HISA

Frank L. Jones, Jr., a prominent owner, breeder, and servant to the horse industry through decades of work on the boards of several Thoroughbred organizations, passed away Thursday, Aug. 10 after a long illness. The Louisville businessman was 87. In addition to other roles, Jones spent more than 30 years as the owners' vice president of the Kentucky Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association (HBPA), where he was instrumental in negotiating contracts for owners and trainers with racetracks. He was also chair of the Kentucky HBPA's finance committee and a legislative...

As the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act's (HISA) drug and medication control program has rolled out over the past few months, various questions have been raised over the mechanics of the new law. As such, the TDN has decided to maintain a Q&A on this new program comprising questions raised by readers, and answers fielded by representatives from either HISA or the Horseracing Integrity and Welfare Unit (HIWU), the enforcement arm of HISA's Anti-Doping and Medication Control (ADMC) program. The first set of responses can be read here. The second...

In horse racing, the betting public counts on owners and trainers trying to win within safe and lawful parameters. A critical component associated with both is the private veterinary practitioners they employ to help prepare the horse for competition. To date there is no evidence that the Horseracing Integrity & Safety Act and the private corporation Authority (both known as HISA) that the legislation birthed has given any thought to the role of the private practitioner except to mandate onerous and dubious vaccinations, piling on bureaucratic duties and counterproductive medication...

Editor's Note: This week, we start a series in the TDN where we attempt to clarify a HISA regulation that has been the subject of confusion in the early days of the rollout. This week, we discuss the test barn, where we have received letters to the editor saying that sample collection personnel may not be practicing proper hygiene, nor wearing gloves. What do the rules say, and what should you do if you observe this? HISA CEO Lisa Lazarus answers us below. Sample collection procedure requirements in the test...

Every week, the TDN publishes a roundup of key official rulings from the primary tracks within the four major racing jurisdictions of California, New York, Florida and Kentucky. Here's a primer on how each of these jurisdictions adjudicates different offenses, what they make public (or not) and where. The TDN will also post a roundup of the relevant Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act (HISA) related rulings from the same week. These will include decisions from around the country. California Track: Del Mar Date: 08/03/2023 Licensee: Kent Desormeaux, jockey Penalty: Three-day...

"Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not his own facts." --Daniel Patrick Moynihan Letters to the editor are, by definition, opinions. You can disagree with an opinion, but you can't exactly say it's wrong. But when "facts" that are not facts are offered in support of an opinion, that is disinformation. The writer of the July 26, 2023, Thoroughbred Daily News letter to the editor slamming HISA could be the poster child for that. Over the past week I reviewed his criticisms with executives with HISA and HIWU...

The Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority (HISA) and the Jockeys' Guild have announced that they have created a Steering Committee to recommend and develop programming in support of the mental health and wellness of jockeys. The announcement comes on the heels of a symposium held last week in Saratoga. The Steering Committee will be co-chaired by Ambassador Earle Mack, a businessman, philanthropist, former U.S. Ambassador to Finland and Thoroughbred owner and breeder, and Dr. Yuval Neria, a professor of Clinical Medical Psychology at Columbia University Medical Center and Director of...

With oral arguments in the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit looming in less than two months, the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act (HISA) Authority defendants in a two-year-old lawsuit spearheaded by the National Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association (NHBPA) asserted in a legal brief Friday that the panel of judges should "dismiss this appeal or affirm the judgment" from a lower court that ruled the 2022 rewrite of the HISA law was constitutionally compliant. "Congress, the Executive, and all three federal courts that have considered the...

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - A panel on computer-assisted wagering (CAW) and its pros and cons, and another on trainers' reactions to the new Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority (HISA) regulations, took center stage at the 2023 Jockey Club Round Table Conference on Matters Pertaining to Racing held in Saratoga Springs, New York on Thursday. Patrick Cummings, the moderator of the panel on CAWs, is the Executive Director of the Thoroughbred Idea Foundation, a racing-industry think tank. Cummings took the panel through a brief history of parimutuel wagering and the changes...

   In Response to Beau Lane's Letter to the Editor from July 31: Bravo, my friend! The discussion on the impacts of public accusations, even before any form of due process takes place, cannot be understated. I liken the scenario to a judge telling a jury to "disregard that last statement" painting a vivid picture of the harsh reality we face. This metaphor cogently emphasizes the irreversible harm that can befall individuals and organizations alike when accusations are prematurely thrown into the public sphere. The court of public opinion, bolstered...

It was a good week to have a Hall of Fame jockey on the TDN Writers' Room, presented by Keeneland, as the Green Group Guest of the Week and especially to have that jockey be Jerry Bailey, who knows a thing or two about analyzing a race for an audience. Bailey pulled no punches when asked about whether or not he felt Forte (Violence) should have been disqualified in the Jim Dandy Saturday at Saratoga. "I thought it was a bad call," said Bailey. "I thought he was the best...

SARATOGA SPRINGS, NY - The Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority (HISA) and the Jockeys' Guild hosted a symposium on the mental health and wellness of jockeys on Aug. 1 at the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame in Saratoga. The event was organized after a similar discussion conducted in May at Keeneland shared the results of a survey of 230 jockeys that revealed that, among other findings, a third of jockeys had faced challenges in their daily lives over the past month due to feelings of sadness, anxiety...