Louisiana Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association

A celebration of life is planned for longtime equine insurance agent Louis Joseph Smith Jr., who passed away Nov. 20 of last year in Ocala, Florida at the age of 77. The event will take place at Monmouth Park on Saturday, Aug. 17 and a race will be named in his honor. Smith was in the racing business for 36 years as an owner. He served as a valued insurance agent, safeguarding the well-being of the horses and providing peace of mind to his clients. A member of the Louisiana...

The recently amended federal lawsuit spearheaded by the state of Louisiana against the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act (HISA) Authority and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is facing a new challenge from the HISA Authority defendants, who filed a Mar. 6 motion to strike the latest version of the complaint based on allegations that the plaintiffs are "improperly" attempting to use federal rules of civil procedure to turn the case to their advantage. The chief beef in the HISA Authority's Mar. 6 "motion to strike" filed in U.S. District Court...

A panel of three judges from the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit issued a new, more fine-tuned order Monday in the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act Authority (HISA) lawsuit that narrows the scope of an "administrative stay" that same court had issued five days earlier. The Aug. 8 order now means that instead of the entire slate of HISA rules being re-activated in Louisiana and West Virginia (as per the Aug. 3 Appeals Court order that trumped a preliminary injunction issued July 26 by a lower...

After receiving back-and-forth written briefs from both parties on whether or not to impose a preliminary injunction that would halt the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act (HISA) Authority's rules until a lawsuit challenging them gets decided in full, the judge in charge of the case on Friday denied a request by the plaintiffs to hold a potentially lengthy in-person hearing to debate the issue any further. The plaintiffs, led by the states of Louisiana and West Virginia, plus the Jockeys' Guild and various Louisiana-based "covered persons" under HISA rules, had...

The states of Louisiana and West Virginia are at the forefront of a new federal lawsuit filed late Wednesday that seeks to block the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act (HISA) from going into effect when the clock strikes midnight on Friday. The defendants, who consist of the HISA Authority, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), and board members and overseers of both entities, have allegedly violated the Fourth, Seventh and Tenth Amendments to the United States Constitution, plus the Administrative Procedure Act (APA), which governs the process by which federal agencies...

A temporary restraining order issued Sep. 4 has blocked a Louisiana State Racing Commission (LSRC) mandate from taking effect that seeks to force the Fair Grounds to open its backstretch stabling to as many as 500 Thoroughbreds displaced by Hurricane Laura in the last week of August. An Orleans Parish Civil District Court judge is now expected to rule on the injunction after a Sep. 11 hearing. The news site Crescent City Sports first reported on the 57-page request for injunction filed by attorneys for the Fair Grounds, which is...