HISA

The United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit on Friday affirmed a ruling out of a lower federal court in Arkansas that had denied a preliminary injunction sought by horsemen in Arkansas and Iowa to halt the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act (HISA) and its Anti-Doping and Medication Control (ADMC) program. Chief Judge Steven Colloton took the lead in authoring the opinion for the three-judge panel, writing that the plaintiffs/appellants have "not established a fair chance of success on the merits, so the district court did not abuse...

The Horseracing Integrity & Welfare Unit has lifted the suspension assessed to trainer Jorge Duarte Jr. in the wake of one of his horses testing positive for methamphetamine after a race at Delaware Park in May. Duarte is the private trainer for Richard Santulli's Colts Neck Stables. On June 26, Duarte was informed that a horse he trained named Happy Cat (Kitten's Joy) had tested positive for methamphetamine following a May 22nd race at Delaware Park. On September 5, he was issued a provisional suspension of 60 days. After presenting...

Every week, the TDN posts a roundup of the relevant Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act (HISA) related rulings from around the country.   NEW HISA/HIWU STEWARDS RULINGS The following rulings were reported on HISA's "rulings" portal and through the HIWU "pending" and "resolved" cases portals. Resolved ADMC Violations Date: 09/12/2024 Licensee: Robert James Gherardi, trainer Penalty: A fine of $500; imposition of 1.5 Penalty Points. Admission. Explainer: Vet list medication violation for the presence of Firocoxib--controlled medication (Class C)--in a sample taken from Kell's Kiss on 8/6/24. Date: 09/12/2024 Licensee:...

The United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit required fewer than 24 hours to shoot down a request made Monday by the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority (HISA) to delay the issuance of that court's mandate that the Horseracing and Safety Integrity Act is unconstitutional. The Authority had asked the appeals court to hold off on making the mandate official while the Authority petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court to step in and decide the current HISA constitutionality conflict that exists because of clashing opinions out of two separate...

The Horseracing and Safety Integrity Authority (HISA) made it clear on Monday that by Oct. 16, it intends to ask the United States Supreme Court to step in and decide the current HISA constitutionality conflict that exists because of clashing opinions out of two separate federal appeals courts. The move potentially sets up a final say, perhaps as early as 2025, on a legal showdown that has split factions of the Thoroughbred industry since HISA's initial passage in 2020. One week after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth...

I read with interest the TDN article about Jorge Duarte, which is the latest in a pattern of stories about trainers (George Weaver, Rusty Arnold, etc.) with positive tests that have seemingly come from contamination. Glen Hill Farm has been racing and breeding horses since 1967. We are an American-based operation but have been building in Europe and Australia for the last decade. Having served on many industry boards, I always understood the goal for medication reform was for American racing to first have uniformity between states and then hopefully...

Christine Tuma, who formerly worked as an association veterinarian jointly employed by Hawthorne Race Course and the Illinois Racing Board (IRB), on Thursday filed a federal lawsuit against those two entities claiming her efforts to scratch over 80 lame or injured Thoroughbreds during the 2022 and 2023 race meets were met with an alleged conspiracy to overturn her actions so the unsound horses could be entered in races. The lawsuit further contended that when Tuma reported this alleged conspiracy to state and federal government regulators, she was fired "in retaliation...

On June 26, trainer Jorge Duarte, Jr was informed that a horse he trained named Happy Cat (Kitten's Joy) had tested positive for methamphetamine following a May 22nd race at Delaware Park. Duarte was indeed concerned, but he insisted he had done nothing wrong, that cooler heads would prevail and that he would not be penalized. Three-and-a-half months later, he has already started serving what could be a lengthy suspension. The problem is that when there is a drug positive, Duarte says the position of the Horseracing Integrity and Welfare...

Every week, the TDN posts a roundup of the relevant Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act (HISA) related rulings from around the country. NEW HISA/HIWU STEWARDS RULINGS The following rulings were reported on HISA's "rulings" portal and through the HIWU "pending" and "resolved" cases portals. Resolved ADMC Violations Date: 09/10/2024 Licensee: Joe Tye, trainer Penalty: A written Reprimand (per 9/26/23 HISA Guidance). Final decision by HIWU. Explainer: Vets' list medication violation for the presence of Omeprazole (GastroGard)-controlled Medication (Class C)--in a sample taken from Wear the Crown on 7/26/24. Date: 09/10/2024...

A Monday order out of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit shot down a request for a rarely granted "en banc" procedure that the Horseracing and Safety Integrity Act (HISA) Authority and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) had asked for last month. Had the long-shot legal maneuver been successful, it would have granted a rehearing before all of that court's judges to review a July 5, 2024, opinion issued by a panel of three that had declared HISA is unconstitutional because its enforcement provisions violate the...

Eight days after turf racing was halted at Parx amid pressure from horsemen and HISA, HISA officials released their evaluation of the turf surface, saying that the holes had been filled, but the surface was noticeably dry. Causes Trouble (Creative Cause) broke down on the grass in the Aug. 24 Parx Dash, leading his trainer, Harold Wyner, to walk the course and release a video that showed numerous holes, some of them up to a foot deep. Pennsylvania Thoroughbred Horsemen's President Bob Hutt said he was ignored when he demanded...

Every week, the TDN posts a roundup of the relevant Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act (HISA) related rulings from around the country. NEW HISA/HIWU STEWARDS RULINGS The following rulings were reported on HISA's "rulings" portal and through the HIWU "pending" and "resolved" cases portals. Resolved ADMC Violations Date: 09/04/2024 Licensee: Johanna Urieta, 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. Admission. Explainer: Medication violation for the presence of Methocarbamol— Controlled Medication (Class C)—in a...