By Sue Finley
The Horse Racing Integrity and Safety Authority (HISA) has changed their provisional suspension policy regarding banned substances and will now wait to suspend a trainer until the split (B) sample is returned, according to a press release from HISA Friday morning.
“Last Friday, HIWU was informed that a split (B) sample did not confirm the original laboratory finding, and, accordingly, pursuant to the ADMC regulations, HIWU dismissed the violation against a trainer who had been provisionally suspended 20 days earlier,” the statement read. “This raised concerns regarding the imposition of provisional suspensions at this early stage of the ADMC Program's rollout. Consequently, HISA's ADMC Committee, which has oversight of the HISA ADMC rules, held a meeting and decided to make various policy decisions regarding the imposition of provisional suspensions under the ADMC Program. Various proposals received from horsemen's groups were considered during the course of these discussions.”
On July 3, McLean Robertson, who trains at Canterbury Park, was provisionally suspended after a horse he trained returned a positive test for Altrenogest. Nineteen days later, the B sample found no trace of the drug in the horse's system, and he was reinstated.
On a Zoom call after the press release, HISA CEO Lisa Lazarus said, “The ADMC met earlier this week, discussed the rules and landed on the policy that going forward, we will not provisionally suspend every trainer whose horse tests positive for a banned substance, so long as that trainer elects to have the B sample tested. If he or she does, we will wait for the B sample to come back before we take any action.”
The policy change extends to the number of trainers currently provisionally suspended. “HIWU will be in contact with all those currently provisionally suspended to explain next steps,” says the press release.
Reached Friday after the announcement, trainer Jonathan Wong, currently under a provisional suspension after one of his horses tested positive for Metformin, a type 2 diabetes treatment that is on the banned substance list, said he was currently unsure whether or not he could go back to work.
“I don't know,” he said. “I'll be talking to my lawyer later. He's going to get in touch with HISA and HIWU and see what direction they want us to go in and how they want us to handle it.”
Overall, Wong had praise for the changes.
“There are some things that need to be tweaked, but HISA is brand new and there is a brand new set of rules. Everybody is learning on the go, the trainers, the jockeys, the owners, HISA itself. They are learning on the go, too. I applaud them for making the changes they have made. What they're doing, changing the rules, shows that this is a work in progress. They're doing a great job changing rules and making it fair for everybody.”
HISA CEO Lisa Lazarus, on a Zoom call following the announcement, said there were approximately five trainers eligible to return to training until the B sample is returned.
The existing rules included one adopted from the World Anti-Doping Code that saw a person provisionally suspended after their A sample came back positive, and which provoked an outcry about due-process rights.
The new rules read that from now on, anyone who requests a split sample test will be eligible to have their provisional suspension postponed until the B sample is returned. If the B sample confirms the original finding, the suspension will go into effect. The trainer will not be required to scratch any horses they have already entered, but they will not be allowed to make new entries after being notified of the B sample confirmation.
Trainers will pay $2,000 for the B sample test, but that money will be refunded if the B sample is negative.
There are two caveats to the rule change:
Any trainer who has more than one horse test positive for the same banned substance within a six-month period will not be eligible to have their provisional suspension postponed.
There are certain banned substances for which trainers will continue to be provisionally suspended upon notification of the A sample, including opioids, cobra venom, bath salts, and others. A complete list may be found here.
During a provisional suspension, the statement reads, a trainer “may engage in caring for and exercising their covered horses, except they cannot breeze or race covered horses registered to them. Should they want any covered horses to breeze or race, they must transfer those horses to another responsible person (i.e., trainer) in a bona fide transfer approved by the stewards. In addition, covered/responsible persons: (i) must take down or cover any personal signage bearing their name or related to their operations where the covered horses are located at the racetrack; (ii) cannot claim covered horses or bring new covered horses into their barn; and (iii) cannot be employed in any capacity involving covered horses (including, but not limited to, acting as an agent for an owner of covered horses or working as an exercise rider for covered horses.)
Public reporting under the ADMC rules will continue to occur at the time of the notice of the A sample positive test.
There will be no change to the rules regarding provisionally suspended horses. After the A sample returns a positive, that horse will be suspended.
“I am proud of the changes we have made,” said Lazarus. “I don't shy from that. We will change as many times as we have to, to get it right, to have the best program in place for the benefit of the industry. It's only about that. That's the only goal. And that's why the ADMC made this policy change.”
Eric Hamelback, CEO of the National Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association (NHBPA), released a statement shortly after the changes were announced. The statement reads in full:
“The National HBPA understands when there are seismic changes, there will be bumps in any type of implementation. While today's changes announced by HISA are undoubtedly good for horsemen and women, they also highlight the fundamental flaws in HISA. As the NHBPA pointed out long before execution, the HISA rule-making process excludes consensus, full transparency and industry involvement, leading to bad policies that often must be reversed and do nothing but sow chaos and confusion.
“The NHBPA will continue to advocate for trainers and owners in court, in Congress and with the Authority to restore common sense and due process. We don't object to this revision, which appears to have been done on the fly without FTC oversight, but we will continue to fight the process that makes such mistakes over and over.”
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