Report: HISA May Be Considering A Rule That Allows It To Suspend Racing In An Emergency

The Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority has faced a few tests of its teeth in its first months of racetrack safety regulation, between a lack of compliance on rules in Arizona and the recent, highly-publicized spate of fatalities at the Churchill Downs spring meet.

Up until now, the Thoroughbred Daily News notes, the Authority's response to violations of its racetrack safety rules has largely been a threat to stop the export of a simulcast signal from a track that isn't compliant. The Authority's Lisa Lazarus told reporters last week the group could recommend a track suspend live racing in the midst of a safety crisis like Churchill Downs is experiencing, but it could only shut down simulcast export if there was evidence of a safety rule violation.

Now, at the urging of some of racing's stakeholder groups, the TDN reports that the Authority may be considering rule language that would give it the ability to suspend racing at a facility in the midst of a safety crisis by removing its status as an “accredited” track.

It remains unclear what the parameters could be for such a decision, however. In the wake of the 2019 fatality spike at Santa Anita, the California Horse Racing Board made a rule allowing it to suspend racing without the required public notice period in the event of a safety emergency. The prospect of such a rule becomes more complex in situations like Churchill's, where there is hitherto no commonality identified between the 12 horses who have died since late April in order to suggest areas of safety improvement.