Lisa Lazarus

With the July 1 implementation date for the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act rapidly approaching, there has been a feverish push to get tens of thousands of horsemen and horses registered in time as well as an education effort to get the industry's stakeholders up to speed on the Act's myriad rules and regulations. Tuesday, Lisa Lazarus, the CEO of the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority--the governing body tasked with implementing HISA--joined the TDN Writers' Room presented by Keeneland as the Green Group Guest of the Week to provide updates...

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...

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...

Last week, TDN launched a cheat sheet to help guide industry participants through the launch of the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act (HISA) on July 1. Since then, we have been fielding unanswered questions that industry participants have about the process to register, and about the new playing field come July 1, forwarding them to HISA for response. Over the weekend, HISA CEO Lisa Lazarus addressed a common registration problem bedeviling the system, with HISA's text message verification codes often been misclassified by telecommunications providers as spam. In short: While...

Dear Thoroughbred racing community stakeholder, We appreciate your assistance in spreading the word on the need to register with HISA before the Racetrack Safety Program takes effect on July 1, 2022. It has come to our attention that some users have recently experienced technical difficulties with the HISA registration platform. The primary issue has been with the two-factor authentication system that relied on text messaging, a standard measure to ensure an additional layer of protection. Our technology team has learned that, despite the success of earlier tests, HISA's text message...

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...

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. DFSI has helped administer drug testing programs to a slew of human sports organizations, like the National Football League, NCAA, National Basketball Association, Ladies Professional Golf Association, the PGA Tour, NASCAR and Major League Baseball. Last week's...

Edited Press Release The Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority's (HISA) Board of Directors has selected Drug Free Sport International (DFS) to build HISA's independent Anti-Doping and Medication Control (ADMC) enforcement agency. The decision followed months of discussions with several potential enforcement agencies and marks another major milestone in the implementation of the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act. HISA sought out DFS given its history of drug testing and enforcement partnerships with leading sports organizations, including the National Football League, NCAA, National Basketball Association, Ladies Professional Golf Association, PGA Tour, NASCAR...

LEXINGTON, KY--The Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act (HISA) was a popular topic of discussion on Tuesday at the Association of Racing Commissioners International's (ARCI) 88th Annual Conference on Safe Horses and Honest Sport. Early in the day's session, a panel was held on the potential legal issues that could arise with the implementation of HISA. John Roach, HISA's general counsel, joined panelists Nolan Jackson and Joel Turner of Frost, Brown, Todd, LLC. The first issue examined concerned HISA's possible qualification as a Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA), a federal law...

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has approved the proposed Enforcement and Methodology Assessment Rules in addition to the distribution of the 2022 cost assessments to state racing commissions, according to the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority (HISA) Friday. The effective date for the start of the Racetrack Safety Program is July 1. "These developments bring us closer to fulfilling our mandate to protect the wellbeing of both horse and rider through uniform rules and accreditation standards," said HISA CEO Lisa Lazarus. "The Racetrack Safety Program will expand veterinary oversight, impose...

Edited Press Release The Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority (HISA)'s Board of Directors has elected Dr. Noah Cohen, VMD, MPH, PhD, DACVIM-LA, to fulfill the remainder of Dr. Paul Lunn's term on the Racetrack Safety Standing Committee following Dr. Lunn's return to England. Dr. Cohen is a University Distinguished Professor and the Patsy Link Chair in Equine Research at Texas A&M University's College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences and has dedicated his entire career to equine health and safety, serving as an equine veterinary practitioner before entering academia. Among...