Tom Sage

Tom Sage, the executive director of the Nebraska Racing and Gaming Commission, will retire Mar. 12, the organization said in a statement which was first reported on Friday by the Lincoln Journal Star. As the executive director of the Nebraska Racing Commission since 2008, Sage added oversight of casino gambling after voters approved a petition to allow casinos at the state's horse racing tracks in November 2020. He oversaw a staff that began with a single member to now having over two dozen employees. Sage's career in horse racing began...

Brett Bonin, the chief prosecutor for the Louisiana Racing Commission and Assistant Attorney, has been named the new Chair of the Association of Racing Commissioners International (ARCI) Regulatory Attorneys Committee. Bonin was previously an attorney with the Louisiana Office of Alcohol and Tobacco Control. "Bonin is known as a tough and unyielding advocate in court and previously served in private practice before becoming an Assistant Attorney General in Louisiana," said ARCI Chair Tom Sage of Nebraska. Sage also said that Bonin has never lost a doping prosecution and is "extremely...

Dr. John Chancey will lead the Association of Racing Commissioners International (ARCI) Drug Testing Standards and Practices Committee as the new Chair, according to a release from the organization. Chancey is a long-time regulatory veterinarian and is currently the Executive Director of the Oklahoma Horse Racing Commission. Chancey replaces Duncan Patterson, the Chair of the Delaware Thoroughbred Racing Commission, who will now lead the ARCI Continuing Education Committee. "Duncan has been a great steward for the Association, but the time has come to put a veterinarian in charge of this...

The Nebraska Racing and Gaming Commission's executive director, Tom Sage, has been appointed the repeat chairman of the Association of Racing Commissioners International (ARCI). Sage first served as chairman in 2020. The ARCI chairs generally serve one-year terms, but Sage was awarded a subsequent term due to the effects of COVID-19 on the industry and returns again for the coming year. The current outgoing ARCI chair is Louisiana Racing Commission executive director Charles Gardiner III. The new chair-elect is Doug Moore, who was appointed to the Washington Horse Racing Commission's...

Jockeys will be prohibited from using the riding crop more than two consecutive times before being required to wait three full strides in order to give the horse a chance to respond under an expanded Model crop Rule adopted by the Association of Racing Commissioners International (ARCI) last week. The modified rule tightens restrictions already in place but clearly says that any use of the crop to "urge" the horse must be limited. The new RCI Model Rule continues to rely upon the judgement of the Stewards as to when...

Tom Sage, who began his career in horse racing as a security officer at Ak-sar-ben Racetrack in 1988, has been named chairman of the Association of Racing Commissions International. Sage graduated from the University of Nebraska at Omaha with a bachelor's of science in criminal justice in 1991 and began working for the Nebraska Racing Commission in 1993 as an investigator. He was promoted to director of investigations in 2003 and was appointed as the executive director of the racing commission in 2008. Sage is on the ARCI board of...