HISA

The winner's circle after Saturday's GI Belmont S. surely rivaled any in Triple Crown history in terms of population after Mo Donegal (Uncle Mo) crossed the wire three lengths to the good. In addition to Mike Repole and his substantial crew of family and friends, the celebration contained the massive partnership of Donegal Racing, which brings all of its investors along for the ride with every horse it purchases. Tuesday, the CEO of Donegal, Jerry Crawford, sat down with Joe Bianca and Bill Finley of the TDN Writers' Room presented...

The simmering stand-off between the Texas Racing Commission and the powers behind the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act (HISA) bubbled higher Monday, when the commission's executive director issued a letter warning Texas will prohibit the import and export of pari-mutuel simulcast signals at its racetracks if the Act goes into effect on July 1 with jurisdictional authority over the state's Thoroughbred racing operations. In the letter, Amy Cook, the Texas Racing Commission's executive director, invokes various statutes in the Interstate Horseracing Act, the Texas Racing Act and the Texas Rules...

Never mind the champion stallion who emulated his own rags-to-riches rise: every yard of paddock rail, every coat of paint, every blade of grass at Spendthrift Farm commemorates the man whose arrival here transformed the commercial breeding landscape. But it's not just the fact that it will formally preserve his name that makes an especially apt memorial of a new visitor center, opening later this year. For its very existence attests to the unique, restlessly challenging style of the late B. Wayne Hughes, and the determination of those charged with...

I have been following with interest the interviews with Liza Lazarus in the TDN. Excellent stuff, particularly today's piece concerning doping procedures. I sincerely hope the aptly-named Ms. Lazarus can bring racing back from the dead and I applaud the new transparency of publication of test results along with the accelerated hearing and adjudication timelines. A great step forward. However, I can't see the advantage of reducing possible sanctions for controlled therapeutic medication offences to make a distinction between such offences and those concerning banned substances. This is a bit...

Bit by bit, the pieces of the puzzle are slotting into place for the Anti-Doping and Medication Control (ADMC) component of the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act, set to go into effect at the start of next year. Last month, that program was designated an agency to officially run it--namely Drug Free Sports International, an organization that has helped administer drug testing programs to a slew of major human sports leagues. Then, last week, the draft ADMC rules were for put out public comment. These draft rules can be found...

This last week has witnessed a flurry of developments and information drops as the countdown to July 1--the official take-off for the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act (HISA)--continues apace. Just last Friday, for example, HISA representatives fielded questions in an online industry forum, while the law's draft Anti-Doping and Medication Control (ADMC) rules have been issued for public comment. HISA's official website can be found here, while the online registration portal can be found here. Aside from providing a cheat sheet to help guide industry participants through the launch, TDN...

Facing a July 1 federal mandate to get all licensed personnel and actively racing Thoroughbreds registered in accordance with the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act (HISA), representatives from that organization's Authority team fielded questions from industry participants Friday in an online "town hall" forum, where the most pertinent query had to do with whether horses will get scratched if their online HISA registrations are incomplete by that deadline. The short answer, according to the HISA Authority's chief executive officer, Lisa Lazarus, is yes. But her slightly longer explanation tells us...

OwnerView announced today that it has added a panel to its Virtual Owner Conference series with representatives from the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority (HISA) to assist owners with the registration process for HISA. The Zoom webinar will be held Thursday, June 16, at 1 pm and will last about 60 minutes. Participating in the webinar from HISA will be Lisa Lazarus, chief executive officer; Steve Keech, technology director; Ann McGovern, director of Racetrack Safety; and John Roach, general counsel. The session will include time to submit questions to the...

Only those living under rocks would be forgiven ignorance of the July 1 launch of the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act (HISA). Thanks to HISA's shifting goal posts and sometimes opaque approach to the dissemination of information, however, even those without such domiciles would be forgiven confusion as to what is expected of them between now and takeoff. The following, therefore, is aimed at providing a basic guide to help industry participants navigate the weeks ahead, from the registration process to important new rules that will be in place July...

With just over a month before the racetrack safety component of the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act (HISA) is set to go into effect, two separate lawsuits cast looming shadows over the program's legal and operational future. One of the suits challenging HISA's constitutionality was filed by the National Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association (NHBPA). In March, United States District Court Judge James Wesley Hendrix dismissed the suit finding that while HISA pushes boundaries of public-private collaboration, the law as constructed stays within the current constitutional limitation. The NHBPA subsequently...

In an era where trainers are increasingly hesitant to run their horses frequently and/or in races where they might be longshots, Graham Motion is a throwback. It often pays off for his perennially successful outfit, as it did on Saturday at Belmont, when his Highland Chief (Ire) (Gleneagles {Ire}), dismissed at 19-1 in a five-horse field, upset defending champion turf male Yibir (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}) and MGISW Gufo (Declaration of War) in the GI Man O' War S. Tuesday, Motion joined the TDN Writers' Room presented by Keeneland as the...

Last week, an important piece of the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act (HISA) puzzle was slotted into place when the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority's board of directors announced that Drug Free Sport International (DFSI) had been selected as the enforcement agency for the Anti-Doping and Medication Control (ADMC) arm of the program. In part one of this two-part Q&A, HISA CEO Lisa Lazarus discussed the reasons behind DFSI's selection, details about the newly announced Horseracing Integrity and Welfare Unit (HIWU) and broad updates on the Anti-Doping and Medication Control...