Mandy Minger

On the heels of a clean Triple Crown season, the first quarter of 2024 (Jan. 1-Mar. 31) witnessed an approximate 38% decrease in racing-related fatalities year-over-year, according to a new Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority (HISA) metrics report, which the organization released on Wednesday. The reduction by over a third took place at racetracks operating under HISA's rules. During this year's first quarter, tracks reported 0.84 racing-related equine fatalities per 1,000 starts, compared to 1.35 racing-related equine fatalities per 1,000 starts in the first quarter of 2023. Excluding Rillito Park...

Following a recommendation from its Furosemide Advisory Committee (FAC), the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority's Board of Directors approved $773,500 in grant funding for three scientific studies on the use of furosemide (also known as "Lasix") to be conducted over the next two years by the Nationwide Children's Hospital, the University of Florida College of Veterinary Medicine and Washington State University, HISA said in a Wednesday release. The studies will examine the 48-hour period before the start of a Covered Horserace, including the effects of furosemide on equine health and...

The Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority (HISA) has released its proposed budget for 2024, totaling $80.96 million, including $38.7 million earmarked for the Horseracing Integrity and Welfare Unit (HIWU), the drug testing arm of the federal program. The total fee assessments for the states and racetracks come out to $78.5 million, but available credits potentially bring that number down to $59.8 million. HISA's 2023 total budget was initially set at $72.5 million. That number was subsequently revised down to $66.4 million earlier this year. The proposed 2024 budget was issued...

The opening months of 2019 were still fresh in California lawmakers' minds when they passed a bill that summer giving the California Horse Racing Board (CHRB) emergency authority to suspend racing at a track without the hitherto required 10-day public notice period. The precipitating event, of course, was the spate of equine fatalities that had covered Santa Anita, and the racing industry in general, under a pall of public condemnation--the exact same kind of scrutiny Churchill Downs has faced these past few weeks, culminating with the announced switch of racing...

On Thursday, Jun. 8, the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority (HISA) CEO Lisa Lazarus and Horseracing Integrity & Welfare Unit (HIWU) Executive Director Ben Mosier will host a media roundtable at Belmont Park to discuss the ongoing implementation of HISA's Racetrack Safety and Anti-Doping and Medication Control (ADMC) Programs. The G1 Belmont Stakes will be the first Triple Crown race run under HISA's ADMC Program, which took effect on May 22. The round table discussion will take place in the Belmont Room located on the second floor of the clubhouse...

by Sue Finley and T. D. Thornton This story has been updated. The Fifth Circuit United States Court of Appeals on Tuesday denied a motion by the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act (HISA) Authority for that court to vacate its recent opinion that HISA is unconstitutional. Back on Jan. 3, the HISA Authority had asked for the Fifth Circuit's Nov. 18, 2022, anti-constitutionality order to be vacated based on a federal rewrite of the HISA law in December. Also on Tuesday, separate motions for a rehearing of the case made...

With Congress passing a short-term bill to fund the government for a matter of days, efforts to include in the full-year omnibus spending bill a legislative fix to the constitutional problems dogging the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act (HISA) is coming down to the crunch, Friday of next week the deadline to pass such a bill before the make-up of Congress changes shape next year. So, where does this all leave HISA? The answer resembles a puzzle box shaken onto the floor, with HISA offering limited direction as to how...