As the national ombudsman, which is modeled after the World Anti-Doping Agency's Ombuds Program, Foreman's responsibilities include:

Serving as an impartial and unbiased resource for Covered Persons and other Thoroughbred industry constituents to provide confidential advice and assistance at no cost to them in relation to the ADMC Program and the Racetrack Safety Program, including with respect to the rights and obligations of Covered Persons under both Programs.

Accepting feedback and comments from Covered Persons and other Thoroughbred industry constituents with respect to the rules comprising both Programs and communicating such feedback and comments to HISA and/or HIWU.

Providing advice to HISA and HIWU about the content and interpretation of the rules comprising both Programs.

In addition to Foreman's current position with the THA, which he is maintaining, Foreman is recognized as one of the leading racing law and equine attorneys in the United States, with expertise in medication, drug testing, equine safety, and welfare. His law practice encompasses all aspects of equine and horse racing law, and he is counsel to many horsemen's and racing industry organizations, including the Maryland Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association, New York Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association, Pennsylvania Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association, National Steeplechase Association, and the United States Equestrian Federation Drugs and Medications Program. He is co-vice chair of the Racing Medication & Testing Consortium. He chairs the Mid-Atlantic Strategic Plan to Reduce Equine Fatalities, co-authored the widely respected New York Task Force Report on Racehorse Health and Safety, and was recently named by Maryland Governor Wes Moore to the newly created Maryland Thoroughbred Racetrack Operating Authority.

Foreman has informed HISA and HIWU that he will donate all compensation paid to him by both groups in connection with his duties as ombudsman to the Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance.

“HISA's commitment to fairness in racing includes ensuring every horseman is fully aware of our rules and processes,” said HISA Chief Executive Officer Lisa Lazarus. “I am grateful that Alan is assisting HISA and HIWU to help educate racing participants and listen and learn from them as we work together to implement HISA's regulations as evenly and effectively as possible.”

“The new ombudsman position will assist horsemen and other Covered Persons with navigating the ADMC rules, thus enhancing understanding and facilitating compliance under the ADMC Program,” said Ben Mosier, executive director of HIWU. “Alan's extensive experience in horse racing law, combined with a thorough understanding of HISA's rules, make him the ideal industry representative to take on this role.”

“I applaud HISA and HIWU for creating this important position and am honored that they have asked me to serve. It is vital for all Covered Persons and organizations to have a trusted advocate and resource for them in this new system, and I will do my best to be fair, objective, effective and meaningful. I hope this position helps to smooth the transition to our new regulatory system,” said Foreman.

Industry participants interested in utilizing the ombudsman service should reach out to Foreman via email or by phone at (410) 336-0525.

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Patrick Cummings, the moderator of the panel on CAWs, is the Executive Director of the Thoroughbred Idea Foundation, a racing-industry think tank. Cummings took the panel through a brief history of parimutuel wagering and the changes the industry has seen before landing at the crux of the subject matter: CAWs.

“The CAWs are individuals with well-resourced staffs, developing couture models assessing vast amounts of data,” said Cummings. “They deploy finely-honed algorithms to efficiently place bets, often at the last possible second, all while receiving significant rebates for their play.”

The rebates, he said, while sizeable, were only one of the challenges that CAWs present to racing. The other is their ability to bet large amounts of money at the last possible second before the race, which gives them an advantage over regular players.

Pat Cummings | Skip Dickstein

“In pari-mutuel wagering, betting late has always been beneficial,” Cummings said. “But, when all betting was done on-track, betting late came with the risk you might not get your bet down at all.

“That's not a concern now, especially for the CAWs, who've been given the ability to place batch bets, dumping vast amounts in the final cycle of betting. The impact of that is witnessed every day, in nearly every race and across almost every pool.”

That impact, he said, has led us to where we are now: CAWs have grown from 8% of total handle in 2003 to around 33% of handle today. At the same time, when adjusted for inflation, non-CAW wagering is down by nearly two-thirds over the same time period. That's a concern because the money returned to racing in the form of purses is much greater from normal bettors than from those receiving huge rebates. So while handle may be up, “the greatest source of growth has been a handful of high-frequency bettors,” who pay less back into the system.

“How the evolution of CAWs is managed and how we support the existing customers we still have might be key to the future of wagering on racing in today's tech-forward world–one with unfathomable processing power, machine-learning, AI and more,” Cummings said.

Cummings led a Q-and-A session with Joe Longo, the General Manager of Content Managing Solutions for NYRA, which owns an ownership stake in the Elite Turf Club, one of the largest computer syndicate operations; and Dr. Marshall Gramm, a horse owner and professor at Rhodes College.

Gramm said he had written models with partners based on statistical probabilities. He started receiving rebates in 2011, and said that doing so not only allowed him to turn a profit, but to increase his handle enormously, from $49,000 in 2010 to $25 million in 2015. He has gone on to be a major racehorse owner, with 116 horses he now owns alone or in partnerships.

Gramm said that some in the industry have come to believe that rebates are all negative, but that his churn had increased exponentially because of it.

Love it or hate it, though, CAWs are here to stay, said Gramm.

“There's no walking back from it,” he said. “The computers aren't going away. You can't step back in time.”

Neither panelist addressed the issue that Cummings talked about in his introduction and that was covered in Jerry Brown's TDN op/ed, Existential Crisis, that because in parimutuel markets, players are playing against one another, regular people are effectively paying more, and leaving the game.

Longo discussed how NYRA has become the only racing organization to ban CAW bettors in the win pool within two minutes to post in order to negate the late odds fluctuations which have become so frustrating to horseplayers. Longo said that while no other organization had followed that lead, he felt that others eventually would.

HISA Panel Discusses Adjustments to New Rules

Trainers Jena Antonucci and Ron Moquett served as panelists, along with Ben Mosier, Executive Director of the Horseracing Integrity and Welfare Unit (HIWU), and HISA's Lisa Lazarus on a Q-and-A panel moderated by Jim Gagliano, the President and COO of The Jockey Club, on how trainers were adjusting to the new HISA regulations.

Gagliano asked the two trainers how their life had changed under HISA.

Trainer Jena Antonucci | Skip Dickstein

Antonucci said that she was already running her business along the lines that HISA requires in terms of record-keeping, but acknowledged that that part of the business had been a learning curve for other horsemen. Moquett said that, “as a Thoroughbred trainer, there's a new set of rules to follow and we're going to adapt to those rules, but primarily, we keep the priority on the horse.”

Antonucci acknowledged that there were concerns and bumps in the road as the program has gotten underway, but urged people to come forward with those problems so that the solutions could be found. But the benefits, she said, were dramatic.

“I may be a minority in this thought,” she said, “but I find it has been the great equalizer. It isn't a secret that there is availability of different levels of pharmaceuticals on different levels. Really smart chemists, and people looking to gain an edge. So I feel the biggest benefit has been to probably the hardest hit of this industry, which is the middle and the smaller side, where it has allowed a level playing field and where that guy or gal who busts their butt 24/7 can walk into a race and not feel like they're going to watch another horse re-break at the top of the stretch. That their plied trade and their skill set will have an opportunity to shine, where that eight-percent trainer historically, where it looks like I can't train a racehorse? All of a sudden, he's winning more, or she's winning more, and it's not because we've done anything different in our practice. And you know what? What I do, I do darned well, and my horse–whether it's in the Grade I Belmont Stakes or a $12,500 maiden–is going to have the chance to march down that stretch and compete eye-to-eye with the horses next to them, and there's not a pharmaceutical in our way.”

The crowd gave her an ovation after the comment.

“There are a few parts of it that have been very challenging,” said Moquett. “You're dealing with a large group of people who are now just getting introduced to technology. I'm helping people who are sometimes my competitors try to understand and navigate the system.

“I wear a number of hats,” he said. “I train horses. I own horses. I'm a member of the HBPA, and I'm on the HISA Advisory Committee. I'm constantly a sounding board. People come to me and say this is unfair, and I come to [HISA]. It's new. There are going to be problems, and they're going to have to listen to horsemen. It doesn't matter how good [Lisa Lazarus] is at her job, we need the Bill Motts and the Steve Asmussens. My job is to say, `look, I understand what you're trying to do, but we need to do a better job of explaining to people what the differences are between accidental contamination, an overage of an allowed medication and someone trying to gain an edge.' I'm basically representing 4,500 people that have to go through every regulation that HISA believes is okay. So [Lazarus] and I will get together, we'll battle, and we'll come to a solution. I will say we don't always get along that great, but she has been very good about hearing me out.”

Lisa Lazarus said, “One of the things we heard a lot was that if the public hears that a trainer has a medication overage, they think that they're a cheater. That they don't understand the difference between true doping substances, and medications that are allowed, but just not on race day. And so, one of the things that the [AMDC] does is distinguish very clearly between allowed substances and banned substances.” Violations for each were very different, she explained. “We're there to protect the 99% of trainers who are competing cleanly, so that they get a fair race.”

Safety, and The Traceability of Thoroughbreds

Tracing what happens to a Thoroughbred when it leaves racing or breeding has long been a problem for the industry, an issue that Kristin Werner, the Senior Counsel for The Jockey Club, addressed in her report on Thoroughbred Safety.

“I am pleased to announce that the `Transferred as Retired from Racing' process has gone digital,” said Werner. “The permanent removal of a horse's eligibility to race is beneficial to the retiring racehorse, but the process requires thoughtfulness and transparency on the part of the seller and buyer to avoid contractual disputes or other disagreements. To that end, the previous process required a notarized signature and hard-copy form to retire a Thoroughbred from racing. With the assistance of digital signature verification, we are now able to confidently collect the required signatures through the Interactive Registration website, which will make the process easier for everyone involved.”

Kristin Werner | Skip Dickstein

Werner also reported that the ease of traceability is increasing due to the replacement of hard-copy certificates with digital ones starting with the foal crop of 2018. This, she said, “will allow The Jockey Club to follow up with the certificate manager to try to trace a Thoroughbred that has exited the racing or breeding population with an unknown outcome. When this system is in place in 2024, an automated prompt will be triggered when a horse has not been reported dead and has no racing activity, no breeding activity, and no Thoroughbred Incentive Program number for a specified time period. The communication will explain why the prompt was triggered and will ask the manager to indicate the horse's current status.”

For foals born in 2017 and prior that had made a start in the past 10 years, she said, The Jockey Club would be reaching out to the last connections to try to determine their status.

Werner also addressed racing's safety issues.

“In 2022, data analysis from the 14th year of reporting to the Equine Injury Database (EID) showed a decrease in the rate of fatal injury in 2022 to 1.25 fatalities per 1,000 starts,” said Werner. “This is the lowest cumulative fatality rate since the EID was launched in 2009, and is the fourth consecutive year that the rate has decreased. While 99.88% of Thoroughbred races were completed without a fatality last year, clusters like those that occurred in April and May of 2023, unfortunately, cast a shadow over the good news and bring equine fatalities back into the headlines of national media,” she said, referring to the fatalities during the week leading up to the Kentucky Derby.

Werner said that the advent of the EID had allowed them to identify 35% of the risk factors which put horses at increased risk for breakdown during the running of a race. Those factors include a horse's vet list history, the race distance, and the time a horse has spent with a trainer. Long races, and longer time with a horse's trainer make that horse statistically safer.

The Safety Committee is also calling for the dissemination of information regarding the consistency and maintenance of track surfaces. “The Thoroughbred Safety Committee today calls for that information to be frequently measured at periodic distances and made available to the public,” said Werner. “Working with other key industry stakeholders, especially the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority and the Racing Surfaces Testing Laboratory, The Jockey Club recommends exploring the best methods for providing the racing surface data to the horsemen and public, including through an app, website, or other electronic feed. As with all of its recommendations, The Jockey Club will help provide resources to ensure this recommendation is met.”

Analytics in Sport

Michael Lopez, the Director of Football Data and Analytics for the National Football League, is a Saratoga resident who used to teach at Skidmore College in town, and a long-time horse racing fan. He talked about how the NFL uses data to drive decision-making, and ways in which he felt horse racing could do the same.

Michael Lopez | Skip Dickstein

And while the sports are completely different, there were several interesting parallels.

Wearable technology has been an interesting new potential safety tool for horses, designed to measure things like their regular stride to detect any changes that might indicate a problem. The NFL is doing the same.

“Recently,” said Lopez, “all NFL players are now wearing RFID chips in their helmets, shoulder pads, and cleats, small enough so that the players don't feel them, but enough so that a signal is emitted each time they step onto the practice or game field. The burden is heavy–this data is messy and the tracking cumbersome–but the idea of a cleat specific to a running back on turf, or a helmet specific to a quarterback who likes to scramble–gives the league plenty to work on. And each practice, each club is required to wear tracking devices that give insight into a player's load, distance traveled, speed, etc., which enables sports scientists to evaluate performance, if players need to tone down, or injury recovery.”

Moreover, the NFL is timing the replay review process to ensure that a coach's challenge in a more prominent game is treated the same way that it would be in a less-prominent one. After the non-disqualification of Forte (Violence) in the July 29 GII Jim Dandy S. prompted much discussion over whether a less well-publicized event would have merited a DQ, the topic struck home. “The horse racing corollary is obvious,” said Lopez. “When, why, and how stewards decide for or against a disqualification, because a possible DQ at Del Mar should have the identical decision-making process to one at Saratoga.”

Engagement With Racing

Lindsay Czarniak | Skip Dickstein

Lindsay Czarniak was just a baby when her father Chet took the job as the first-ever horse racing reporter for USA Today in 1982. Today, she is a sports broadcaster who anchored SportsCenter for six years and who works as a Fox Sports sideline reporter. She is a studio host for NBC's summer and winter Olympics. She is also an influencer with America's Best Racing and a West Point Thoroughbreds partner who was one of the co-owners of Jace's Road (Quality Road) in this year's Kentucky Derby. “My goal was to give folks that pay attention to my content the VIP access,” said Czarniak. “I had so many people pulling for Jace's Road because they knew we were in the big race.”

Her advice for racing? Lean into storytelling and access; just because it feels normal to people within the industry doesn't mean that it is to fans. “There is a family aspect, a necessary aspect, a high-stakes aspect to this sport that your average sports fan would consume.”

She also advised racing to place itself where young people consume content, i.e., streaming platforms, digital and social media, etc., and to communicate the safety steps that have been taken.

Racing and Data

Kyle McDoniel was named the President and COO of Equibase on June 1, 2023, and comes from a sports and data background, having most recently served as vice president of U.S. Strategic Partnerships for SportRadar, a sports technology company.

McDoniel talked about the challenges inherent in GPS tracking of horse racing, and said that Equibase is now producing tracking at 28 tracks across the U.S. and Canada, representing over 75% of North American handle. In addition, he said the company was continuing to invest in graphical representations of past performances, including those that illustrate stride frequency and length averages, among other things.

Janney's Closing Remarks

Stuart S. Janney III | Skip Dickstein

In his closing remarks, Jockey Club Chairman Stuart Janney said that the advent of HISA had done a lot to secure racing's future.

“Four years ago, at this program, a great Australian breeder-owner, John Messara, speaking about the proposed federal legislation, said, `You've got everything to unleash your monster of economic rewards if you were to join the rest of the world in this harmonization in terms of the drug rules.' John was right and we are here today and it's now time to capture that future.”

To do so, said Janney, “I have two suggestions. First, we have to embrace the international aspect of the sport. Racing is global and thankfully, in many parts of the world, the sport is thriving.”

His second suggestion, he said, involved marketing. “We need to get past the concerns that we are constantly in turmoil, rocking from one crisis to the next. Another Round Table speaker from the past, David Fuscus, [who] discussed crisis management, said, `If we come together as an industry, negative perception can be turned. There is hope we can come through these dark days, but to do so, the public needs to understand what we're doing and believe we are on a path to success.'”

Entire Conference Available Online

To watch the entire Round Table conference, click here.

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A mobile HIWU (Horseracing Integrity & Welfare Unit) app to assist stakeholders in the Thoroughbred industry with the components of the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority's (HISA) Anti-Doping and Medication Control (ADMC) Program has been launched, the organization has revealed.

The free app is highlighted by a Prohibited Substances database, through which users can look up any of the substances that comprise HISA's Prohibited List of more than 1,300 banned substances and controlled medications. Each substance listing is populated with information about the substance such as HISA classification, licensed and colloquial names, detection times and screening limits (as applicable), and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) label's indication for use.

In addition to the substance lookup tool, the app includes access to all educational materials on the HIWU website and the ability to submit tips through HIWU's anonymous whistleblower platforms. Pending and resolved matters concerning potential violations of the ADMC Program are also available for viewing at any time.

The app is configured to send push notifications to mobile devices to alert users about important updates.

“HIWU is pleased to offer a convenient app to the Thoroughbred industry to enable participants to access important resources about the ADMC Program wherever they are,” said Ben Mosier, executive director of HIWU. “We are especially excited about the substance lookup feature, which will bring this important information to the fingertips of horsemen, veterinarians and others who need to be able to easily consult the prohibited list.

“The app is inclusive of HIWU's broader education efforts to assist industry participants to operate in compliance of the ADMC Program.”

The app is now available for download on the Apple and Android app stores.

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The last four weeks have represented the culmination of more than a year of planning and countless hours of preparation by the HIWU team to put forth the best national Anti-Doping and Medication Control (ADMC) Program possible for Thoroughbred racing. It has been incredibly rewarding to see HISA's ADMC Program get off the ground successfully. Through Sunday, June 18, HIWU-trained and certified sample collection personnel have collected samples from over 6,500 horses from more than 20 tracks nationwide. The samples are being analyzed by one of six approved laboratories, which are all testing for the same substances at the same levels. Furthermore, our anonymous whistleblower platforms are active, and our investigative staff have been reviewing the tips submitted to determine further action, when appropriate.

The Belmont Stakes was the first Triple Crown race to be conducted under HISA's ADMC Program. More than a dozen members of the HIWU team were on site at Belmont Park to assist operations, which included supporting the local sample collection personnel and investigators. The New York Racing Association (NYRA) has been a great partner with us, and we appreciate their collaboration to help make this historic race a success.

With our first month of enforcement now complete, I would like to remind industry participants that HIWU must follow specific public disclosure requirements when there are violations of the ADMC Program. In the case of a positive test for a Banned Substance, HIWU must publish the violation on our website upon the imposition of Provisional Suspensions to the Covered Person and Covered Horse. This will occur after HIWU receives the positive test result for the A Sample. For a positive test associated with a Controlled Medication, the violation will be published once the B Sample confirms the positive test or the Covered Person waives the right to test the B Sample. Non-presence cases (i.e., cases not involving a positive test) will be published after a Provisional Suspension is imposed on the Covered Person or a Charge Letter is served, whichever is earlier.

We expect that most cases will be public within weeks and resolved within a few months, which will be a welcome change from previous protocols.

HIWU recognizes the importance of continually offering education opportunities to help facilitate compliance among those impacted by the ADMC Program. In addition to HIWU's Education & Resources page, our team is available to meet with stakeholders and/or industry groups in person or virtually. Groups who would like to request a meeting should contact Stephanie Jenson at sjenson@hiwu.org.

With our busiest months still to come, my team and I are excited to continue enforcement across the country and to maintain our relationships with the stakeholders who have made our efforts possible, from state racing commissions, racetracks, and laboratories to horsemen, veterinarians, and stewards. I am confident that this Program will ultimately enhance the health and safety of our equine and human athletes while promoting a level playing field that benefits the sport's honest participants.

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The Horseracing Integrity & Welfare Unit (HIWU), the independent enforcement agency of the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority's (HISA) Anti-Doping and Medication Control (ADMC) Program, has reached arrangements with all state racing commissions and/or racetracks that will be conducting live racing on or soon after the implementation of the ADMC Program, which is anticipated to be Monday, Mar. 27, 2023. The laboratories that will be conducting testing under the Program have also been confirmed.

“HIWU appreciates the opportunity to engage with state racing commissions, racetracks, and laboratories in the implementation of a national, uniform ADMC program,” said Ben Mosier, executive director of HIWU. “We are confident that all our arrangements will facilitate uniform compliance with the ADMC Program to ensure its consistency and effectiveness.”

Once the ADMC Program takes effect, the following states and/or racetracks will continue to provide sample collection personnel services by utilizing their current staff, who will have been trained and certified by HIWU. Voluntary agreements have either been signed or will be signed before the first day of racing under the new ADMC Rules with the following entities:

Arkansas Racing Commission
California Horse Racing Board
Florida Gaming Control Commission, in cooperation with Gulfstream Park and Tampa Bay Downs
Kentucky Horse Racing Commission
Maryland Racing Commission
New York Racing Association (except Post-Race testing)
Pennsylvania Horse Racing Commission
Will Rogers Downs

For the following states and/or racetracks, HIWU has either contracted directly with existing personnel or has hired its own sample collection personnel to implement the ADMC Program. There is therefore no signed voluntary agreement with the following entities:

Arizona Department of Gaming (Division of Racing)
Finger Lakes
Illinois Racing Board
New York Gaming Commission (Post-Race testing only)
Ohio State Racing Commission

HIWU is also engaging with state racing commissions and racetracks that are racing after mid-April and will announce those relationships prior to such time.

Laboratories must be accredited by the Racing Medication & Testing Consortium to be eligible to conduct testing as part of HISA's ADMC Program, and must meet additional criteria determined by HIWU. HIWU has entered into contracts with the following laboratories to analyze samples collected under the ADMC Program:

Analytical Toxicology Laboratory (Ohio Department of Agriculture)
Animal Forensic Toxicology Laboratory (University of Illinois-Chicago)
Industrial Laboratories
Kenneth L. Maddy Equine Analytical Chemistry Laboratory (University of California, Davis)
Pennsylvania Equine Toxicology and Research Laboratory
University of Kentucky Equine Analytical Chemistry Laboratory

“For the first time, racing's labs will be harmonized and held to the same performance standards nationwide,” said Mosier. “Thoroughbred racehorses will be tested for the same substances at the same levels, regardless of where they are located or compete.”

Lab accreditation will eventually transition to the HISA Equine Analytical Laboratory standards, which will not take effect before 2024.

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The individuals who will comprise the Internal Adjudication Panel (IAP), which will hear Controlled Medication Rule Violation Cases under HISA's Anti-Doping and Medication Control (ADMC) Program, were announced Friday by HISA and HIWU.

IAP members, who will serve for 4-year terms as independent contractors to both HISA and HIWU, were selected for their deep equine regulatory experience. State stewards will be prohibited from participating in cases originating in their state of employment. All members of the panel will receive training on HISA's adjudication processes under the ADMC Program before they can hear cases and must complete continuing education on an annual basis to maintain their eligibility to serve.

“We are excited by the group we have assembled to hear Controlled Medication Rule Violation cases, which we expect to be the most common types of cases under the ADMC Program,” said Ben Mosier, HIWU's executive director. “With their extensive and diverse experiences in equine regulation, we are confident that they will act fairly and consistently during the adjudication process.”

“The Internal Adjudication Panel will play a significant role in the enforcement of the ADMC Program given HISA's distinction between medication overages and doping violations for the first time in our sport,” said HISA CEO Lisa Lazarus. “As such, I'm thrilled by the depth of knowledge and expertise each individual who has agreed to serve on the panel will bring to our adjudication processes, benefitting the entire racing community.”

The members of the IAP are as follows, with their “prohibited states” in relation to hearing cases included in parentheses where applicable:

Rick Abbott (PA)–chairs the Appeal and Review Committee of the National Steeplechase Association and was a member of the Pennsylvania State Horse Racing Commission from 1996 to 2009.

Eddie Arroyo (IL)–served as the senior state steward representing the Illinois Racing Board for 32 years.

Lisa Blackstone-current vice president of the Arabian Horse Association, chair of the United States Equestrian Federation's (USEF) Ethics Committee, and co-chair of USEF's Hearing Committee.

Barbara Borden (KY)–appointed chief steward for the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission in April 2012.

Patricia Bowman (IN)–currently a state steward with the Indiana Horse Racing Commission.

Lori Dinoto (OH)–works as a steward at both Mahoning Valley Race Course and Thistledown.

Connie Estes (NM)–deputy director of operations at the Texas Racing Commission and worked for the New Mexico Racing Commission as a state steward and for the Breeders' Cup as a safety steward.

Hilary Forde–director of HF Consult Sports Law and currently serves as a tribunal clerk for the International Federation for Equestrian Sports (FEI).

John Herbuveaux (CA)–steward for the California Horse Racing Board since 1983.

Duncan Patterson (DE)–currently chairman of the Delaware Thoroughbred Racing Commission, chairman of the Drug Testing Standards and Practices Committee for the Association of Racing Commissioners International (ARCI), and a member of the Stewards Advisory Committee for the NSA.

Diane Pitts–currently on the board of directors for the USEF and was reelected to a second term as a member of the Tribunal of the FEI.

Erika Riedl–was a clerk for the Tribunal of the FEI and is a Centre for Effective Dispute Resolution-accredited mediator.

Kim Sawyer (CA)–accredited as a steward since 1999 and employed by the California Horse Racing Board since 2005.

Eric Smith (IN–a ROAP Level I-accredited flat racing steward and currently the senior state steward for the Indiana Horse Racing Commission.

Edward Weiss (CA)–has been a litigator in private practice, an assistant U.S. attorney, and general counsel of Ticketmaster.

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In his introductory remarks, Mosier said, “Nobody knows more about the confusion over HISA they we do. We are prepared and ready, assuming Mar. 27 as a start date.”

Attendees heard from General Counsel Michelle Pujals, Head of Investigative Operations Shawn Loehr and Head of Intelligence and Strategy Shawn Richards, as each outlined a different segment of HIWU's program. A question and answer sessions covered topics including the contracting of outside investigators, how out of competition testing would be conducted and the current status of agreements with state racing commissions, which could directly affect the role played by members who serve on the frontlines at their respective tracks.

Besides the HIWU session, ORI examined a number of issues earlier in the day from ethics, the media, barn surveillance, proper licensing and employee retention. Participants came away from Tucson with a greater understanding of a myriad of best practices that they can immediately implement in their respective jurisdictions.

“This year's ORI meeting was our best yet,” said Chairman Juan Carlos Estrada of the Arizona Department of Gaming. “Not only because of the camaraderie, but we heard from some excellent speakers that gave our membership the opportunity to add to their skills, so we are already looking forward to next year.”

The 28th ORI Conference will be hosted by Parx Racing in Bensalem, Pennsylvania with dates forthcoming.

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“We are officially on the one-month countdown to what we are confident will be the launch of our ADMC program on Mar. 27,” Lisa Lazarus, the chief executive officer for the HISA Authority, said during a Monday video press conference.

“Everyone is sort of on the same page of wanting uniformity and wanting consistency,” Lazarus continued. “And we're excited for the chance to actually show the industry what that looks like. I think once we get past Mar. 27, we'll be able to convert some doubters into believers.”

Part of what Lazarus and Ben Mosier, the executive director for the Horseracing Integrity and Welfare Unit (HIWU), are trying to get across to industry entities is that the looming ADMC implementation date is a very real deadline that they believe will not be affected by any current court action.

Mosier underscored that the ADMC launch is “what my team is focused on right now until somebody tells us otherwise.”

Added Lazarus: “One of the challenges for us, and why we are beating the drum as much as we possibly can, is to make sure stakeholders realize this is actually coming on Mar. 27. The moment the Federal Trade Commission [FTC] approves the [ADMC] regulations, they are effective.”

That date represents the last day of the FTC's  60-day review period for the ADMC rules, and Lazarus said “all indications” are that the FTC will greenlight them.

“The minute they approve them, state racing commissions are out of the drug-testing business, and we're the sole entity responsible in those states where HISA is operating,” Lazarus said.

Lazarus did note an exception: “The [federal] court in Louisiana has enjoined HISA from operating in Louisiana and West Virginia, so we will not be administering the ADMC program in those states, and yes, state regulations will continue to be in effect there.”

Lazarus also noted that the four federal lawsuits aiming to try to derail HISA were all initiated prior to the December 2022 rewrite of the HISA law that amended the act's operational language with the aim of quelling legal allegations of anti-constitutionality.

“I really don't think there is anything” in the courts that can stop the FTC's approval from happening, “which is why I'm so confident,” Lazarus said. “There is no pending legal action that is on the schedule to be resolved ahead of Mar. 27, [and] no party, no person, no entity has mounted any challenge to that [rewritten] law.”

Asked about immediate changes that horse owners and trainers might notice on Day 1 of implementation, Mosier noted several examples. One involved exactly who-HISA personnel or the existing track stewards-would be responsible for selecting horses for post-race testing.

“All testing is managed and directed by HIWU,” Mosier explained. “But what we're doing, and don't want to lose, is the ability for local personnel to inform testing selections. And what I mean by that is currently [in] the industry, the stewards [select horses for post-testing]. And we're not going to lose that ability. But we have to ensure that their selections are done in compliance with the rules, so we're working very closely with the stewards to make sure that they are educated and understand the rules and are essentially certified to now do this under our direction.”

Mosier continued: “We can also still hear information actively from veterinarians, or other personnel, on the ground [regarding factors] they see on the backstretch that typically flow up to the stewards on a daily basis.”

But, Mosier added, the flow of “nationwide intelligence” will also work in the other direction, meaning that local testing protocols might be triggered by information that flows downward from higher-up Authority entities, including from tips that come via HISA's whistleblower program.

Lazarus put it this way: “I think having a nationwide strategy that is intelligence-driven is going to be an opportunity for the industry to see how clean [or not]” the sport is.

Lazarus added that participants will experience “far higher levels of out-of-competition testing that the industry's ever seen, [instead of] almost-exclusive reliance on post-race testing to manage integrity.”

Mosier said when a horse is brought to a test barn, for example, the chain of custody will be paperless.

Mosier said horsemen can expect to have to electronically sign off on testing via an iPad (with instructions available in both English and Spanish), and that this system will assign unique markers that will accompany the specimen samples to the testing lab. Horsemen will then be electronically forwarded receipts from the test-barn process to streamline and provide proof of testing.

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As part of its preparations for administration of the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority's (HISA) Anti-Doping and Medication Control (ADMC) Program, the Horseracing Integrity and Welfare Unit (HIWU) is building a robust investigations unit to administer this fundamental component of the Program.

The investigations unit will be led by Shawn Loehr and Naushaun “Shaun” Richards, who will be guided by their decades of law enforcement and investigative experiences to help ensure the success of Thoroughbred racing's first national, uniform ADMC program.

Richards joined HIWU after a decorated 23-year tenure with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). He was most recently a supervisory special agent in the FBI's Eurasian Organized Crime Task Force. Richards initiated and directed the highly publicized criminal investigation involving the widespread misbranding of drugs, doping of racehorses, and international money laundering that ultimately resulted in the indictments of more than 30 individuals, including trainers Jorge Navarro and Jason Servis.

In his role as HIWU's director of intelligence and strategy, Richards will focus on long-range investigations, which will rely heavily on real-time intelligence, strategy, sophisticated investigative techniques and data analysis to identify and prosecute potential significant violations of the ADMC Program. He will liaise with federal, state, and local law enforcement as it relates to possible criminal violations.

Loehr, HIWU's director of investigative operations, joined HIWU following a distinguished 27-year career in law enforcement in California. Loehr had most recently spent nearly four years as the chief of enforcement and licensing for the California Horse Racing Board, where he managed all investigations and licensing staff. Loehr also spent time as chief investigator for the Sacramento County Department of Human Assistance, district attorney investigator for Sacramento County, and a police officer in Redding, CA.

As director of investigative operations, Loehr will oversee the investigators stationed at tracks across the country. In states that have signed voluntary agreements with HIWU, existing state investigators may be utilized. In states that choose to opt out of signing a voluntary agreement, HIWU is contracting independent investigators to work at specific tracks under Loehr's leadership. Loehr is also responsible for developing standardized investigative protocols for Anti-Doping and Controlled Medication Rule Violations, as well as other related investigative procedures.

Loehr and Richards will be supported by a full-time data analyst/scientist and an investigative analyst, in addition to other investigative staff. Gunter Younger, a member of the HIWU Advisory Council and director of intelligence and investigations at the World Anti-Doping Agency, will also play an active role and support all HIWU investigations. Relevant intelligence will be shared with HISA's Racetrack Safety Program directors, and vice versa, as appropriate.

To enhance investigative efforts, HIWU will offer an anonymous whistleblower platform through which individuals can submit tips in English or Spanish concerning potential violations of the ADMC Program once the rules take effect. The system will accept submissions via email, phone, text message, and WhatsApp and be managed by Richards' team to ensure that all tips are triaged appropriately and handled confidentially. Examples of reportable violations of the ADMC Program include, but are not limited to, the administration or use of a prohibited substance or method, trafficking, tampering with a sample collection and complicity in committing an ADMC rule violation. HIWU will circulate the relevant contact information to submit tips once it is available.

Later this month, HIWU's investigations team will be attending the Organization of Racing Investigators Annual Training Conference in Tucson, Arizona, where they will present on their operations and how they plan to work with states to effectively administer the ADMC Program.

“HIWU understands that a strong investigations arm is essential for an ADMC program to be effective, and we could not be more excited to have Shawn and Shaun leading our efforts in this area,” said Ben Mosier, executive director of HIWU. “As a result of the work of our investigations team, stakeholders in the Thoroughbred industry can look forward to competing under a program that facilitates a level playing field while punishing those who don't comply with the rules and threaten the safety and welfare of our equine and human athletes.”

“I am honored to be able to use my experiences at the World Anti-Doping Agency to help contribute to the HIWU investigation team's success and promote the integrity of Thoroughbred racing,” said Younger. “We recognize the importance of whistleblowers in alerting us to potential violations, and industry members can feel confident that information can be safely shared with us through the secure platform.”

HIWU is anticipating that it will begin enforcement of the ADMC Program Mar. 27, 2023, pending approval of the ADMC rules submitted to the Federal Trade Commission in December and published to the Federal Register Jan. 26.

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“The bedrock principle of the Act is the need for uniformity,” wrote the FTC in the order, adding that “the Commission's approval of the Anti-Doping and Medication Control proposed rule would not result in uniformity because the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act has been held unconstitutional by a panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.”

Oral arguments similarly surrounding HISA's facial constitutionality were held last week in a separate case before the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals.

“The Commission therefore disapproves the proposed rule without prejudice. If the legal uncertainty regarding the Act's constitutionality comes to be resolved, the Authority may resubmit the proposed rule or a similar rule, and the Commission will consider all comments filed in this proceeding as well as any updated or new comments and filings.

“In the meanwhile, and until any future proposed rule on the subject is approved by the Commission, State law will continue to regulate the matters that the proposed rule would have covered,” the order states.

According to HISA's CEO Lisa Lazarus, who held an impromptu press conference Monday afternoon, this means that the current regulatory “status quo” will remain in place at the start of 2023.

“They made reference to the fact that, since the FTC has not approved any ADMC rules under HISA's authority, that means all the state rules remain in full force and effect,” said Lazarus, stressing that this was her “interpretation” of the FTC order.

“If there wasn't a clear statement on this issue quickly, then we might get to Jan. 1, and there might be some uncertainty around who actually has the authority. It's important for the states to know now that they're going to continue to be the ones in charge of testing on Jan. 1,” Lazarus added.

When it comes to the financial implications from Monday's announcement, HISA will refrain from collecting any of the 2023 fee assessments, designated for the individual states or, alternately, the racetracks, said Lazarus.

“The vast majority of those fees relate to the anti-doping program,” said Lazarus, explaining that the 2023 fees will be collected once the legal uncertainty has been resolved.

“There are still assessments being paid for 2022 that obviously are still required for the state racing associations who opted in, and the racetracks to cover, because those costs have already been incurred, or are in the process of being incurred,” she added.

Ben Mosier, executive director of the Horseracing Integrity & Welfare Unit (HIWU), the enforcement arm of HISA's ADMC program, released a statement explaining that HIWU will continue its education and outreach efforts “to all stakeholders in the Thoroughbred industry,” despite the delay in implementation.

“As HISA re-submits the draft ADMC rules for the FTC's approval, HIWU will use any additional time before implementation as an opportunity to ensure the industry is even more prepared for an efficient rollout of this Program, which will promote fair competition in the sport of Thoroughbred racing and the safety and welfare of our human and equine athletes,” wrote Mosier.

According to Lazarus, “So long as that preparatory work doesn't extend beyond two to three months, [HIWU's work] would still be covered by the 2022 budget.” However, “if it extends longer, we would have to revisit that issue.”

As for potential timelines moving forward, Lazarus explained that once the ADMC rules have been resubmitted with the FTC, it would take approximately 60 days for them to then go into effect, “assuming that the FTC was going to approve them substantively.”

Lazarus also broached a number of different scenarios in what appears to many in the industry a swirling morass of unpredictability and confusion.

Last month, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals found the law facially unconstitutional due to the lack of rule-making authority ceded to the FTC. That mandate is set to go into effect Jan. 10.

But if HISA is able to secure a stay on the Fifth Circuit's ruling in the interim, “we would then go back to the FTC [with the ADMC rules] and seek approval on that basis,” said Lazarus.

A similar case questioning HISA's constitutionality is also before the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals. According to Lazarus, a ruling in the Sixth Circuit is expected “in the next month or two.”

If the Sixth Circuit issues a ruling favourable to HISA, “it would potentially give us the ability to continue with our program in those jurisdictions the Sixth Circuit covers,” said Lazarus.

“And it would also potentially lead to the [U.S.] Supreme Court hearing the case,” said added.

Nevertheless, even if the Sixth Circuit issues a friendly ruling on HISA, the FTC still might prove reluctant to allow HISA's ADMC to go into effect in those jurisdictions as the new law wouldn't be implemented uniformly, said Lazarus.

“For that reason, it's very possible the FTC would maintain the position that we shouldn't resubmit our rules until we have clear ability to move forward and launch across the whole country,” said Lazarus.

Another potential fix to the current knot of legal problems is a congressional re-write of the rules to cede more rule-making power to the FTC. Lazarus declined to speculate on the likelihood and possibility of that option.

A number of experts have questioned whether the legal uncertainty surrounding HISA's constitutionality puts into jeopardy the law's racetrack safety rules, already in effect. Lazarus said that Monday's order has no effect on the racetrack safety prong of the program.

“This related solely to the ADMC rules, and also, it was not a substantive review,” said Lazarus. “It was a statement on their perspective with regards to the legal uncertainties and ensuring there's clarity before we launch the new program.”

Ed Martin, the Association of Racing Commissioners International's (ARCI) president and CEO, referenced a letter the organization sent last week to the FTC highlighting “a real Catch-22” come Jan.1 concerning the legality of HISA's ADMC program.

“We are appreciative that the FTC listened and considered the request of the Association of Racing Commissioners International not to create regulatory uncertainty on Jan. 1 by approving the proposed HISA rules,” Martin told the TDN.

“Whoever got brought up on a charge could potentially have appealed it ad nauseam, and maybe win, which means there might be no rules in effect. That was the danger here,” Martin speculated. “They might be mad at me for bringing it up, but it needed to be brought up.”

The following is HISA's full statement in response to the FTC order:

“HISA appreciates the Federal Trade Commission's (FTC) decision to deny HISA's draft Anti-Doping and Medication Control (ADMC) rules without prejudice as we actively seek to resolve current legal uncertainties. HISA is eager to launch Thoroughbred racing's first and long-awaited national, uniform ADMC program and stands ready to do so. We will re-submit the draft ADMC rules to the FTC for their review as soon as these legal uncertainties are resolved, and once approved, we will implement the program through the Horseracing Integrity and Welfare Unit (HIWU). In the meantime, HIWU will continue to work toward the implementation of a uniform, independent anti-doping and medication control program that is administered consistently and fairly across the United States.”

In a statement, National HBPA CEO Eric Hamelback wrote, “The recent FTC decision is another positive step forward for horsemen in our battle against the unconstitutional takeover of our industry. The strength of our legal arguments led to a unanimous decision in the Fifth Circuit, and now the FTC has done the right thing in declining to defy a federal court that has found HISA unconstitutional. The FTC order is clear: state law continues to govern medication issues until our final victory in this case.”

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