ARCI | Horse Racing Free Tips

New ARCI Chair Calls For Unity And Suggests HISA Reform

Commissioner Doug Moore, the new Chair of the Association of Racing Commissioners International, made inaugural remarks Monday. Per a release from the ARCI, Moore called for unity amongst the racing industry along with reforms to HISA.

Speaking about how penalties are assessed, Moore noted: “Previously, these fines varied from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, creating an illusion of inconsistent application of the rules. But the fact of the matter is that uniform fines are anything but uniform. Fines were and need to be assessed based on the financial structure of individual tracks. An equal fine assessed to a trainer at a track running for a purse structure of up to $500,000 per day is not the same as one given to a trainer racing where the daily purses are $100,000 per day.”

Moore's full remarks can be viewed on the ARCI website.

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ARCI Meeting To Tackle Evolving, Unsettled Issues In Racing

Edited Press Release

The Annual Meeting of the Association of Racing Commissioners International (ARCI) convened Wednesday in Columbus, Ohio, in the midst of an evolving regulatory structure for Thoroughbred racing and great uncertainty for what the future may hold.

Outgoing Chair Tom Sage, the retiring Executive Director of the Nebraska Racing and Gaming Commission, gaveled the meeting to order saying, “One thing is certain, change is inevitable. Whether the change is good or not so good, we shall see. Regardless, the agencies that regulate this sport will adapt and continue to be independent voices for animal welfare and integrity in sport.”

A packed agenda will focus discussions on equine welfare and the work of the AAEP Racing Committee as well as HISA's racetrack safety program and what Dr. Sue Stover is learning from the data HISA collects. There will also be panels on challenges facing the testing labs, racing investigators, as well as the pressing need for equine aftercare.

The economic future of racing will be discussed in the context of a panel that will focus on how racing might benefit from the growth of sports betting. Projects currently in the works as well as ideas not yet tried will be discussed.

The attendees will be asked to explore the two distinctly different worlds of anti-doping in sport, those sports where Therapeutic Use Exemptions allow athletes to train and compete after being administered a medication that ARCI Model Rules (and the new HISA rules) do not allow and horse racing which does not permit TUE's.

“Human sports have decided that certain administrations are necessary to safeguard the health of their athletes with a documented medical need,” ARCI President Ed Martin explained. “Those betting and participating in those sports are just as sensitive as to how they perform in competition as those in horseracing are. They claim these drugs, although they can affect performance, do not permit the athlete to perform beyond their natural ability.

“We have never discussed this topic and nothing is being proposed, but in an environment where our primary focus is on the health of our horses, are there issues here that we collectively have never considered?” he explained.

The ARCI will also elect Board Members for the coming year and Commissioner Doug Moore of Washington will assume the Chairmanship of the Association on Friday. The newly formed Board will also elect a Chair-elect who will automatically become Chair next year.

More information on the meeting can be found at the ARCI website.

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Tom Sage Executive Director Of The Nebraska Racing And Gaming Commission To Retire

Tom Sage, the executive director of the Nebraska Racing and Gaming Commission, will retire Mar. 12, the organization said in a statement which was first reported on Friday by the Lincoln Journal Star.

As the executive director of the Nebraska Racing Commission since 2008, Sage added oversight of casino gambling after voters approved a petition to allow casinos at the state's horse racing tracks in November 2020. He oversaw a staff that began with a single member to now having over two dozen employees.

Sage's career in horse racing began as a security officer in 1988 at Omaha's Ak-Sar-Ben Racetrack. He graduated in 1991 from the University of Nebraska at Omaha with a B.S. in criminal justice and started as an investigator for the Nebraska Racing Commission in 1993.

After graduating in 1995 from the Nebraska Law Enforcement Training Center, Sage became the commission's director of investigations in 2003. He was an instrumental board member for the Organization of Racing Investigators and currently is serving out his term as the chairman of the board of the Association of Racing Commissioners International.

In the Lincoln Journal Star article, Nebraska commissioner Tony Fulton called Sage a “good man” who is hard-working and diligent, and took on the task of regulating casino gambling in the state with vigor.

“This has been a very heavy lift, and he's done an admirable job,” Fulton said.

The commission also voted Friday to make Casey Ricketts, its current director of compliance, the interim executive director.

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2024 ARCI Annual Meeting and Conference Registration Open

The Animal Welfare and Horseracing Integrity Conference of the Association of Racing Commissioners International Inc. (ARCI), which brings together all the senior regulatory personnel in North America and the Caribbean, has opened registration for the annual event to be held in Columbus, Ohio Mar. 6-8, the organization said in a release Wednesday.

The 2024 Conference is being held immediately prior to the annual meeting of the United States Trotting Association (USTA) and offers a unique opportunity to interact with the leaders of US Standardbred Racing on the final day where existing approaches to policymaking, anti-doping, and equine health will be reexamined.

Regulatory Members of the ARCI will update Model Rules and Drug Classification documents and elect at-large members of the association's board of directors at the annual business meeting.

Click here for more information on registration and here for the event itinerary.

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