HISA

After a series of false starts, the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act's (HISA) signature anti-doping and medication control (ADMC) program is now set to go into effect Monday. On Friday, TDN spoke with HISA CEO Lisa Lazarus on a variety of topics including the launch of HISA's signature drug control program, operational expenses, the Forte situation, Kentucky Derby week and Texas. The following is a very lightly edited version of that interview. TDN: Last week, the TDN published a story on the headwinds facing the Texas racing industry. In it,...

In a letter released to the media Friday afternoon, U.S. Representative Earl Blumenauer (D-Oregon), along with 15 bipartisan supporters, are urging the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority (HISA) to launch an investigation into the equine deaths at Churchill Downs earlier this month. Addressed to HISA CEO Lisa Lazarus, Blumenauer's letter requests a response within 60 days and makes note of figures from the Equine Injury Database showing that between 2009 and 2021 some 7,274 Thoroughbred fatalities have occurred on American racetracks. The Congressman urges HISA to make the findings of...

In Thursday's Wall Street Journal, the editorial board weighed in on the Horse Racing Safety and Integrity Act, with the traditionally conservative newspaper praising the current Supreme Court's "vital work policing the Constitution's separation of powers." "It soon may get another chance in a case over whether a private horse-racing authority can deploy regulatory powers usually reserved for the federal government," they write. "HISA was shepherded by Kentucky Sen. Mitch McConnell, and anyone who follows the racing industry knows the Minority Leader's interest in creating national standards for safety and...

Every week, the TDN publishes a roundup of key official rulings from the primary tracks within the four major racing jurisdictions of California, New York, Florida and Kentucky. Here's a primer on how each of these jurisdictions adjudicates different offenses, what they make public (or not) and where. With the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act (HISA) having gone into effect on July 1, 2022, the TDN will also post a roundup of the relevant HISA-related rulings from the same week. California Track: Santa Anita Date: 05/12/2023 Licensee: Timothy Miller, owner...

The United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit ruled Thursday that it will not grant a full-court rehearing to the losing plaintiffs who contested a three-judge panel's Mar. 3 decision to uphold the constitutionality of the Horse Racing Integrity and Safety Act (HISA). The case is one of five anti-HISA constitutionality lawsuits currently active in the federal court system. Led by the states of Oklahoma, West Virginia and Louisiana, the plaintiffs collectively petitioned Apr. 17 for a rarely granted "en banc" procedure that asked for a rehearing before...

The Horseracing Integrity & Welfare Unit (HIWU)'s website has a number of educational materials to assist with the relaunch of the Horseracing Integrity and Safety (HISA) Authority's Anti-Doping and Medication Control (ADMC) Program, which is slated for May 22. Among the downloads available are: Out-of-Competition Testing Dietary Supplements Differences in testing processes for routine timed workouts versus workouts to be released from the Vets' List Processes for retiring/unretiring a Covered Horse from the testing pool Withdrawal Guidance Advisory from the Racing Medication & Testing Consortium Prohibited Substance Lists for Banned...

The Texas judge handling the National Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association (NHBPA) constitutionality lawsuit that is trying to halt the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act (HISA) on Wednesday refused to grant an injunction that would delay the May 22 implementation of the Anti-Doping and Medication Control (ADMC) program. In issuing his order, United States District Court Judge James Wesley Hendrix of the Northern District of Texas (Lubbock Division) pointed out that it is the second time in two weeks that he has informed the plaintiffs in a court order that...

If proponents of the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act (HISA) get their wish, July 1 will be a day of cautious celebration-the law's first official birthday, and a time when its drug control program would also be more than a month old, barring any further last-minute legal interventions. In that event, most of the country will be operating under a federal racetrack safety and medication control framework for the first time in the sport's history. Texas almost certainly will not be in on the party. When HISA's racetrack safety program...

The Arkansas-based lawsuit filed six weeks ago that is the most recent among five separate federal complaints attempting to derail the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act (HISA) via alleged constitutionality claims was broadly rebuffed Monday in separate legal filings by the defendants in the case, who are executives with the HISA Authority and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). The plaintiffs, led by Bill Walmsley, president of the Arkansas Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association (HBPA), and Jon Moss, the executive director of the Iowa HBPA, had asked a judge in United...

National HBPA CEO Eric Hamelback response to Gagliano's statement: While we will not respond in a tit-for-tat with The Jockey Club, we want to make one thing abundantly clear. That is to quote the Authority's own statement in response to these tragic deaths last week: "Churchill Downs has been cooperating with HISA since its inception and is in full compliance with our rules and processes." To suggest that these deaths were somehow attributable to the HBPA is simply wrong. HISA clearly stated in its own press release that Churchill Downs...

It has been increasingly difficult to watch as the opponents of the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act of 2020 (HISA) continue to ramp up their campaign to see it derailed. Much like throwing spaghetti against the wall to see what sticks, they continue to pitch mistruths and diversions and file myriad lawsuits across the nation in an attempt to get something to stick in the minds of lawmakers, judges, and policymakers. I would like to set the record straight about HISA and to comment on its opponents' most recent actions....

Not even 24 hours after the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act (HISA) Authority and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) alleged links between the sport's recent adverse headlines and the National Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association (NHBPA)'s request to delay the May 22 implementation of the Anti-Doping and Medication Control (ADMC) program, the NHBPA fired back with a response that stated the fatalities of seven horses during GI Kentucky Derby week shouldn't be used as a means to make legal arguments in the 2-year-old lawsuit. "The Horsemen will not exploit the...