Lisa Lazarus

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...

Under pressure from HISA and the local horsemen's group, Parx management has closed down its turf course after a horse broke down on the grass in the Aug. 24 Parx Dash S. The horse, Causes Trouble (Creative Cause), is co-owned by John Fanelli and was making his 33rd career start. "It's always been known as a bad course, but if I knew it was that bad, I never would have put my horse on that surface," Fanelli said. "I was really upset about the condition of the course and when...

For the second time in five days-and for the seventh time in three years-individuals or entities under the control of the Horseracing and Safety Integrity Act (HISA) have filed a lawsuit in a federal court alleging that the law and its enforcement are unconstitutional. This latest legal action took the form of a July 29 complaint in United States District Court for the Southern District of Iowa (Central Division) filed by Thoroughbred owner Joseph A. Kelly and owner/trainer Douglas L. Anderson against the HISA Authority, the Federal Trade Commission, and...

The second quarter of 2024 (Apr. 1-June 30) continued the downward trajectory of the rate of racing-related equine fatalities in the industry, according to the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority (HISA)'s 2024 Second Quarter Metrics Report. The report provides an in-depth analysis of key performance indicators related to the safety and integrity of Thoroughbred racing in the United States. Since the implementation of the Anti-Doping and Medication Control Program on May 22, 2023, which represents the point in time when HISA became fully operational, the fatality rate has declined for...

The Horse Racing Women's Summit (HRWS) hosted their second event of the year with panels and networking opportunities taking place at the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame on Tuesday, July 23 in Saratoga Springs, New York, the organization said in a Wednesday release. "To be clear, this is not an event where women get together to discuss female challenges," said Shona Rotondo, Chair of the HRWS Marketing & Communications Committee. "It's an event that brings together intelligent and successful industry professionals to discuss the challenges of our...

The July 5 opinion out of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit that declared that part of the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act (HISA) is unconstitutional is generating legal filings from both sides in a related case awaiting a decision in the Eighth Circuit. Both the plaintiffs/appellants in the Eighth Circuit case (led by Bill Walmsley, the president of the Arkansas HBPA, and Jon Moss, the executive director of the Iowa HBPA) and the defendants/appellees (executives with the HISA Authority and the Federal Trade Commission [FTC]),...

In a virtual town hall Monday, representatives from the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act (HISA) Authority outlined, and took stakeholder questions on, the revised "Racetrack Safety" rules that have just gone into effect. The main rule revisions and modifications apply to intra-articular injections and to vets' listings. An online "handbook" of the new rules can be accessed here. The following are some of the primary points raised during Monday's hour-long session, and in the materials available online. Joint Injections The updated rules on intra-articular injections are significantly stricter than what...

A judgment Friday by the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit declared that part of the Horseracing and Safety Integrity Act (HISA) is unconstitutional. Even though the three-judge panel agreed with "nearly all" of a lower court's ruling that other contested aspects of HISA's constitutionality were fixed by a Congressional amendment to the law in 2022, the panel's one unconstitutional finding has to do with the HISA Authority's broad powers to investigate and operate. The gravity of that unconstitutionality opinion could be enough to send the case...

The multiple-stakes-winning trainer Nevada Litfin, who has been licensed for 24 years and primarily competes in the Midwest, has been suspended five years and fined $2,500 for his role in a "paper trainer" violation under Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority (HISA) rules. The penalties stem from a period last summer and fall when Litfin was suspended for a separate Horseracing Integrity Welfare Unit (HIWU) infraction and asked at least two subordinates to help operate his Canterbury Park-based racing stable in name only while Litfin continued to execute the day-to-day business....

The one-mile Tapeta track currently under construction at Belmont Park will become the exclusive winter racing surface on the New York Racing Association circuit when the Long Island facility reopens in 2026, NYRA announced Monday. The change will result in approximately three months of racing exclusively on an all-weather surface with the shift from dirt to the all-weather in the winter months expected to enhance equine safety and provide additional opportunities for the circuit's year-round horse population for the benefit of the state's Thoroughbred racing ecosystem. "At its core, our...

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...