HIWU

Every week, the TDN posts a roundup of the relevant Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act (HISA) related rulings from around the country. The following rulings were reported on HISA's "rulings" portal and through the Horseracing Integrity and Welfare Unit's (HIWU) "pending" and "resolved" cases portals. Resolved ADMC Violations Dates: 06/15/2026 Licensee: Gerald Bennett, trainer Penalty: 7-day period of Ineligibility for Covered Person, beginning on June 16, 2026; Disqualification of Covered Horses' Race results, including forfeiture of all purses and other compensation, prizes, trophies, points, and rankings and repayment or surrender...

Edited Press Release The Horseracing Integrity & Welfare Unit (HIWU) has named Janelle L. Winston as the successor to general counsel Michelle Pujals who has retired from the post, the organization said via a press release on Wednesday. Pujals worked for HIWU for four years after spending two decades with the NBA's legal department, where she oversaw the development and administration of anti-drug programs for NBA players, coaches, and trainers. She was a member of the NBA/National Basketball Players Association Prohibited Substances Committee and the NBA Crisis Management Team. "Michelle...

Last week, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit issued an opinion that reiterated a conclusion they had reached two years prior--that even though the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act (HISA)'s rulemaking structure is constitutional, its enforcement provisions are not. It was nearly this time last year the United States Supreme Court punted the question of HISA's constitutionality back down the legal ladder, telling the Fifth, Sixth and Eighth Circuits of the U.S. Courts of Appeal to consider in their various HISA decisions a then-recent Supreme Court ruling...

Every week, the TDN posts a roundup of the relevant Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act (HISA) related rulings from around the country. The following rulings were reported on HISA's "rulings" portal and through the Horseracing Integrity and Welfare Unit's (HIWU) "pending" and "resolved" cases portals. Among this week's rulings, Pennsylvania-based trainer J Guadalupe Guerrero saw his eight-month ban for two testosterone positives essentially expunged after the period of ineligibility was back-dated to preclude the trainer from serving time on the sidelines--a result of the trainer providing compelling evidence that testosterone...

Every week, the TDN posts a roundup of the relevant Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act (HISA) related rulings from around the country. The following rulings were reported on HISA's "rulings" portal and through the Horseracing Integrity and Welfare Unit's (HIWU) "pending" and "resolved" cases portals. Resolved ADMC Violations Dates: 06/01/2026 Licensee: Jesus Romero, trainer Penalty: Disqualification of Covered Horse's Race results, including forfeiture of all purses and other compensation, prizes, trophies, points, and rankings and repayment or surrender (as applicable); a fine of $500; imposition of 1.5 Penalty Points. Explainer:...

With a view to pulling the veil back on the hows and whys of their operations, a representative of the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act (HISA) Authority or the Horseracing Integrity and Welfare Unit (HIWU) will every week answer a question of industry importance posed by the TDN. If you have any questions you'd like to ask HISA or HIWU, please feel free to send them over to us at the following email address: danross@thetdn.com   Q: A trainer (who asked not to be publicly named) has contacted the TDN...

In the latest salvo amid an oftentimes confusing chain of events that have played out across Pennsylvania's racing industry the last couple of months, the Pennsylvania Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association (PTHA) issued a statement Thursday denying allegations the organization had failed to provide adequate support for the nine trainers at Parx Racing who were told last month by track management they would be denied stalls at the track, but were given no reasons as to why. "The information that is being provided is one-sided and fails to reflect the immediate and...

Every week, the TDN posts a roundup of the relevant Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act (HISA) related rulings from around the country. The following rulings were reported on HISA's "rulings" portal and through the Horseracing Integrity and Welfare Unit's (HIWU) "pending" and "resolved" cases portals. Resolved ADMC Violations Dates: 05/27/2026 Licensee: Brian Lusk, trainer Penalty: Disqualification of Covered Horse's Race results, including forfeiture of all purses and other compensation, prizes, trophies, points, and rankings and repayment or surrender (as applicable); a fine of $500; imposition of 1.5 Penalty Points. Final...

A study done by the School of Veterinary Medicine at the University of California-Davis has revealed that a racehorse is likely to show a positive test result for metformin if its groom is taking the diabetes medication and urinates in the horse's stall. After a rash of metformin positives in 2024, anecdotal information surfaced that in many of these cases their grooms handling the horses had been on the drug. Metformin is used to manage blood sugar levels in people with type 2 diabetes. With the uncertainty over the metformin...

Tom Chuckas, Tony Salerno and Jason Klouser "are no longer employed by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania" in their positions under the state Department of Agriculture, according to a brief email from an agency spokesperson. When asked about the reasons for the terminations, the spokesperson wrote that "we do not comment on personnel matters." Chuckas was the ag' department's director of Thoroughbred Horse Racing. He took that position in 2016. Before that role, he was formerly the president of the Maryland Jockey Club. Chuckas attended Tuesday's Pennsylvania horse racing commission meeting....

Following up on an advisory distributed in January 2024, HIWU strongly advises horsemen to dispose of any variations of the herbal products that may be identified on the labels as Yunnan Paiyao, Yunnan Baiyao, and/or Baiyao. HIWU continues to find these supplements during searches despite the risks associated with them. In testing various forms of these products, which are manufactured in the United States and abroad, both banned substances (e.g., boldione, glaucine, higenamine, and adenosine monophosphate) and controlled medications (e.g., ephedrine) have been reported in analyzed samples despite not being...

The charges against Parx trainer Felissa Dunn brought when Pennyslvania State Horse Racing Commission investigators claimed to have found syringes in her barn has been dropped after an internal investigation revealed that one or more of the investigators made material misstatements of fact, according to a ruling posted on the HIWU website. "While obviously we are pleased that these ill-founded charges were dropped, the chain of custody was always in question and even without this discovery on the eve of the hearing, the fact that Miss Dunn was ever charged...