On Nov. 15, officials with the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority, together with the Horseracing Integrity and Welfare Unit, hosted the second in a series of virtual town hall meetings designed to answer stakeholder questions about the organizations' programs.
HISA is the national regulatory authority created by federal legislation to oversee safety and welfare rule-making. HIWU is the independent body housed under Drug Free Sport International which was appointed by HISA to collect samples, get those samples tested, and adjudicate any positive findings. HIWU began testing post-race and out-of-competition test (OOCT) samples just before this year's Belmont Stakes. HISA's safety and welfare regulations went into place in July 2022.
Here are a few takeaways:
–There have been 26 cases of atypical findings, which is the term used for tests showing substances that are suspected to be the result of environmental contamination. Atypical findings are not reported publicly on the HIWU website. Of those, 15 cases are resolved with the other 11 still in process. Fourteen of the 15 were dismissed as the result of environmental contamination and considered negative tests. One was pursued as an adverse finding.
–HIWU has tested around 42,000 horses with 11 findings for human drugs of abuse.
“I know people are frightened that may happen, but you have to understand that's .26 of a percent,” said HISA CEO Lisa Lazarus.
It's difficult to compare the rate of positive findings under HIWU with the rate under the previous state system because the testing parameters weren't uniform previously, and because states had different definitions of what substances were considered controlled or banned as compared to HISA/HIWU.
We do know that roughly a third of the positive tests under HIWU have been for banned substances.
–Dr. Mary Scollay, chief of science for HIWU, said the first few months of the program have revealed to her that the previous system was light and inconsistent on out-of-competition testing, which is supposed to become more common and standardized under HIWU.
“Clearly there were states that weren't performing OOCT … there were other states that said they were doing OOCT and what they were doing was sampling horses on the way to the paddock for a stakes race,” said Scollay. “I think we can say we're confident our program represents an equitable program across jurisdictions.”
–The recent 60 Minutes feature on doping and safety in horse racing was brought up by more than one attendee. Lazarus was interviewed on camera for the segment, which was 13 minutes long.
Lazarus said that behind the scenes, the interview ran for two hours during which time she pointed out the positive steps the sport has made in safety and medication regulation and praised the many trainers who have been successfully following the rules.
“They didn't choose to report any of that,” she said.
Although HISA/HIWU are not charged, per the law creating them, with doing anything resembling public relations or media relations on behalf of the industry, officials said they do reach out to mainstream media to request corrections when they see a factual inaccuracy that overlaps with their regulation – like the 60 Minutes report referring to betamethasone as a “banned” substance when it is in fact a restricted therapeutic. Lazarus noted she thinks trade media have correctly made the distinction between the two types of violations in the course of their reporting.
–One attendee asked why possession of a container of a substance was against HISA/HIWU rules if no horses have tested positive for the substance inside. Officials reminded attendees that all substances that lack approval from the Food and Drug Administration are considered illegal under HISA rules. (They were also illegal in some states under previous regulation.) That applies not just to drug tests but to possession, because investigators don't know which horses may have gotten a substance when, or how readily it may be tested.
“We can't test every horse every day,” said Ben Mosier, executive director of HIWU, which is tasked by HISA with organizing the collection and testing of samples.
Scollay pointed out that both organizations have reiterated to licensees that this restriction on use and possession was coming up and encouraged everyone to clean out their tack rooms of any items that would fall outside the regulations – including Thyro-L, which has been cited in a number of HIWU violations thus far and which is not FDA-approved.
Lazarus said that if you're charged with possession of a non-FDA-approved drug, you can get a six-month reduction in your sentence by accepting the sanction, or you may be able to get a greater reduction if you provide an explanation to the organization and work towards a settlement. Once the process goes to an arbitrator however, HISA/HIWU can no longer advocate for a reduced sentence.
Finally, Scollay emphasized that the restriction to FDA-approved products is designed to protect not only horses, but horsemen from adulterated product. Several illegal products have been seized and tested by the organization and multiple products were found to contain restricted ingredients that weren't listed on their labeling. One contained a banned substance which was missing from its label.
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