The University of Louisville Equine Industry Program will formally launch the ARCI Racing Investigator Certificate Program online October 5-6, 2020. Registration is now open at https://louisville.edu/business/payments/equine. There is an $80 fee to defray university costs associated with offering the program.
The program, an initiative of the Association of Racing Commissioners International (ARCI), is the first of its kind and has applicability to all existing and aspiring horse racing investigators.
“The job of a racing investigator is a specialty involving knowledge not only of police procedures concerning interrogation and evidence gathering but also of horseracing, the backstretch, and the horses themselves,” said RCI Chair Tom Sage of Nebraska, a former longtime law enforcement officer and racing investigator and past-Chair of the Organization of Racing Investigators.
The initial program will last two days and be conducted online by the UofL Equine Industry Program. Additional programs may be conducted in person and the ARCI is committed to working with both the University of Louisville's Equine Industry Program and the University of Arizona's Racetrack Industry Program.
Those participating in the program will be deemed certified after passing an examination. The RCI encourages commissions and racetracks to phase in a requirement for a current Racing Investigator Certificate as a requirement for employment.
RCI President, Ed Martin, who formerly served as the New York regulator responsible for some of racing's most notable investigations – Breeders' Cup Pick 6 Wagering Scandal, the NYRA Mutuel Department fraud conspiracy, OTB mismanagement, Yonkers Raceway drug search lockdown – noted that “proactive investigators will develop intelligence networks and not be hesitant to dig deep into any situation where things do not seem as they should.”
“There is a tremendous amount of expertise and experience that is required to do this job properly,” he said, noting the work of the NY Gaming Commission in its effective records audit investigation and prosecution of a horse trainer who was circumventing the drug rules and testing lab and the work of the Louisiana, Oklahoma, and Nebraska commissions initiating a successful federal prosecution of illegal drug compounding used to facilitate horse doping.
The curricula for the program will focus on basic horsemanship skills, safety procedures in the barn or paddock areas, racing terminology, overview of officials and their duties, creating the condition book and drawing for the race as well as what is involved in preparing a horse for a racing career. Equine care and medications, vet records, investigatory tools and techniques, interactions with other enforcement entities, evidence gathering, and ways cheaters attempt to avoid detection will also be addressed.
“The University of Louisville is excited for its collaborative work with the ARCI to bring this certification program to fruition, said Sean Beirne, Director of the UofL Equine Industry Program. “It is an important aspect of our mission to educate the professionals in the horse racing industry, to build on their knowledge, and provide resources to enhance and develop the methodology to create standards for the execution of their duties,” Beirne added.
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