HISA

The Board of the Association of Racing Commissioners International (ARCI) has unanimously requested the Federal Trade Commission to delay final action on HISA's proposed Anti-Doping and Medication Control rules until the constitutional questions being litigated are resolved, they announced in a press release Wednesday. "We cannot have a situation where an enforcement action is overturned because the authority of the enforcing entity to act is in question," said Ed Martin, ARCI President. "The only way to avoid that is to delay approval of HISA rules leaving existing state rules and...

CINCINNATI, OHIO -- The latest challenge to the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act (HISA) was the first case before the three judges selected to weigh in on the law's constitutionality Wednesday in the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, in Cincinnati. The plaintiffs comprise the state of Louisiana; Oklahoma and its racing commission, plus West Virginia and its racing commission. Three Oklahoma tracks-Remington Park, Will Rogers Downs, and Fair Meadows-are also plaintiffs, as are the Oklahoma Quarter Horse Association, the U.S. Trotting Association, and Hanover Shoe Farms,...

Lisa Lazarus, the chief executive officer for the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority (HISA), on Tuesday made an appeal for sport-wide unity with United States racing on the cusp of a Jan. 1 roll-out of HISA's Anti-Doping and Medication Control rules. "I want you to think about what this sort of change is going to mean for the industry," Lazarus said. "It's going to look and feel different, and it's going to allow us to say to those that are our detractors, to those that doubt horse racing is clean,...

With the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit set to hear oral arguments Dec. 7 in a case that seeks to reverse a lower court's decision to dismiss a constitutional challenge of the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act (HISA), the two opposing sides have filed new documentation pertaining to a separate but related Nov. 18 decision by the Fifth Circuit that did, in fact, declare HISA unconstitutional. Although it's tough at this stage to get a consensus on what might happen with HISA over the next six...

Last week, industry organizations announced the launch of the California Horse Power Coalition, a collaborative endeavor sold as something of a unified foghorn to extol the good word of the sport's economic and cultural impacts. The list of Coalition members reads like a who's who of California racing industry mainstays, including Del Mar, Santa Anita, the Thoroughbred Owners of California (TOC), the California Retirement Management Account (CARMA), the California Thoroughbred Breeders' Association (CTBA) and others. To discuss this new venture--along with a suite of other timely industry talking points--the TDN spoke with newly minted...

Confusion has reigned ever since an appellate court ruled last week that the Horse Racing and Integrity Act (HISA) is unconstitutional. So what does that mean for the state racing commissions and what should they do going forward? The TDN Writers' Room presented by Keeneland called upon Ed Martin, the chairman and CEO of the Association of Racing Commissioners International to help clear up the situation. Martin was this week's Green Group Guest of the Week. Martin believes that considering the situation HISA should drop the Jan. 1 date and...

ARCI President Ed Martin joins this week's TDN Writers' Room to discuss the recent news that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit ruled that HISA is unconstitutional.

The University of Arizona's Race Track Industry Program (RTIP) Global Symposium on Racing will be streamed live online by Roberts Communications Network (RCN) on the Racetrack Television Network (RTN). All proceeds from the sales will revert to the RTIP. "We are thrilled to once again stream the Symposium to a global audience," said RTIP Chair Robert Hartman. "While we are expecting a large group of industry attendees, we also understand that travel may not be possible for some, and feel it is important to make these panel sessions available to...

The conservative bent of two of the three judges on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit scheduled to hear another case about the constitutionality of the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act (HISA) "does not bode well" for the near-term future of the act, said appellate law expert Lucinda Finley. Oral arguments are set for Dec. 7 in the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals for an appeal of an earlier ruling in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky. That district court found that HISA was indeed constitutional,...

Despite a near-term national forecast clouded with uncertainty over last week's United States Court of Appeals order declaring the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act (HISA) to be unconstitutional, California Horse Racing Board (CHRB) commissioners on Tuesday expressed confidence their state will be able to weather the projected turbulence over HISA's in-limbo legality better than other jurisdictions. The reason, according to staffers and commissioners who spoke during the Nov. 22 monthly meeting, is that the CHRB has been proactively advancing safety and medication rules for the past few years, and a...

As many people are aware, I have been a member of WHOA and a supporter of HISA from the beginning. I want what we all want. Uniform and sensible medication rules and testing that promotes the integrity of our sport while protecting the innocent and punishing the cheaters. So when I received a call advising me that a horse I help manage was disqualified for an acepromazine positive, I was surprised to say the least. My initial reaction and explanation to the owner was the horse must have had the...

For well over a year, we have been told that the HISA Act was legally bulletproof and within the parameters of the US Constitution. According to a unanimous decision of a three judge panel from both political parties issued last week, such assertions may not be so. The ARCI has not taken sides in this legal dispute, although some of our member agencies have as there are serious issues involving States rights, taxation without representation and commandeering that are at stake. The final outcome of the legal process may not...