Until this year only horses in Victoria being aimed at major spring races, including the Melbourne Cup, Caulfield Cup and Cox Plate were being tested. Horses across Australia being primed for some of Victoria's most important races were not tested as state boundaries made them exempt.

But after this year's national stewards conference in Brisbane, a national approach will be adopted for out-of-competition testing.

Stewards attempt to test all horses that are likely spring contenders and they undergo tests for all outlawed substances and narcotics.

From now on, spring horses in other states will be inspected and tested by stewards in that jurisdiction.
"It's been agreed that, let's say, horses [that are] stabled in NSW but are genuine contenders for the spring, stewards in NSW will pick them up and the same would happen in Adelaide, Brisbane, etc," Victorian chief steward Terry Bailey said.

"In this way we have all horses that are in line for the spring fully tested and OK to go into work. It's an excellent idea because it means that we can now deal nationally for all of those horses that in the past would miss out."

And it will not only be the rich spring carnival that will be coming under the new national approach.
"Those horses, let's say, that are going up for the autumn carnival in Sydney but are based in Melbourne, we can cover those horses," he said. "And the same in Adelaide and Brisbane. It's a great move as we'll have cooperation from all stewards across the country."

Meanwhile, Darwin Racing Club's bid to bolster integrity at its rich cup carnival this year will see two Melbourne stewards attend one of the biggest race days on the Australian calendar.

In 2014 the Darwin Cup winner Saturday Sorcerer was disqualified after it produced a positive swab following its victory.

The Darwin club immediately examined its testing regime, with the chairman of stewards David Hensler saying this week: "Our goal is to ensure a level playing field for all industry participants and alike at this year's Darwin Cup carnival."

After working with Bailey, Hensley said the club would use two members of the RVL "compliance team", who will be seconded to join Darwin stewards over the five days of the carnival, and encompassing the final two meetings.

"This will not only bolster our surveillance and supervision of all horses engaged to race - at the stables and on course - but will also allow for out-of-competition testing," Hensler said.

In addition the Darwin board has approved funding for an advanced swabbing strategy. This will mean that all horses engaged in the eight feature races throughout the carnival will be tested and those samples will be subject to the same stringent testing applied to the winner of every race conducted in the Northern Territory.