FEI launches internal drug testing review

THE Federation Equestre Internationale (FEI) yesterday said it had launched an internal review of its drug testing procedures following questions posed last week by the Irish Examiner regarding the “loss of blood samples” from a horse.

The lost samples came from Buehler - the horse of Italian event rider Susanna Bordone - which was tested at Punchestown horse trials in June of 2004. Urine from the horse was found to contain a banned substance.

The FEI, in a statement, initially indicated that the loss had occurred en route to the same laboratory in England where a urine sample from Cian O’Connor’s Olympic horse Waterford Crystal was stolen last year.