Lone Star Park's plans to resume interstate simulcasting with the opening of its 44-date season Thursday night were dealt a blow after a federal judge ruled against the Grand Prairie, Texas, track's request for a temporary restraining order that would have enjoined the federal law creating the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority from being enforced.
Officials at Lone Star Park planned to send their simulcast signal to out-of-state locations on Thursday after getting approval from the Texas Racing Commission, which has taken the position that state law takes precedent over the federal law passed by Congress in December 2020 and amended in December 2022. The law, the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act, requires Thoroughbred racetracks engaging in interstate simulcasting to comply with HISA regulations. The Texas Racing Commission said the state constitution requires TRC to regulate horse racing in the state.
Matt Vance, executive vice president of Lone Star, told Daily Racing Form track owner Global Gaming Solutions LLC – a division of the Chickasaw Nation – filed a motion for a temporary restraining order (TRO) in federal court “to ensure that our signal is not interrupted this season.”
The TRO motion was filed in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas, Amarillo Division, but Judge Matthew J. Kacsmaryk (who has been in the news recently for his ruling halting approval for an abortion pill) ordered the case transferred to the court's Lubbock Division, where Global Gaming and three other track owners filed a suit challenging HISA's authority in 2022.
On Monday, Judge James Wesley Hendrix – who last week ordered a 30-day delay in the startup of HISA's Anti-Doping and Medication Control program in response to a separate lawsuit – denied Lone Star's application for a TRO that would have green-lighted simulcasting.
In his order, Hendrix stated several reasons for denying the TRO, not the least of which was the fact an amended complaint filed by Global Gaming that would have added the Texas Horsemen's Partnership as a plaintiff did not meet the timeline required by the Federal Rule of Civil Procedure. With no horsemen included as parties to the litigation, many of the perceived damages claimed by Global Gaming were moot.
Hendrix also said plaintiffs have “not shown a substantial likelihood of success on the merits” of their lawsuit and that they have “not established irreparable harm” in the event HISA rules and financial requirements were to be imposed on Texas racing.
Injunctive relief sought by plaintiffs was also denied by Hendrix, whose ruling in support of HISA's constitutionality in a separate lawsuit was overturned by the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, which remanded the case back to his courtroom. In his ruling denying the TRO, Hendrix wrote that plaintiffs “will get a chance to fully develop the complex, constitutional issues in this case because the Court intends to expedite the pending motion for summary judgment.”
The Texas Racing Commission also granted approval to Sam Houston Race Park to export their simulcast signal earlier this year, but the owners of the Houston track – publicly traded Penn Entertainment – opted to wait for additional clarification of HISA's constitutionality.
Lone Star Park suffered a precipitous decline in handle after having to shut down its interstate simulcast signal last July when HISA's racetrack safety program went into effect. Handle also declined without interstate simulcasting during Sam Houston's meet earlier this year.
Vance or other Lone Star Park officials could not be reached for comment concerning their plans in the wake of the court ruling denying a TRO.
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