Association of Racing Commissioners International

Edited Press Release Racing regulators from across North America who are members of the Association of Racing Commissioners International (ARCI) met Thursday to consider a new aggressive approach being utilized in Oklahoma to safeguard horses utilizing "Emergency Protective Orders." This temporarily excludes horses in the care of trainers whose horses have demonstrated an abnormal and materially elevated pattern of severe post-race distress, including repeated incidents in which horses were unable to safely leave the track under their own power. To date three trainers have received such orders, effectively excluding 171...

Trainer Phil Serpe, who has an appeal pending with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in an attempt to overturn a two-year suspension imposed in July by a Horseracing Integrity and Welfare Unit (HIWU) arbitrator over a contested clenbuterol positive case from last summer at Saratoga Race Course, is also seeking to renew his request for a preliminary injunction in a 10-month-old lawsuit against the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority (HISA) and the FTC. A key issue in Serpe's federal court filing is the fact that HIWU and HISA did not...

One day after an arbitrator ruled that Phil Serpe would be suspended for two years in a contested clenbuterol positive case from last summer at Saratoga Race Course, the 66-year-old trainer was back in federal court Tuesday seeking to renew his request for a preliminary injunction in his nine-month-old lawsuit against the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority (HISA) and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). At the same time, Serpe's legal team also wasted no time in filing an immediate appeal with the FTC to have his July 14 Horseracing Integrity...

The Association of Racing Commissioners International (ARCI), a service provider and membership organization, has added to its board Dr. John Chancey and Connie Winn, the group said in a press release on Thursday. Both Chancey and Winn were appointed to fill vacant seats by the group's chair, Commissioner Doug Moore of the Washington Racing Commission. Dr. Chancey has been Executive Director of the Oklahoma Racing Commission since early 2023 and he currently serves as the Chair of the Drug Testing Standards and Practices Committee of ARCI. Winn, the Executive Director...

The day after the Louisiana Racing Commission held an emergency meeting in which it voted to restore the Association of Racing Commissioners International (ARCI) guidelines that were governing Clenbuterol and Depo-Medrol in the state, the President of the ARCI, Ed Martin, reacted to the news in a press release. The statement is printed in its entirety. "The ARCI Model Rules process has served the horse racing industry and fans well for decades and has been a vehicle to achieve a substantially common approach to anti-doping regulation in a sport not...

The Animal Welfare and Horseracing Integrity Conference of the Association of Racing Commissioners International Inc. (ARCI), which brings together all the senior regulatory personnel in North America and the Caribbean, has opened registration for the annual event to be held in Columbus, Ohio Mar. 6-8, the organization said in a release Wednesday. The 2024 Conference is being held immediately prior to the annual meeting of the United States Trotting Association (USTA) and offers a unique opportunity to interact with the leaders of US Standardbred Racing on the final day where...

Brett Bonin, the chief prosecutor for the Louisiana Racing Commission and Assistant Attorney, has been named the new Chair of the Association of Racing Commissioners International (ARCI) Regulatory Attorneys Committee. Bonin was previously an attorney with the Louisiana Office of Alcohol and Tobacco Control. "Bonin is known as a tough and unyielding advocate in court and previously served in private practice before becoming an Assistant Attorney General in Louisiana," said ARCI Chair Tom Sage of Nebraska. Sage also said that Bonin has never lost a doping prosecution and is "extremely...

Dr. John Chancey will lead the Association of Racing Commissioners International (ARCI) Drug Testing Standards and Practices Committee as the new Chair, according to a release from the organization. Chancey is a long-time regulatory veterinarian and is currently the Executive Director of the Oklahoma Horse Racing Commission. Chancey replaces Duncan Patterson, the Chair of the Delaware Thoroughbred Racing Commission, who will now lead the ARCI Continuing Education Committee. "Duncan has been a great steward for the Association, but the time has come to put a veterinarian in charge of this...

The Nebraska Racing and Gaming Commission's executive director, Tom Sage, has been appointed the repeat chairman of the Association of Racing Commissioners International (ARCI). Sage first served as chairman in 2020. The ARCI chairs generally serve one-year terms, but Sage was awarded a subsequent term due to the effects of COVID-19 on the industry and returns again for the coming year. The current outgoing ARCI chair is Louisiana Racing Commission executive director Charles Gardiner III. The new chair-elect is Doug Moore, who was appointed to the Washington Horse Racing Commission's...

Edited Press Release Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry and Daniel Suhr, managing attorney for the Liberty Justice Center, told an assembly of racehorse owners, trainers and racing regulators Tuesday that they expect the Horseracing Integrity & Safety Act (HISA) to wind up before the U.S. Supreme Court-- and they also believe America's highest court will strike down the legislation as unconstitutional. While the room at the Hotel Monteleone was populated with folks concerned how HISA will impact their industry, Landry and Suhr said the four legal challenges before the Fifth...

In Association of Racing Commissioners International (ARCI) President Ed Martin's letter to the Thoroughbred Daily News on Feb. 2, he once again defends the status quo with few facts and no real solutions to racing's lack of national uniformity in rules and regulations for safety and medication control. Ed has been defending the status quo for years. In 2018, and again in 2020, Ed testified before Congress against the then-forerunner to the Horse Racing Integrity and Safety Act, saying it was "a radical and unnecessary federalization of a state responsibility...

In an order Monday, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced that the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act's (HISA) anti-doping and medication control (ADMC) program would not go into effect as scheduled Jan. 1 due to swirling legal uncertainty. "The bedrock principle of the Act is the need for uniformity," wrote the FTC in the order, adding that "the Commission's approval of the Anti-Doping and Medication Control proposed rule would not result in uniformity because the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act has been held unconstitutional by a panel of the United...