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At 1-Month Mark For Drug Control, HISA Braces Industry For Changes

Four weeks out from the anticipated effective date for the Anti-Doping and Medication Control Program (ADMC), the Authority overseeing the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act (HISA) is stepping up its awareness campaign so industry participants can be properly prepared for a sweeping change in regulatory protocols.

“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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Investigators Conference Opens Sunday

Officially sold out, the Organization of Racing Investigators (ORI) opens its 27th annual training conference with a reception for attendees on Sunday evening at the Lodge in the Desert in Tucson, Arizona.

The ORI Conference includes a dozen speaker sessions scheduled for Monday and Tuesday, as presenters cover a variety of topics, including money laundering, regulatory oversight, medications, ethics, the media, human trafficking, licensing, drugs and alcohol on the backstretch, employee retention and barn surveillance. The final speaker on Tuesday will be Shawn Loehr, Director of Investigative Operations for the Horseracing Integrity & Welfare Unit (HIWU), who will give an overview of his office's program.

“We are extremely excited to welcome everyone to this year's ORI event and we want to thank all of our sponsors,” said Chairman Juan Estrada. “We expected around 45 to attend and we more than doubled that, so the interest and understanding about how important our network is can be interpreted as better than ever.”

To go along with this lineup, Monday afternoon will be devoted to a series of case studies and practical searches at Rillito Racetrack, which will be overseen by ORI Board Members. As an onsite teaching classroom, the setting will give participants a first-hand look into the latest techniques when it comes to investigation.

With students from the University of Arizona's Race Track Industry Program serving as volunteers during the conference, Chair Robert Hartman will deliver remarks at a dinner on Monday evening, which will be followed by author Melisa Del Bosque's keynote address. An awards ceremony intended to highlight the accomplishments of ORI members will conclude the banquet.

Click here, for the ORI Conference Program.

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Loehr, Richards To Head HIWU Investigations Unit

Edited Press Release

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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Letter to the Editor: HISA Smack Down

Despite HISA court filings claiming everything was legal and pronouncements that the HIWU anti-doping program starts on March 27th, reality needs to set in on the Thoroughbred industry in the same way it does for a young child who comes to realize that the Christmas Eve Santa tracking report may not be true.

This week's decision and mandate just issued by the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals is nothing less than a smack down for HISA. It underscores that the constitutional questions are far from settled and may actually break against them. Given the FTC's prior action, this could doom HISA's hope of quick approval of the resubmitted medication control rules.

It's hard for some of us who have been around for a while to watch as this situation could have been avoided. The uncertainty of all this is deeply troubling to everyone.

Despite public pronouncements from Ms. Lazarus that HISA is transparent, the industry has no idea as to their financial stability. Some racetracks are quietly questioning whether to pay the HISA assessments and are researching if they can get their money back if it all goes south. Some testing labs have expressed similar concerns.

As for the States: 1) most could not elect to assume financial responsibility for HISA, and,2) HISA/HIWU has yet to secure any signed ADMC implementation agreements seeking the use of state assets or personnel, with or without reimbursement. It's not that the States are unwilling to help; it has to do with the avoidable problems associated with how HISA organized its programs and neglected to listen to realities raised during the countless implementation calls ARCI organized for them in 2021.

In May, 2022, I announced that most state racing commissions believed technical corrections to the statute were necessary in order for HISA to work. Rather than begin substantive discussions as to how to do that, HISA staff barreled forward and somebody, somewhere decided it was a waste of their time to have HISA leadership talk to me about easier ways to get where they are trying to get.

In August, while on a panel with Ms. Lazarus in Saratoga I proposed that HISA get everyone in a room and come up with an alternate approach to avoid the endless and costly litigation. That didn't happen. My repeated requests to meet privately with the HISA Board to share an independent assessment and an analysis of their options were also ignored. No skin off my back, but it is frustrating when you care about this industry and see a golden opportunity starting to slip away.

On a November American Horse Council call with congressional officials, Jockey Club staff questioned my personal credibility as I was explaining the new financial burden being put on racetracks just as I was making progress convincing a Member of the House Appropriations Committee of the need to add $50 million in federal funding for HISA. Heaven knows they could use it to mitigate the cost being imposed on the racetracks.

When that $1.7 trillion bill eventually passed there was not a dime for racing. Congressman Tonko, when asked by an Albany reporter why no money was included, responded that the industry didn't ask for any. Amazing, absolutely amazing.

Then there were laudatory press statements issued by major HISA supporters praising Senator McConnell for passing a “fix”. All that I could think of was “The Emperor's New Clothes” or the angry ladies in the 1984 Wendy's “Where's the beef?” commercial. Apparently from Tuesday's court action, the tweak to the Act didn't work and racing missed a golden opportunity to have some federal funding.

So here we are. Despite the hard work of many, this is starting to look like a mess.

While the Santa tracking system may not be truth, the children who used to rely on it have found they can still have Christmas. So too for racing. But it may have to look different than what we have now–a fat man stuck in a chimney being pushed by his supporters from above with a stick. There's an easier way if only some people were not so intransigent.

Ed Martin is the President of the Association of Racing Commissioners International, a non-profit group of international regulators which provides a mechanism for collective policy formation, the exchange of information, research, education and training, and integrity advocacy.

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