Members of Jockey Mental Health Committee and Advisory Council Announced

Officials at the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority (HISA) and the Jockeys' Guild have announced that members of the newly formed Jockey Mental Health Steering Committee and Advisory Council have been appointed. An inaugural meeting of the new groups will take place Tuesday, Oct. 3 at Columbia University in New York City. The Steering Committee, led by Ambassador Earle Mack, was created with a collective goal of driving research, programming, and resources towards jockey mental wellness initiatives.

The steering committee members are as follows: Ambassador Earle Mack; Denali Stud's Craig Bandoroff; former NYRA chairman Anthony Bonomo; retired jockey and broadcaster Donna Brothers; retired jockey Eurico Rosa da Silva; West Point Thoroughbreds's Terry Finley; HISA CEO Lisa Lazarus; Terry Meyocks, President and CEO of the Jockeys' Guild; trainer Graham Motion; Churchill Downs's executive director of racing, Gary Palmisano; and the executive director for the Race Track Chaplaincy of America, Dan Waits.

The Advisory Group, under direction of HISA National Medical Director Dr. Pete Hester, will hold weekly brainstorming sessions with industry and external experts before reporting best practices and initiatives to the Steering Committee for next steps and potential full adoption.

The advisory council are as follows: Dr. Pete Hester; Michael Bingman; Mindy Coleman; Pat Day; Ramon Dominguez; Dr. Prudence Fisher; Jeff Johnston; Ann McGovern; Dr. Yuval Neria; and Anne Poulson.

“The Jockeys' Guild appreciates all of the input and interest by industry participants to address jockeys' mental health and wellness,” said Jockeys' Guild President and CEO Terry Meyocks. “The Guild has long advocated for the industry to recognize the stress and everyday challenges jockeys face.  The Guild looks forward to working with the Steering and Advisory Committees to develop programs which will demonstrate that we as an industry are able to support not only the jockeys but their family members as well and eventually all others in our industry.”

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Horseracing Integrity And Welfare Q&A: Denali Stud’s Craig Bandoroff

The Horseracing Integrity & Welfare Unit (HIWU) provided this Q&A with questions submitted by Craig Bandoroff of Denali Stud.

Although I've read explanations and have had people try to explain it to me I still don't understand why we test to such a small level.  As I understand it a picogram is one-trillionth of a gram.  How can that have any affect on a 1200-lb horse?  Why do we test to such a small level?  Are we using the ARCI recommended guidelines?

It is important to remember that a picogram is a measure of weight, not potency. While some legal drugs are more potent and are administered in low doses, others are less potent and require larger doses to achieve their intended effects. This is why the Screening Limits used by HISA are different depending on the substance.

It is also important to note that substance concentrations are reported “per milliliter.” Thus, the picogram amounts you read in a lab report must be multiplied by approximately 50,000 to reflect the total milliliters of blood that can be found in a horse.

The Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act requires HISA to adopt the standards used by the International Federation of Horseracing Authorities (IFHA), which are followed in nations around the world and independent of the ARCI's guidance, as a starting point. The IFHA's Screening Limits and Thresholds are vetted by the European Horseracing Scientific Liaison Committee, which is composed of veterinary pharmacologists, regulatory veterinarians, chemists, and other racing regulators, before being approved by the IFHA. There are certain substances, e.g., phenylbutazone, for which the ADMC Standing Committee decided to deviate from the IFHA's published recommendations based on additional science and industry-specific insight.

Everyone agrees the ultimate goal is to keep honest people honest and dishonest people afraid to break the rules.  And that the objective is not to penalize trainers and owners that make honest inconsequential mistakes but rather catch the cheaters. Are we doing enough to catch the cheaters and those taking advantage of the system?  The objective isn't to penalize honest trainers and subsequently their owners for honest mistakes that result in an insignificant overage and that don't affect a horse's performance, is it?

The Anti-Doping and Medication Control (ADMC) Program is designed to detect and deter those who intentionally try to break the rules, thus compromising the integrity of the sport and the welfare of equine and human athletes. The Program includes a test distribution plan that will focus on utilizing testing resources in a manner that will both detect and deter violations, including thorough intelligence-based target testing.

In addition, sanctions associated with Anti-Doping Rule Violations, which include the use or administration of substances that are prohibited from being present in a horse at any time (Banned Substances), are intended to be harsh.

However, there are significantly less severe penalties for offenses related to legal Controlled Medication Substances. For example, the penalty for a first offense related to a Class C medication such as phenylbutazone or methocarbamol is the disqualification of race-day results and a fine of up to $500. There is no suspension.

For many types of cases, direct penalties for the Covered Person(s) involved can be reduced or eliminated depending on the degree of fault determined by the adjudicator(s) hearing the case.

Promoting integrity of the competition and welfare of the horse are two key pillars of the ADMC Program. In support of these two principles, the regulations require that disqualifications are upheld for positive tests regardless of fault in acknowledgment of the fact that the integrity of the race and/or the welfare of the horse may have been compromised by the presence of a Prohibited Substance in the horse's system.

On a national scale, HIWU's team includes an investigations unit that will utilize data science, intelligence from local investigators and racing officials, e.g., stewards and regulatory veterinarians, and information received from HIWU's anonymous whistle blower platforms. This group's objectives are to identify and catch those who commit violations of the Program, especially the most egregious offenses. HIWU Director of Intelligence & Strategy Shaun Richards brings 23 years of experience with the FBI and initiated and directed the criminal investigation that ultimately resulted in the indictments of more than 30 individuals, including trainers Jorge Navarro and Jason Servis.

What are we doing about positives that are possibly the result of contamination or human error? I was involved in a case that it seemed that the positive was a result of contamination at some point.  A Hall of Fame trainer with a pristine record had a horse test positive for a sedative drug he said he doesn't use and the horse was never given.  The horse ran his eyeballs out that day. My owner lost the $40,000 purse. We think the sample was contaminated or perhaps nefarious behavior took place, or someone along the chain of testing made a mistake.  I guess a positive is a positive and if you break the rules you are going to be penalized.  Even so, that's not what we should be trying to do in regulating horse racing, is it?  Do we have anything in place to address these types of situations?

The ADMC Program includes an Atypical Findings Policy that is intended to address cases of environmental contamination.  Under this Policy, if a laboratory detects the presence of the following types of substances, it will report the result as “Atypical,” NOT “positive”:

Specified Substances that pose a higher risk of being present due to environmental contamination, e.g., caffeine, cannabinoids, ractopamine, scopolamine, zilpaterol;

Endogenous substances, e.g., testosterone; or

Substances that pose a high risk of contamination but have yet to be identified.

When an Atypical Finding is issued, an investigation will be launched by HIWU, and the horse's trainer and/or owner will have the opportunity to provide information that can explain the presence of the substance. Examples of evidence could include proof that the horse consumed feed or bedding that was shown to have been contaminated with the substance in question. The trainer could also provide veterinary evidence indicative of the levels of the substance present in the horse naturally.

If HIWU determines that the Atypical Finding was due to environmental contamination and/or that the substance was not exogenously administered based on information gathered, the laboratory result will be considered negative, and no further action will be taken in connection with the result. Consequently, there will be no loss of purse money or imposition of any other sanctions.

The Atypical Findings Policy is intended to protect trainers from being punished for substance exposures beyond their control.

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Denali Stud Pledges $5K One-Day Match Donation to TAA Holiday Giving Campaign

As part of the Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance (TAA)'s month-long Holiday Giving Campaign, Denali Stud has pledged to match all donations up to $5,000 made to the TAA Dec. 1.

“Denali Stud proudly supports the Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance,” said Denali Stud Owner, Craig Bandoroff. “TAA does the due diligence of accrediting aftercare farms and distributing grants to help care for the horses. It's our obligation, not an option, to fund Thoroughbred aftercare. Join Denali Stud and donate to the TAA's Holiday Giving Campaign today.”

TAA's Holiday Giving Campaign commenced Nov. 29 and is scheduled to conclude New Year's Eve. Those wishing to support the TAA, its 81 accredited organizations, and thousands of retired Thoroughbreds, can donate through the TAA's website or text DONATE to 56651. During the Holiday Giving Campaign, TAA is also offering donors the benefit of sending digital holiday cards to colleagues, friends, and loved ones. Throughout the end of the year, the Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance will continue to host special one-day only donation matches with some of horse racing's biggest names.

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Letter to the Editor: Rules

As many people are aware, I have been a member of WHOA and a supporter of HISA from the beginning. I want what we all want. Uniform and sensible medication rules and testing that promotes the integrity of our sport while protecting the innocent and punishing the cheaters. So when I received a call advising me that a horse I help manage was disqualified for an acepromazine positive, I was surprised to say the least.

My initial reaction and explanation to the owner was the horse must have had the drug administered and it failed to clear his system in the expected time. Texting back and forth with his Hall of Fame trainer, I learned this was not the case. He was adamant no one in his barn administered the horse ace at anytime. So the $64,000 question: how did it get there? Contamination, nefariousness by some unknown person? And more importantly, what sense does any of this make? Here is a horse who ran his heart out beaten a nose in a graded stakes. So he certainly didn't perform like a horse with a tranquilizer in his system.

I have had it explained to me several times why we test to the minuscule levels that we do and how these levels can have an effect on a 1,200-pound race horse. But, honestly, the explanation still doesn't resonate with my layman brain. And although my desire and conviction is not diminished that we as an industry will benefit from uniform rules and testing, I am at a loss to understand how rulings like this serve this purpose. Forget the fact that a Hall of Fame trainer with a record of now two violations in his 43-year career is penalized. The real harm to our sport is an innocent owner loses the purse and no one has a good explanation of how the illegal (and minuscule) amount of the drug got in his horse's system. How does that keep an owner in the game or attract new ones? Now that HISA has hit the reset button, can't we please come up with sensible rules and testing so the innocent are protected and the guilty are punished? The system remains broken. There must be a better way.

Craig Bandoroff is the owner of Denali Stud in Paris, Kentucky. 

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