Connections in New Mexico could be looking at additional per-start fees in 2023, with some estimates as high as $300 per starter in order to offset the state's portion of the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority's annual budget. During a presentation at a regularly-scheduled meeting of the New Mexico Horse Racing Commission on Thursday, executive director Izzy Trejo outlined the likely impact of the new federal authority to racing participants in the state.
The Authority distributed its projected 2023 budget to racing commissions earlier this week. The budget includes the cost of the existing track safety program, as well as all drug testing and legal expenses that will be managed through the Horseracing Integrity and Welfare Unit (HIWU) beginning Jan. 1. The budget also has a built-in cushion to help the Authority continue to fight the various federal legal challenges to its authority.
According to documents acquired by the Paulick Report, New Mexico's portion of the 2023 Authority budget comes to $1.7 million, based upon a formula combining purses and number of starts.
Along with their projected bill, each state was also given a rundown of the credits it could receive against that expense if it allows existing personnel like sample collectors and investigators to work with HIWU, thereby negating HIWU's need to hire people for those positions. In New Mexico's case, the state could get up to $700,000 in credits for allowing existing race day sample collectors to collect samples for HIWU and another $100,000 for utilizing that staff for out-of-competition testing.
If the state chooses not to take advantage of the credits and passes the total costs along to the racetracks, per-start expenses would be as follows: $248.82/start at Albuquerque, $202.30/start at Ruidoso, $283.38/start at SunRay, $298.25/start at Sunland, and $263.24 at Zia.
Currently, Trejo said, the per-start fee for the Authority at Zia is just $20, but that only covers the expense of the track safety program, not the anti-doping and medication program that will launch in 2023 via HIWU.
“This is not the New Mexico racing commission's idea,” said commissioner John Buffington. “This is something that was mandated at the federal level. I don't want to hear, 'Oh look what the racing commission did.' It's out of our control.”
Also at Thursday's meeting, commissioners voted unanimously to request a three-year exemption from the Authority for the upcoming ban of furosemide. If granted, the exemption would only apply to some races – exemptions are not available for furosemide use in stakes races (including state-bred races) or in 2-year-old races. Those rules would apply only to Thoroughbreds in New Mexico.
Citing concerns about high elevations and arid conditions in the state, Trejo said he wants to see more study done on the topic in the intervening three years.
Trejo also said that the Sunland Derby ran furosemide-free last year, and that will continue to be the case.
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