HISA

Editor's Note: The TDN received this letter from Fasig-Tipton's Boyd Browning. 2023 was certainly a year of many challenges for the Thoroughbred industry. Much has been written and spoken about the issues we face, although very little action has taken place. As we enter 2024, I believe it is imperative we make meaningful efforts to improve our sport. Every component of the industry must pledge to do a better job. We must find common ground and set aside our egos. We must commit (at a minimum) to the following actions...

I just wanted to express my frustration and disappointment that we, as an industry, seem incapable of presenting a meaningful response to the negativity we are currently facing in the mainstream media. For example, when the 60 Minutes documentary aired several weeks ago, it elicited a wave of legitimate outrage. But the industry's side of the story was nowhere to be seen outside the trade press. We have a collective tendency, at times like this, to wring our hands and shuffle our feet, figuratively speaking. Surely the Thoroughbred Racing Industry,...

Every week, the TDN posts a roundup of the relevant Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act (HISA) related rulings from around the country. Among the key rulings from the last seven days is the saga surrounding Tankinator (Uncle Lino), a horse at the center of two positives within 17 days. On Oct. 21, Tankinator finished sixth at Delaware Park. Tankinator was claimed out of Webster Gayle's barn that day before running again on Nov. 7 for Bonnie Lucas at Parx Racing. Tankinator was pulled up and vanned off in that race....

From an altitude of 10,000 feet, the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act (HISA)'s mandated goal is a simple two-pronged affair. Uniformity in welfare and safety. Uniformity in drug testing. Over the past few months, the Horseracing Integrity and Welfare Unit (HIWU)--HISA's enforcement arm--has made several announcements that have peeled the curtain back on just how difficult the second part of that equation will be to accomplish. Internal reviews of the six HIWU-contracted laboratories uncovered different limits of detection in blood for diabetes drug Metformin and for benzoylecgonine (BZE), a metabolite...

Both Charles Town Races and Mountaineer Park got approval Wednesday from the West Virginia Racing Commission (WVRC) to reduce live racing dates in 2024 compared to recent seasons. The Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association (HBPA) chapters at both tracks supported the diminished schedules based on available purse funds and projected horse populations. Right now the placeholders are 158 dates for Charles Town and 121 for Mountaineer. But the exact number of programs will ultimately be contingent on the outcome of several overlapping federal lawsuits that have to do with the...

HISA has launched MedEnt, an app designed to give veterinarians a streamlined process for entering treatments into the HISA portal on mobile devices, the organization said in a release Wednesday. The app reinforces HISA's commitment to working with veterinarians and other stakeholders to improve HISA's processes as well as its focus on leveraging technology to advance equine health. Attending veterinarians can use the app on their smartphones or tablets to access the list of horses under their care, add treatment reports and update protocols. In cases where they are giving...

Every week, the TDN posts a roundup of the relevant Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act (HISA)-related rulings from around the country. Among the key rulings from the last seven days, trainer Philip Aristone has been suspended for a combined 105 days and fined a total $7,500 after two of his horses tested positive post-race for Lamotrigine, a Class A controlled medication under HISA. According to the National Institutes of Health, Lamotrigine is an anti-seizure, anti-epilepsy drug that is also used off-label to treat other human health issues like acute bipolar...

Thoroughbred trainers Dale Romans, John Sadler and Shug McGaughey, plus racing and bloodstock manager Gavin Murphy, have joined the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act (HISA)'s Horsemen's Advisory Group, the HISA  Authority announced via press release Tuesday. The advisory group is a body of racing industry participants formed by  the HISA Authority last year to provide formal feedback to the Authority 's executive team and Standing Committees on the implementation and evolution of its Racetrack Safety and Anti-Doping and Medication Control (ADMC) regulations. The four new members will replace outgoing Horsemen's...

Reed Saldana, a Los Alamitos Race Course-based trainer who has been licensed since 2017, has been penalized with a two-year suspension and a $25,000 fine after a Dec. 6 Horseracing Integrity and Welfare Unit (HIWU) arbitration judgment found him to be in violation of a banned substance rule. This resulted from a positive test for diisopropylamine in one of his trainees, Ice Queen (Cairo Prince), who finished third in a Santa Anita Park starter-allowance on June 16. Saldana is also on the hook for $12,000 toward HIWU's share of the...

Trainer Anthony Farrior is facing a possible suspension after a horse he trained allegedly tested positive for the banned substance Metformin, according to a posting Friday on the Horseracing Integrity and Welfare Unit website. His status is listed as "Pending: Provisional Suspension--Postponed." Alexa Ravit, the director of communications & outreach for HIWU explained that the wording means, "that B Sample analysis has been requested following a positive A Sample result, so the implementation of the Provisional Suspension is postponed unless/until the B Sample comes back positive." Farrior will be allowed...

A panel discussion titled "From Data to Dollars: Understanding Horse Racing's Economic Impact As Racing's Future is Questioned" during Wednesday's Global Symposium on Racing hosted by the University of Arizona Race Track Industry Program (RTIP) led off with moderator Alan Foreman confronting "the elephant in the room that we dodge." Foreman, the chairman and chief executive officer of the Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association, said racing is facing an "existential moment" at a time when industry stakeholders increasingly must make the case for the sport's so-called social license to exist in the...

Every week, the TDN posts a roundup of the relevant Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act (HISA) related rulings from around the country. Among the key rulings from the last seven days, the prohibition of intra-articular injections within seven days of a timed or reported workout once again stands out as a thorn in the side of trainers. Three such cases have been resolved in the past week, resulting in $3,000 fines meted out in each case. The Horseracing Integrity and Welfare Unit (HIWU) also handed down a seven-day suspension and...