HISA

As renovations continue at Belmont Park, The New York Racing Association (NYRA) divulged a plan July 1 to conduct approximately three months of winter racing annually at Belmont exclusively on an all-weather surface. A one-mile Tapeta track is currently under construction at Belmont, while the facility is scheduled to reopen in 2026. Lisa Lazarus, the CEO of the Horseracing Integrity & Safety Authority (HISA) provided a letter Friday to NYRA in support of the decision. The letter appears in full below. To Whom it May Concern: The Horseracing Integrity and...

Pennsylvania's Parx Racing has issued a statement following news the turf course at the Bensalem track has been closed due to dangerous conditions. For background on the situation, which included the breakdown of Causes Trouble (Creative Cause) Aug. 24, please click here. HISA released a statement earlier Thursday indicating a series of tests will be run. Thursday afternoon, officials at Parx released their own statement. It appears in full and unedited below: "The recent spurious comments made by the President of the Pennsylvania Thoroughbred Horseman's Association, Bob Hutt, regarding the...

On Wednesday, Aug. 28 it was reported that HISA and the local horsemen's group pressured Parx management to close down its turf course. Now the racetrack is planning to put the surface through a series of tests, according to a statement issued by HISA on Thursday. Parx management has informed the oversight organization that they have arranged for Racing Services Testing Laboratory (RSTL) to test and evaluate the turf surface. Additionally, HISA has requested that members of the Track Surface Advisory Group visit in the coming days to assess its...

This letter originally appeared on the Walking L Companies website and is republished in the TDN unedited and with permission. I believe that we are all involved in whichever corner of the Thoroughbred Racing Industry we each occupy because of our love first and foremost for the HORSES and that we all want to see racing grow and thrive for decades to come. Of course, there are many problems and challenges within our industry and many things that we need to fix in order for it to continue, let alone...

Jockey Brian Hernandez, who was fined $1,250, will also serve a one-day suspension for the ride on Thorpedo Anna (Fast Anna) in last weekend's GI Travers Stakes, reports Daily Racing Form Tuesday. Issued by the Horse Racing Integrity and Safety Authority (HISA) and signed by NYRA steward Victor Escobar, the penalty was levied for using the crop seven times, one over the limit of six strikes. The Kentucky Oaks winner and Hernandez finished a close second behind juvenile champion Fierceness (City of Light) in the Travers. Hernandez, who is scheduled...

On Nov. 9 last year, veteran trainer Steve Klesaris shipped his mare She's Awesome from Delaware Park to Aqueduct to compete in the second race. When she arrived, the receiving barns were full, and so, She's Awesome (Flatter) was sent instead to the track's auxiliary stabling, used as an overflow. The auxiliary barn is adjacent to staff bathrooms, with a lot of foot traffic through it, said Klesaris. It's also used to stable ponies, he added. She's Awesome won that day. But a post-race test came up positive for the...

Every week, the TDN posts a roundup of the relevant Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act (HISA) related rulings from around the country. Among this week's rulings, trainer Steve Klesaris has been suspended for 15 days and fined $1,000 due to his trainee, She's Awesome, testing positive for gabapentin after winning at Aqueduct Nov. 19 last year. Gabapentin is a class B controlled medication under HISA that is an FDA human-approved anticonvulsant used to treat conditions like epilepsy, postherpetic neuralgia and in the treatment of partial onset seizures. Klesaris told the internal adjudication panel...

A federal judge in Oklahoma on Thursday denied a request for a temporary restraining order (TRO) that eight licensed Remington Park horsepeople wanted put in place to keep the Horseracing and Safety Integrity Act (HISA) from being enforced in that state. Chief Judge Timothy DeGiusti of United States District Court of Oklahoma (Western District) wrote in an Aug. 8 order that, "the Court finds that Plaintiffs have failed to make a sufficient showing of irreparable harm to warrant the extraordinary remedy of injunctive relief, [and that] the imminent threat of...

Though officials within the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act (HISA) Authority have already made huge strides forward in terms of across-the-board equine safety standards, one ongoing concern among stakeholders is that when it comes to the enforcement arm of the national program, an inflexibility in the way some cases are handled and sanctions meted out means the penalties don't always fit the crime. To discuss these concerns, the TDN recently spoke with Alan Foreman, chief executive officer of the Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association and national ombudsman on behalf of HISA and...

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: 08/06/2024 Licensee: Saul Morales, trainer Penalty: A fine of $3,000. Admission. Explainer: Intra-articular injection within 7 days of a timed and reported workout on the horse Condemnation.   Date: 08/05/2024 Licensee: Rodolfo Sanchez-Salomon, trainer Penalty: 7-day period of Ineligibility for Covered Person, beginning...

Just last week, the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act (HISA) Authority released its latest safety figures, showing a four-quarter consecutive decline in equine fatalities. Indeed, in the second quarter of this year, tracks operating under HISA reported 0.76 racing-related equine fatalities per 1,000 starts--significantly lower than the perennial national average. But on the flip side of these statistics is an ongoing concern among stakeholders that the enforcement arm of the national program is in certain areas proving too onerous, and that the penalties aren't always an appropriate response to the...

Ahead of a Wednesday federal court hearing to determine if a temporary injunction is warranted in Oklahoma to keep the Horseracing and Safety Integrity Act (HISA) from being enforced in that state, the HISA Authority filed a legal response Monday that stated "there is no emergency" that would merit such action. The Authority further told the court that the eight licensed Remington Park horsepeople who are plaintiffs in the case are engaging in "foot-dragging and gamesmanship" in their repeated efforts to derail HISA on the grounds of alleged unconstitutionality. In...