Already delayed one month by a court order, the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority's Anti-Doping and Medication Control program will not launch until May 22, according to information provided on Tuesday to the Pennsylvania State Horse Racing Commission by Tom Chuckas, the regulatory agency's Thoroughbred bureau director.
Chuckas told commissioners during a regularly scheduled meeting that the program is being delayed from May 1 in part because of the Triple Crown, which gets under way on May 6 with the Kentucky Derby and continues with the Preakness Stakes on May 20. The third leg of the Triple Crown, the Belmont Stakes, is run on June 10.
Chuckas said he was notified of the delay by an individual associated with the Horseracing Integrity and Welfare Unit, a newly formed division of Drug Free Sport International contracted by HISA to administer its regulations and enforcement rules. The comment was made as part of Chuckas' update to the Pennsylvania commission on HISA and HIWU activities.
HISA's communication office did not respond to a request from Paulick Report seeking confirmation of the new startup date.
This would mark the fourth delay of the Anti-Doping and Medication Control program, which was originally expected to launch alongside HISA's racetrack safety program on July 1, 2022, based on the federal law creating the Authority. That date proved unrealistic because of the volume of regulations that needed to be proposed to and adopted by the Federal Trade Commission, which oversees the Authority.
A second projected launch date of Jan. 1, 2023, was delayed by the FTC, which did not approve HISA regulations because of legal uncertainties after the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals found the enabling legislation unconstitutional. After a second court of appeals, the Sixth Circuit, ruled in favor of HISA's constitutionality based on an amendment passed by Congress in late December 2022, the FTC eventually approved the regulations and the ADMC program went into effect March 27. That only last four days when a federal judge ordered a 30-day delay, until May 1, because the FTC failed to follow certain administrative procedures.
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