Lisa Lazarus

Attorney Drew Mollica understands that his client trainer Doug Nunn violated Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority (HISA) Rule 3313, which prohibits trainers from running a horse within 14 days of an intra-articular joint injection or working them within seven days of the injection. What he doesn't understand is why his client has been suspended while at least 15 other trainers have been let off the hook for the same violation. "This is the height of hypocrisy," Mollica said. "He has been victimized by a system that is flawed." On June...

Michael Lopez, senior director of Data and Analytics for the National Football League, will be the keynote speaker for the 71st Annual Round Table Conference on Matters Pertaining to Racing, The Jockey Club announced today. The conference will be held at the Saratoga Springs City Center in Saratoga Springs, New York, on Thursday, Aug. 3, at 10 a.m. ET. Chairman Stuart S. Janney III will preside over the conference and give insights on activities of The Jockey Club and the future of the sport. Lopez will discuss how data is...

The Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority (HISA) has temporarily suspended full enforcement of its rules surrounding intra-articular joint injections. Under HISA's rules as written, trainers are prohibited from giving their horse intra-articular joint injections within 14 days prior to the post-time of a race, and within seven days prior to any timed and reported workout. A violation of these rules could result in a 60-day suspension for the trainer. According to an announcement dated June 26, the prohibition of such injections within seven days prior to a workout shall be...

Hospital & Veterinary Management System (HVMS) has announced the launch of a software integration with the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority (HISA). HISA oversees national, uniform integrity and safety rules for Thoroughbred racing in the United States. In an effort to facilitate ease of reporting, HVMS has worked with HISA to create a software integration that will enhance workflow, reduce duplicate entry of records, and align data to make information flow easier and quicker. "The integration saves a significant amount of time in the HISA reporting requirements over doing reporting...

With the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority (HISA) having called a veterinary summit to try to get to the bottom of what is going on at Churchill Downs, where 12 horses have died since Apr. 27, HISA CEO Lisa Lazarus said Tuesday that she is hopeful some answers will emerge in the days ahead that will help explain the situation. In the meantime, though, she said her group is not ready to recommend that racing be halted at the home of the Kentucky Derby. "That is one of the things...

With the number of equine fatalities during the current spring meeting at Churchill Downs now up to 12, officials at the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority (HISA) are convening an 'emergency veterinary summit' to be held Tuesday, May 30, in Kentucky. "HISA's highest priority is the safety and well-being of the horses and riders competing under its jurisdiction," a HISA statement released Monday begins. "We remain deeply concerned by the unusually high number of equine fatalities at Churchill Downs over the last several weeks. We continue to seek answers, and...

The Jockeys' Guild and the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority (HISA) on Tuesday hosted a first-ever symposium at Keeneland in an effort to generate discussion on how the Thoroughbred industry can work together to advance the mental well-being of jockeys across the country. Retired NFL player Randy Grimes, who advocates for appropriate and accessible mental wellness and addiction-related resources for professional athletes, gave the keynote address, and retired jockey Eurico Rosa Da Silva, who penned the book "Riding for Freedom," also spoke on his lifelong struggles with mental wellness and...

After a series of false starts, the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act's (HISA) signature anti-doping and medication control (ADMC) program is now set to go into effect Monday. On Friday, TDN spoke with HISA CEO Lisa Lazarus on a variety of topics including the launch of HISA's signature drug control program, operational expenses, the Forte situation, Kentucky Derby week and Texas. The following is a very lightly edited version of that interview. TDN: Last week, the TDN published a story on the headwinds facing the Texas racing industry. In it,...

If proponents of the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act (HISA) get their wish, July 1 will be a day of cautious celebration-the law's first official birthday, and a time when its drug control program would also be more than a month old, barring any further last-minute legal interventions. In that event, most of the country will be operating under a federal racetrack safety and medication control framework for the first time in the sport's history. Texas almost certainly will not be in on the party. When HISA's racetrack safety program...

Lisa Lazarus, the CEO of the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority (HISA), has written an open letter to industry participants, addressing the measures HISA plans to implement in the wake of a spate of fatalities during the first week of the Churchill Downs meet leading up to and including Kentucky Derby day. The statement, in its entirety, reads: Fellow racing participants, I wanted to take a minute of your time to share an update on HISA's role related to the events of last week along with a perspective on what's...

The revamped Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act (HISA) statute that got signed into law back in December was judged to be constitutional late on Thursday by the Texas federal district judge handling the case on remand from the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. "Congress answered the call-identifying the three constitutional concerns that led the Fifth Circuit to hold HISA unconstitutional and rectifying each with the amendment," wrote United States District Court Judge James Wesley Hendrix in his May 4 order out of the Northern District of...

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) on Thursday issued what it called a "final rule" that pushes back the start date for the Horseracing Integrity and Safety (HISA) Authority's Anti-Doping and Medication Control (ADMC) program until May 22. The ADMC program had been expected to go into effect May 1 after twice having its start delayed this year. TDN had reported on Apr. 25 that this date change was in the pipeline. The switch was revealed when Tom Chuckas, the director of Thoroughbred horse racing for the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture,...