ORI Conference Day Two

By Amanda Duckworth
 The annual Organization of Racing Investigators Conference continued Tuesday in Lexington.
The morning sessions featured presentations from The Jockey Club and National Thoroughbred Racing Association, while the afternoon revolved around information from the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission, New Mexico Racing Commission, and Association of Racing Commissioners International. 
After lunch, Susan Speckert, who has served as general counsel for the KHRC since 2010, discussed how to conduct investigations and the importance of documentation, chain of custody, evidence collection and search of property. 
Using a hypothetical situation involving a trainer who had a horse test positive resulting in a Class-A penalty, Speckert discussed steps to continue the investigation and ways the hypothetical guilty parties might try to defend themselves. 
Defenses included arguing about the substance itself, whether the lab had accurately conducted the test, if one could presume the substance was administered to the horse, and if one could presume the horse ran with the substance in its system during a race. 
“The point of all this is that as investigators you should be analyzing every one of these potential defenses and structuring your investigation around that,” Speckert told the audience. “When you do that, you are building a strong case. You are sending a huge message to the public that we are serious, we are asking all the questions, and we are enforcing our rules.” 
Speckert invited audience participation throughout her presentation, resulting in discussions about best practices, how investigations have been done in various states and the reasons they were or were not successful. 
Most agreed that barn searches are effective not only as a means to gather information and evidence but as a way to make an impression since word spreads in the industry at a rapid rate. The worth of using K-9s in certain situations led to spirited debate. Whether certain methods worked or not also depended on jurisdiction. 
“There is a lot of positive movement in our industry for uniformity,” Speckert said. “I would ask you to think about best practices in enforcement as an organization and how can you all fit into this larger discussion about uniformity.” 
Although the types of cases investigators have to deal with vary, the overwhelming takeaway was the importance of documenting everything in an effort to make sure credibility can not be successfully challenged. 
There was also discussion about the importance of public perception of investigations into racing violations and whether or not it is accurate. 
“Think about impact you are making, not just on the backside, but to the public generally,” said Speckert. “I think the kind of press that we need is press that we are taking care of business. A lot of the press that we get is just the opposite, and I don’t think it is accurate. We need to work on that. 
“If you start to think about these investigations in the larger context and really go out and develop these cases, not only are we going to have stronger cases that are going to hold up on review, we are also making a big impression when we do that.” 
After Speckert spoke, the ORI had a closed door meeting about enforcement efforts in an ongoing investigation led by Leasa Johnson, an investigator for the New Mexico Racing Commission. 
Other topics covered during Tuesday’s session were Jockey Club registration and identification, Jockey Club resources available to investigators, the NTRA Safety & Integrity Alliance, the Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance, and the RCI website and data base. 
The conference concludes today with a business meeting for current ORI members only.