HISA

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, several provisional suspensions have been handed out in cases pending a formal hearing. This includes trainers Frederico Villafranco and Diana Morici, who have been issued provisional suspensions for separate alleged methamphetamine positives. Trainer Francisco Ramos remains provisionally suspended with two additional alleged clenbuterol positives to go with four prior pending clenbuterol cases. Five of these cases--including the two most recent--were from out-of-competition tests. The other...

The list of trainers that have been informed by the Horse Racing Integrity and Welfare Unit (HIWU) that a horse they train has tested positive for the controversial drug Metformin has grown by two. According to postings on the HIWU website, Greg Foley and James Lawrence II have been notified that horses under their care had Metformin in their system. Lawrence's positive came from the  horse Cherished Wish (Mshawish) in a May 23 race at Penn National in which she finished second. The Foley horse to test positive was Camaro...

Tuesday's Jockey Club Welfare and Safety of the Racehorse Summit identified seven "opportunities" for the industry to make a wholesale leap forward in equine safety and welfare standards. One of the seven was improved surface maintenance protocols. The better these protocols, the safer the track. Part of the universe of data disseminated throughout the summit was a breakdown of dirt surfaces into four climate groups. Researchers found the safest dirt tracks in hot dry climates (with an average 1.31 fatality rate per 1,000 starts). The dirt surfaces in climates with...

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, Ohio-based veterinarian Scott Shell has been suspended for two years, fined $25,000 and ordered to pay $10,000 in arbitration costs for administering a substance called "Hemo 15" 228 times to 37 horses in his care between May 29, 2023 and Oct. 19, 2023. His suspension started on Jan. 8, 2024 According to the final decision, Shell submitted a letter prior to the May 28 evidentiary hearing outlining...

Since the launch of the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act's (HISA) drug testing program over a year ago, metformin has sucked up an awful lot of oxygen. Under HISA, there have been seven resolved cases and four pending cases involving metformin—perhaps not an especially large number on its own, until framed against the number of metformin cases adjudicated before the program went into effect. An Association of Racing Commissioners International's (ARCI) review of their database "going back decades" found five metformin cases for Thoroughbreds. All were from 2017 onwards. The...

The United States Supreme Court will not hear a challenge to the Horse Racing Safety and Integrity Act (HISA) filed by Oklahoma, Louisiana and West Virginia after the Sixth Court Circuit's Court of Appeals found that HISA is constitutional, according to an announcement from the Supreme Court Monday. "Certiorari denied," was the only statement coming from the court regarding the ruling, which was included among a monthly list of numerous other writ approvals and denials that the Supreme Court made public in batch format June 24. A writ of certiorari...

The Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority (HISA) will hold a pair of educational webinars ahead of upcoming rule changes that will go into effect July 8. The first, aimed towards trainers, will take place Monday, July 1 at 2 p.m. and will cover the impact of the modified rules along with a Q&A on the changes. To register and/or submit questions, click here. The HISA Town Hall series will continue with a one-hour webinar Monday, July 8 at 2 p.m. and will also include an overview on the major rule...

It was déjà vu all over again at June's California Horse Racing Board (CHRB) meeting. Three months after a contentious meeting that saw board members vote unanimously to give race dates to Pleasanton Racetrack for a Thoroughbred meet this fall (in opposition to the wishes of Southern California track operators), the CHRB wrestled with another weighty conundrum: How to fund horse racing in California for the next fiscal year. Ultimately, the board approved what was termed a "compromise" funding model that will see each racing association cover the "direct costs"...

Billed as an intensive, premier forum for industry insiders and stakeholders, but also for patrons of sport, the 2024 Racing and Gaming Conference in Saratoga Springs, New York is set for Aug. 12-14. Once again, session master Patrick Brown, who possesses a diverse background in government, the law and gaming, has put together an ambitious slate, and he spoke with the TDN to discuss how this year's conference is rounding into form. TDN: Pat, what is different about this year's Racing and Gaming Conference? I always think that each time...

The Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority (HISA) will host the next virtual webinar in its Town Hall series July 8 at 2:00 p.m. ET to discuss the updated Racetrack Safety Rules recently approved by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), which will take effect that day, the organization said in a release late Thursday. The one-hour, live webinar will include an overview of some of the major rule changes, along with a Q&A session, and will be open to racing participants and the general public. HISA will also be hosting veterinary...

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 Jim Lewis was suspended two years and fined a total of $20,000 (including the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Unit's arbitration costs), after his trainee Hughie's Holiday tested positive for clenbuterol after winning at Ruidoso Downs on July 8 last year. Clenbuterol is a bronchodilator with known performance enhancing properties. Clenbuterol will typically be detectable in the blood for about three to four days after administration,...

Scott Sander had an idea for a rom-com movie floating around in his head, but wasn't quite sure what the setting should be. Then it hit him. Why not horse racing, and specifically the breeding industry? That's the story behind the story when it comes to the movie Sander is working on, "Breeders." "I thought I had what was a really good idea for a big, fun romantic comedy," said Sander, who was this week's Green Group Guest of the Week on the Thoroughbred Daily News Writers' Room Podcast presented...