of 37 has resulted in far fewer spurious scratchings recently.
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