The Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority is moving quickly to meet several deadlines before its federally mandated July 1, 2022, starting date to become the national regulatory agency for anti-doping and medication control for Thoroughbred racing in the United States.
Earlier this week, in consultation with the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, led by CEO Travis Tygart and Dr. Tessa Muir, USADA's director of equine science, HISA published a draft set of definitions, medication protocols and a list of prohibited medications.
The public has an opportunity to comment and offer feedback on those proposed rules before they go to the Federal Trade Commission next month for a second round of public comment and eventual approval by the FTC.
It's clear, from the proposed rules and comments by Tygart and Muir in a series of media interviews, that racing is in for some significant changes.
Gone will be the good old boy community of racing commissioners with conflicts of interest involving some of the people they are regulating. It is hoped the cavalcade of attorneys appealing fines, suspensions and disqualifications on behalf of trainers will grind to a halt as well, with strict, understandable and loophole-free regulations in place when the transition to the Authority occurs next July.
But first, some caveats.
USADA has yet to sign a contract with the Authority as the enforcement agency for when HISA goes into effect. Tygart and Muir have been instrumental in meeting with HISA committees and staff in developing the rules, and Tygart said USADA is ready to become the enforcement agency IF the final regulations approved by the FTC are “good rules that we can stand by.”
In other words, Tygart is not going to risk USADA's brand or his own good name on a mission if it is hijacked by people who are successful in watering down the rules.
There are also the lawsuits by horsemen's organizations in opposition to the federal legislation that created the Authority. These have yet to be resolved in court. Tygart calls them obstructionists who hope to delay implementation and cause the Authority to burn through limited financial resources.
“We fully anticipate those groups or individuals who have always been opposed to a new uniform policy being in place and independent, robust enforcement of those policies, that they're going to continue to try and obstruct it at every turn,” Tygart said.
If the legal challenges are defeated and USADA becomes the enforcement agency, this will be a different, cleaner game played on a more level field.
For starters, no medications will be permitted by statute for 48 hours prior to race day. A robust out-of-competition testing program will be phased in with “whereabouts” requirements for all horses registered with the Authority. That means if horses are removed from a racetrack stable area, a trainer must notify the Authority where that horse is going so that out of competition testing can be conducted. Violations of the whereabouts rule will be dealt with severely.
So will positive tests for prohibited substances that are now dealt with in many states with a slap on the wrist. For example, primary substances – those that should not be in a horse's system at any time – found in post-race or out-of-competition samples may result in suspensions of up to two years. Included in that group are anabolic steroids, blood-doping agents and clenbuterol.
Non-steroidal anti-inflammatories would fall under secondary substance rules that can be met with a 30-day suspension and fine. However, trainers who pick up four of those violations over a five-year period may be suspended up to two years.
And any positive drug test will result in automatic disqualification of that horse from a race.
“For the integrity of racing from the results standpoint, the disqualification of the horse is automatic,” said Muir. “We would take into consideration any mitigating circumstances, with respect to the fine or suspension.”
The days of Bute overages being looked upon as minor violations akin to a parking ticket will be over. Trainers who have been willing to take an edge or have sloppy medication oversight will need to clean up their acts.
A key element of HISA's anti-doping program will be intelligence and investigations that result in “non-analytical” cases where the evidence is something other than a positive drug test.
“The Navarro indictment showed that they were using things they know or believe not to be detectable by current testing methods,” Tygart said. “So if you say you have to have a positive test to be held accountable, you've just given a license to people to go use things there aren't tests for, because science is limited to a certain extent.”
Tygart and Muir both believe whistleblowers will be an important part of the program and said USADA has been receiving tips on wrongdoing for several years since the agency was first mentioned as part of the federal legislation. The draft regulations include language protecting whistleblowers and charging anyone who intimidates a whistleblower.
“The principle there is it takes a community of people who benefit from having good rules that protect their rights,” Tygart said. “Hopefully they will trust whoever the enforcement agency is. If it's us, we will work hard to gain that trust like we have in our human sports to bring forward information and then act appropriately based on that information.”
Long delays in the resolution of cases is another problem the current system has permitted through appeals to the commission and the civil courts. Under HISA, all “covered persons” (including trainers) will need to register with the Authority and in so doing agree to the rules, including an arbitration process that Tygart said has worked well with human athletes. USADA enforces medication rules for Olympic athletes and UFC fighters, among others.
“There are so many loopholes in how the current system works and (trainers and their attorneys) can win,” Tygart said. “Part of this process is to shut the legal, technical loopholes that people can exploit. My guess is a lot of the defense counsels out there who have made a living out of trying those cases are going to be frustrated because they are not going to win many cases, as they shouldn't. Justice should be served, and we don't look at that as a win or a loss.”
As such, under the proposed rules, if a trainer and USADA do not come to a mutual agreement on a resolution and sanctions for any violations, the case goes to an impartial arbitrator or independent steward panel, to determine an outcome.
“We resolve 95% or more of our cases in the human program (without going to arbitration),” Tygart said. “That's historically true because people know that if you break the rule, we're going to be fair in the ultimate consequence and take into consideration the individual facts to get to a fair outcome. People recognize that if you do something wrong, the best thing that you can do, honestly, is to take responsibility for it and not waste your time or their time to get to the inevitable. … People are willing to forgive and move on. What people don't like is those who make excuses or continue to lie or try to cover up their doping, and I think that principle will play very well here because the rules are not going to allow people to exploit them in the way they are currently being exploited.”
Tygart added, “When you sign up to be a 'covered person,' you agree to the rules of the game. If you don't like the rules, you don't have to play.”
Racing has needed a new sheriff for some time. It may finally have found one.
That's my view from the eighth pole
The post View From the Eighth Pole: A New Sheriff In Town? appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.
