Racing a nose ahead in battle against dope

Racing is narrowly winning its battle against doping and has the ability to to detect almost any new drug designed to stop horses, the sport's leading pharmacologist claimed yesterday.

Professor Bob Smith, the outgoing chairman of the European Horserace Scientific Liaison Committee, did however warn of a "rash of dopings" if the sport dropped its guard.

"We are just ahead of the dopers. From a technical point of view our analysts could cope with almost anything thrown at them," Professor Smith said. "Minds are being applied to doping all the time where large sums of money are involved. Word about new drugs spreads very quickly. If we were to let down our guards there would be a rash of dopings breaking out."