HISA

A group of entities associated with various racing-related industries in Texas, including the owners of Lone Star Park, has filed a new lawsuit against the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act (HISA) in which declaratory and injunctive relief is sought along with a request for a preliminary injunction, according to court filing dated July 29. Submitted to the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas, Amarillo Division, the suit focuses on the relative power of the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority--the umbrella non-profit established by the Act--to implement...

Just six days after Horse Racing Integrity and Safety Authority (HISA) opponents won a round in court in which a federal judge granted a preliminary injunction that halted implementation of HISA rules going into effect in Louisiana and West Virginia, HISA and the Federal Trade Commission were back in court Monday filing an emergency motion for a stay pending appeal. The motion was filed in the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. The filing from HISA maintains that when granting the preliminary injunction, the court erred in...

The Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority will be implementing changes to HISA Rule 2276, which pertains to full outer rim shoes and toe grabs. The rule will not be enforced for horses racing on dirt that are shod with traction devices on their hind feet in the form of either a full outer rim shoe or a toe grab, both up to 4mm in height. All other provisions of the rule will remain the same and be enforced Aug. 1 as previously announced. Click here to read the full HISA...

One day after a preliminary injunction handed down by a federal judge halted the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act (HISA) Authority's rules from being implemented in the states of Louisiana and West Virginia, Thoroughbred industry participants and legal experts continued to sift through the order seeking clues for how the judge in the case might eventually rule on a national level as the civil suit continues its journey through the legal system. Although the National Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association (NHBPA) isn't a party to the suit filed in United...

The Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act (HISA) has published a list of 47 violations of the crop rule covering its first three weeks in effect. In the future, this information will be available publicly at hisaus.org. All 47 HISA Stewards' rulings listed below are related to violations of the crop rule. Arapahoe - 1 (Colorado): Bryan McNiel. Belmont - 2 (New York): Herman Harkie; Jose Gomez. Charles Town Races & Slots - 1 (West Virginia): Victor Rodriguez. Delaware Park - 2 (Delaware): Pedro Coronil; Carlos Eduardo Rojas. Emerald Downs -...

by Thomas J. Rooney, President & CEO of the National Thoroughbred Racing Association Edited Press Release Change is never easy, especially change being brought about by the federal government imposing national uniform reforms in an industry long regulated at the state level. I served in the House of Representatives for 10 years, representing 750,000 people from South Florida. I heard day in and day out from my constituents on how we in the government could do things better. This feedback drove the work I did in Congress. Since I started...

Any worries that the first day under which horses had to be registered with the Horse Racing Integrity and Safety Authority in order to compete would create chaos were squelched early on in the day Saturday when a number of tracks reported that not a single horse had to be withdrawn from a race due to the new rules. The TDN sent out survey questions to a number of racing officials Saturday to determine how many, if any, horses had to be scratched because either the horses or their owners...

Edited Press Release The Thoroughbred Horsemen's Associations, Inc, Kentucky Thoroughbred Association, Thoroughbred Owners of California, and Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association collectively have established a diverse group of experienced horsemen, regulators, and veterinarians to review the extensive documents regarding HISA's proposed rules. Each reviewer provided written comments in an open letter to HISA and they are summarized below. Racetrack vs Training Facilities--The inclusion of training facilities in the statute was designed to ensure that horsemen could not evade the requirements for racetracks by stabling at training facilities. HISA needs to...

Early last month, Lisa Lazarus, CEO of the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority, set industry tongues wagging when indicating that horses unregistered with HISA by the launch date of the Horse Racing Integrity and Safety Act (HISA) would be scratched if entered to race. With HISA D-Day now upon the industry, the California Horse Racing Board (CHRB) offered guidance Friday about how it would be handling unregistered horses both this weekend and the weeks ahead, as per revised guidance from the HISA Authority. The long and short of it is...

In the end, things work because they work. We try stuff, often if not always with the best intentions, and see whether it gains our trust. Lived experience, among horsemen and fans, will eventually tell us whether an experiment has failed or whether, once every generation or so, we might have struck a game-changing seam of gold. The Breeders' Cup was one such; and, who knows, maybe a similar hostility from vested interests will ultimately prove the furnace in which HISA can be forged into another.

A federal judge has denied a motion for a temporary restraining order in a lawsuit designed to keep the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act (HISA) rules from going into effect. The order, dated June 30 but posted to the court docket on the morning of July 1, the effective date for HISA's implementation, was handed down in the aftermath of a 35-minute Thursday afternoon conference call that was hastily arranged at the urgent request of lead plaintiffs from the states of Louisiana and West Virginia in their suit against HISA...

A federal judge on Thursday opted not to immediately grant the "expedited consideration" restraining order or injunction that opponents of the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act (HISA) alleged was needed to stave off the "irreparable harm" from "illegal rules" that are set to go into effect at midnight Friday. But within several hours of learning June 30 that Judge Terry Doughty of U.S. District Court (Western District of Louisiana) had given HISA and other defendants two weeks to file a response to the restraining order motion, the lead plaintiffs from...