lawsuit

The states of Oklahoma, West Virginia and Louisiana-which for the past five years have been unable to prove their allegations that the Horseracing and Safety Integrity Act (HISA) is unconstitutional at either the United States district court, federal appeals court, or the Supreme Court levels-are now petitioning the Supreme Court for a yet another chance to make their case that the law purportedly gives a private corporation too-broad powers to regulate Thoroughbred racing. This latest petition for a "writ of certiorari" (the formal term for asking the Supreme Court to...

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...

Owners Gary Barber and C2 Racing Stable have filed a suit in a California Superior Court alleging that defendants Breeders' Cup Limited, the California Horse Racing Board, and the Del Mar Thoroughbred Club engaged in intentional interference with prospective economic relations, negligent interference with prospective economic relations, violation of California business & professions code, gross negligence, negligence, breach of contract, and breach of the implied  covenant of good faith and fair dealing. The matter involves the scratching of White Abarrio (Race Day), which took place just minutes before the running...

The Supreme Court for the State of New York (New York County) on Thursday entered a summary judgment related to a lawsuit originally filed in 2022 that involves disputes dating to 2017 between performance-figure provider Thoro-Graph, Inc., and the New York Racing Association (NYRA). On Apr. 9, 2026, the judge in the case, Lyle Frank, wrote that, "plaintiff Thoro-Graph, Inc., is entitled to summary judgment on liability for their first cause of action as against defendant NYRA, with damages and an award of reasonable attorneys' fees to be determined at...

Over two months have lapsed since the California Department of Justice (DOJ) swooped into Santa Anita midway through the races to remove 26 Racing-on-Demand terminals that allow a form of pari-mutuel wagering on previously run races. Santa Anita subsequently filed suit against state attorney general Rob Bonta making several claims including how the state "unlawfully seized" the terminals "without warning or warrant," and that they have yet to provide "any legal basis or explanation for their warrantless seizure of Petitioner's property, which Respondents have threatened to destroy." At the heart...

The New York Racing Association (NYRA) and Hector Soler, who worked as the head starter at Aqueduct Racetrack, Belmont Park and Saratoga Race Course between 2020 and 2025, have entered into a settlement agreement in which NYRA will pay Soler two separate sums, one which the parties agreed to keep confidential in exchange for Soler dropping an "unlawful discrimination and retaliation" lawsuit he initiated last year in the wake of being fired by NYRA. The "stipulation of final order and dismissal" was posted Mar. 27 on the docket for the...

A federal judge on Monday ended a nearly two-year-old lawsuit by dismissing seven of the eight counts in litigation initiated by two Iowa horsemen who alleged unconstitutionality of the Horseracing and Safety Integrity Act (HISA) and the way the HISA Authority collects assessment fees. The eighth count, which pertained to an order from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) regarding the fees, will simply be remanded back to that agency for a reworded explanation because, the judge wrote, "there is a 'strong possibility' that the FTC Order is guilty of nothing...

by Dan Ross and T.D. Thornton The Horse Racing Integrity and Safety Act (HISA) Authority on Wednesday summoned Churchill Downs Racetrack and its corporate parent, CDI, to a hearing before a panel of HISA board members in an attempt to secure payment of 2025 assessment fees that CDI has allegedly failed to submit on behalf of four racetracks the gaming corporation owns in Kentucky and Pennsylvania, including its flagship track in Louisville. HISA wants Churchill to pay $2,408,501 in allegedly overdue 2025 fees (plus $93,998 in interest) to the Authority...

Since 2023, Mike Repole has waged a campaign of inflammatory social posts and public statements targeting The Jockey Club and other leading Thoroughbred organizations. His rhetoric relies on selective facts and false narratives--fueling division, eroding trust, and distracting from the real work our industry needs to move forward. His campaign offers no solutions or concrete plans and appears instead to be part of an effort by Mr. Repole to anoint himself the "Commissioner" of the sport. As Stewards of The Jockey Club, we work to improve racing and breeding in...

A lawsuit filed in a Kentucky court Wednesday over a disputed Standardbred auction figures to be closely watched by the Thoroughbred industry because of allegations that a Lexington Selected Yearling Sales Company (LSYS) auctioneer belatedly realized he had dropped the hammer on a $15,000 sale without respecting a $45,000 reserve price that should have been in effect. According to the civil complaint initiated by the New Jersey-based Val D'Or Farms, which thought it had rightfully purchased the filly, named Philly's Sting, for $15,000 via proxy bid, the auctioneer purportedly tried...

Seven months after a joint agreement to drop a year-old lawsuit against Camarero Race Track over complaints about a purportedly unsafe dirt surface, the Puerto Rico Horse Owners Association, Inc. (PRHOA) is back in federal court against the island's only Thoroughbred track, alleging that Camarero and a different horsemen's group, the Confederacion Hipica de Puerto Rico (CHPR), have undertaken a "concerted scheme" to exclude PRHOA from simulcasting revenues while at the same time trying to "coerce" PRHOA members to join the rival faction. According to the lawsuit, filed Oct. 31...

A judge has dismissed federal claims in a lawsuit filed last year by a former Hawthorne Race Course association veterinarian who alleged that her efforts to scratch over 80 lame or injured Thoroughbreds during 2022-23 were met with a purported conspiracy among track employees, other veterinarians, and state regulators to overturn her actions so unsound horses could be entered to fill short-field races. Dr. Christine Tuma had also claimed in United States District Court (Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division) that when she reported this alleged conspiracy to state and...