“Over the past few years, bisphosphonate use has become a concern with regard to the welfare of Thoroughbred racehorses,” said Jamie Haydon, president of Grayson. “We are very thankful for the generous support by Vinnie and Teresa Viola's St. Elias Stables and their ability to recognize the importance of this research in promoting equine safety and welfare.”

The new study found that hair testing can be used to consistently detect bisphosphonates for up to six months after administration.

“Bisphosphonates are labeled for horses 4 years and older to manage navicular symptoms,” said Dr. Johnny Smith, A. Gary Lavin Research Chair of Grayson. “Unfortunately, people were using them in young horses, which is detrimental because bisphosphonates inhibit bone resorption, can stay in a horse's system for years, and can have long-term effects on bone.”

Previously published studies, including one conducted by the same group and funded under the same special call, demonstrated that in some cases bisphosphonates can be detected in blood and urine for extended periods of time, but detection using these matrices can be unpredictable and less consistent.

“Our study from 2020 showed that clodronate and tiludronate reside in the bone for extended periods,” said the study's principal investigator, Dr. Heather K. Knych, who is with the K.L. Maddy Equine Analytical Chemistry Lab's Pharmacology section and the Department of Molecular Biosciences, at the School of Veterinary Medicine, University of California, Davis. “This can lead to lasting pharmacologic effects and increase the risks of injury to racehorses. Being able to detect bisphosphonates long term in hair benefits the athletes and increases the integrity of the sport.”

Bisphosphonates are considered a banned substance for covered horses under the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority's Anti-Doping and Medication Control program. A covered horse that tests positive is subject to lifetime ineligibility.

Click here to read the study.

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The precipitating event, of course, was the spate of equine fatalities that had covered Santa Anita, and the racing industry in general, under a pall of public condemnation–the exact same kind of scrutiny Churchill Downs has faced these past few weeks, culminating with the announced switch of racing venue to Ellis Park.

As events have unfolded at Churchill Downs, representatives from the Horse Racing Integrity Act (HISA) have made it clear that they could stop the track from exporting their simulcasting signal out of state, if they deemed it necessary.

Here, however, it should also be noted that throughout this period, HISA officials have repeatedly stressed how the agency's actions have been in unison with both Churchill Downs and the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission (KHRC).

But the ability to block the export of a simulcasting signal is not enough, say several non-HBPA affiliated horsemen's groups, including the Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association, the Kentucky Thoroughbred Association (KTA), the Thoroughbred Owners of California, the New York Thoroughbred Horseman's Association, and the Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association.

Since the earliest days of the HISA rulemaking process, they have argued for a clear set of rules giving HISA the discretion to completely suspend racing at a facility by removing its accreditation in the event of a safety-related crisis.

“Some of these owner-trainer groups feel so strongly about this issue,” said Chauncey Morris, executive director of the KTA, who stressed that he believes Churchill Downs, the KHRC and HISA have taken the correct steps throughout the past few weeks.

In answer to a series of questions, HISA spokesperson, Mandy Minger, wrote that the federal agency is indeed considering such a rule change.

In background conversations with track officials, however, they've stressed the disruptive nature of such actions, which can have profound economic impacts on a wide swath of stakeholders. Others warn that such powers need clear definition.

Scott Chaney, CHRB executive director, agrees that the threat alone of pulling a track's simulcasting signal “is not a complete solution,” but the key question for him is this: What criteria would HISA use to justify the ability to suspend racing completely at a facility?

“Is it purely fatality based?” he said. “Or is it more response based–like, is the response of the track satisfactory?”

The Proposal

HISA cited Turf Paradise back in January for several safety-related problems like faulty track rails and a subpar racetrack surface maintenance program. Track management ultimately complied, but only after the HISA Authority applied the thumbscrews of a possible simulcasting export block.

In the Turf Paradise situation, therefore, there were clear racetrack safety violations that HISA used as enforcement leverage.

But what happens in a situation where a track experiences a rash of fatalities and there is no clear actionable violation? What if management at that track is not as cooperative with HISA's overtures as Churchill Downs has been? Then add to the mix the growing wingbeat of a national media calling for the sport's swansong.

This is the central conundrum prompting certain horsemen's groups to advocate for HISA to wield such discretionary powers–something the groups did during the first round of the rule-making process, submitting comments calling for the HISA Authority to be given “residual power to suspend accreditation and suspend racing in case of an unusual cluster of fatalities or other safety emergency.”

They added back then that “unambiguous language is necessary to provide that the Authority and its Safety Committee can actively monitor accreditation requirements during live racing, suspend accreditation immediately in order to ensure the safety of horse and rider, and suspend racing until corrective measures are undertaken.”

Those initial proposals were submitted at the start of 2022. According to Morris, the same groups are in the process of resubmitting similar commentary in the latest window to tweak HISA's rule. And HISA, it appears, is listening.

According to Minger, HISA's current rules bar them from prohibiting “Covered Horseraces at a Racetrack” without an accreditation suspension or a finding of a racetrack safety violation.

However, “for circumstances where that is not the case, HISA is closely examining and considering a new safety rule traditionally utilized by State Racing Commissions to summarily suspend Covered Horseraces at a Racetrack when circumstances present an immediate danger to the health, safety, or welfare of Covered Persons, Covered Horses, and Riders, or are not in the best interests of racing,” wrote Minger.

A formal process to remove a track's accreditation, however, still appears to leave a window open for live racing to continue–as in Texas, where the tracks there are not HISA accredited but continue to operate without the ability to export their simulcasting signal out of state.

Uniquely for Texas, the lack of an exported simulcasting signal has not dramatically affected the state's purse fund, buttressed as it is with monies from a sales tax on equine products. Purses in many other states, however, are funded heavily through wagering.

Without the ability to export a signal, the hypothetical question becomes: How long could a track operate without these monies coming in?

Specific Criteria

The CHRB rule giving it emergency discretion to suspend a track's license is prescriptive about the necessary steps the commission must take to execute that power.

The board must give track management at least 24 hours' notice of the hearing on the petition to suspend the license, which can be filed by the executive director or by the equine medical director, for example. The board also has five days following the petition's filing to make a decision on the suspension or license restriction order, among other requirements.

What's missing, however, is a clear set of detailed criteria delineating what set of circumstances warrant the CHRB's petition to be filed in the first place, and that's a big problem, said Chaney.

“From a regulatory standpoint, pressure and notoriety alone should not be the criteria,” warned Chaney.

Which leads to perhaps the thorniest aspect of the proposed rule change–what are the agreed-upon parameters so this regulatory trip wire isn't used capriciously?

The term multifactorial is routinely bandied around to explain fatal musculoskeletal injuries.

In a cluster of deaths, is there commonality in the way the horses were conditioned and medicated, for example? Are there glaring holes in the pre-race veterinary checks? Is the out-of-competition testing program rigorous enough? Has the racing office unduly pressured trainers to enter? Is the track surface at fault? What about their breeding, and the way they were raised?

This Iliad-like search for answers makes transparency of a baseline set of information vital in the quest to identify preventable fatalities, said Chaney.

“But since all reporting is not equal, it's hard to have an open and honest conversation about that,” he added.

Indeed, in recent weeks Churchill Downs has faced criticism over its decision not to publicly share equine fatality data through the Equine Injury Database. And it's unclear when HISA–which is mandated to publicly share this data uniformly–will step up to the task.

“HISA's accreditation team has been working with tracks to help them meet their internal review and reporting obligations. We're also in the process of developing internal systems so that reliable catastrophic injury data can be aggregated and made available to the public on an ongoing basis. Until such time as reporting and tracking systems are in place nationwide, The Jockey Club's Equine Injury Database continues to be the most reliable source for the type of information you requested,” wrote Minger.

But this particular data-set is only one part of the industry's current black-hole riddled nebula of unreported and hidden information. The sooner the industry at large begins sharing relevant data in a timely manner–everything from detailed vet's list info to stewards' reports–the better, said Chaney.

“Regression to the mean is just not good enough,” he said. “When it comes to safety, every track, every regulatory authority, has to do everything they can.”

Cautionary Tales

Attorney Drew Cuoto has long been critical of tracks unilaterally suspending individuals from their facilities, describing instances where he believes the horsemen have not been afforded the necessary due process rights of hearing and appeal.

Couto, it should be noted, has represented Jerry Hollendorfer in ongoing litigation stemming from The Stronach Group's 2019 decision to bar the trainer from the company's facilities.

And so perhaps surprisingly, Couto, one of the founding members of the Thoroughbred Owners of California, agrees with the fundamental premise that HISA is given these additional discretionary powers.

But before actually wielding that cudgel, the Authority should ensure that it has taken reasonable measures to get to the bottom of the problem, he said, mirroring Chaney's comments.

“Every situation is unique,” Couto said. “But in my many years of experience, in the event of these unusual clusters, typically there are issues related with the track itself.”

As such, Couto believes that such a scenario should immediately prompt HISA to bring in outside experts to evaluate the available information, like failure analysts and composite material science experts to evaluate track surface measurements.

Here it should be noted that one of the things HISA has done at Churchill Downs is bring in an equine forensics specialist to conduct an independent review of the necropsies.

This is especially needed at those facilities where track operators might not have the necessary training and experience to understand the complex set of factors behind fatality clusters, said Couto. He points out how–unlike many positions in racing like trainers and veterinarians–individuals filling certain racetrack operational roles aren't tested for proficiency through a formal licensing process.

Right now, “suspensions largely serve PR objectives over reasoned analysis,” he said. “And so, what I hope HISA can do is not take the current scientific consensus as gospel, but to see it as a starting point in the scientific process.”

As Morris sees it, however, HISA is uniquely placed to cut through the red-tape of competing interests to police the “triad” of American racing–the racetracks, the horseman and racing commissions–equally.

“In past situations, it can turn into a blame game between the racetrack, the horsemen and a state racing commission that feels it may or may not have the power or jurisdiction to step in,” said Morris.

“But HISA is an independent regulator,” he added. “That is something that was very, very appealing to our collective group.”

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The Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act, which was signed into law in Dec. 2020, established HISA as an independent agency to draft and enforce uniform safety and integrity rules in Thoroughbred racing in the United States. The bill goes into effect July 1, and owners are among the list of individuals who must register with HISA as a covered person prior to this date. Interested individuals can sign up for the virtual conference at ownerview.com/event/conference or send an email to Gary Falter, gfalter@jockeyclub.com. The webinar will be recorded and made available on the OwnerView YouTube channel for owners that cannot attend the live session.

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The story was first reported by the Asbury Park Press.

At the start of the 2021 meet controversial rules were put in place by the New Jersey Racing Commission that banned the practice of whipping horses to encourage them to run. While restrictions on the use of the whip were in place in several states, New Jersey was the only jurisdiction that banned the use of the whip outright.

On July 1, that is set to change when HISA rules will supercede regulations put in place by state racing commissions. The HISA rules allow a jockey to strike a horse six times a race but no more than twice in succession. With the rules set to change some seven weeks into the meet, Monmouth is asking the racing commission to put the HISA rules in place at the start of the meet. Track management has requested that the commission hold a special meeting to discuss the matter.

“I think we have a very good chance of getting this done,” Dennis Drazin, the chairman and CEO of the management company that operates Monmouth, told the Press. “It doesn't make sense to have different rules to start the meet and switch midstream.”

Several jockeys raised objections to the rule last year, arguing that the whip was needed for safety purposes. While most decided to ride at the meet, 13-time Monmouth champion Joe Bravo refused to ride and relocated to California. Antonio Gallardo also cited the rule when announcing he was leaving Monmouth to ride at Woodbine.

From a pari-mutuel wagering standpoint, Monmouth did not have a particularly strong 2021 meet, which raised the possibility that some bettors shied away from the Monmouth product because of the whipping ban.

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The meeting, however, did signal a potential brewing storm in the shape of the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act's scheduled implementation of its racetrack safety rules July 1.

CHRB executive director, Scott Chaney, pointed out that HISA's crop rules–which allow for overhand use of the whip–are more permissive than those currently in place in California, which prohibits use of the whip above the shoulder.

Furthermore, HISA's Anti-Doping and Medication Control program, which is set to go into effect early next year, currently restricts the administration of pre-race mediations to 24 hours, in contrast to the CHRB's 48-hour cut-off.

These two areas give Chaney cause for “concern,” he said, adding that he is in frequent communication with the new CEO of the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority–the broad non-profit umbrella established by HISA and commonly referred to as just the “Authority”–to find a solution to these issues “which are frankly non-starters for California.”

“I am hopeful that we can reach a resolution in which there will not be any loosening of the rules already in place here,” said Chaney.

Chaney also broached the prickly issue of HISA's cost, saying that “the current reg's require that they provide the amount of California's contribution by Apr. 1.” Before then, he added, the CHRB will begin negotiations with the Authority to conduct as many of the functions under the new federal rules as the law permits.

Needless to say, Chaney said, “this implementation is very fluid, and will require both the Authority and the CHRB to be flexible as we both seek to promote human and animal welfare.”

Earlier in the meeting, California Thoroughbred Trainers (CTT) executive director, Alan Balch, provided a status update on the accident prevention taskforce created late last year to systematically study the myriad factors behind fatal equine injury.

The key component of Balch's presentation concerned shoulder fractures–a common cause of catastrophic injury in racehorses.

These types of injuries have long bedeviled veterinarians and trainers due to their subtlety of visible symptoms, and the sheer difficulty of diagnosing them prior to a catastrophic breakdown occurring.

“As you know, if we could eliminate shoulder fractures, our safety record would improve even more significantly,” said Balch.

One especially high-risk group of horses said Balch–floating the findings of a nationwide statistical survey performed by The Stronach Group chief veterinarian, Dionne Benson–are those returning to training from lay-offs.

“Generally, the factors are lay-offs of 90-days or more,” said Balch, “and possibly a premature return to serious training once they've returned to the track or an auxiliary facility.”

In short, explained Balch, the general understanding in the equine medical world is that in horses returning to training after a break, the musculature develops faster than the bone can remodel, and that horses can appear outwardly fit enough to handle a degree of exercise greater than the bone is able to withstand.

And so, what's to be done?

California trainers are required to routinely complete continuing education courses, covering a variety of topics from track surfaces to pre-race examinations, as well as those on shoulder fractures.

Most California trainers have completed the shoulder-related module, but not all, admitted Balch. In response, the CHRB discussed a variety of amendments to the rules to potentially mandate completion of the module, including making it a prerequisite for re-licensing.

In the meantime, the CTT will contact over the next 30 days all trainers who have skipped the online course to encourage them to complete it, said Balch.

More broadly, the aim of the accident taskforce “is to provide a statistically sound guide, perhaps even by way of a rule based on verified evidence, of steps which must be taken before a horse returning from a lay-off of a specified period can gallop or work at speed,” Balch explained.

During a report about the prior day's pari-mutuel and wagering committee meeting, commissioner Dennis Alfieri explained how the Xpressbet wagering platform has developed a technology allowing gamblers to select an alternative primary selection in multi-race wagers–such as a pick four, pick five, or pick six–in the event their primary pick is a late scratch.

The new feature was launched to online customers in mid-February, said Alfieri.

The technology was developed in response to the Modern Games debacle at last November's Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf, when a veterinarian prematurely scratched the horse, only for the Godolphin runner to be reinstated into the race for purse-money only.

Modern Games ultimately won the race, with winning returns going to the second-place finisher, Tiz the Bomb. And while many multi-race gamblers who selected Modern Games automatically received the eventual favorite, Dakota Gold, instead, that horse eventually finished out of the frame in fifth.

Alfieri explained that Chaney had suggested at the pari-mutuel and wagering committee meeting that the CHRB make this wagering option a condition of licensure for other betting platforms when their licenses are up for renewal.

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This is the suit brought Apr. 26 by state governments and private entities. Oklahoma and its racing commission are joined as plaintiffs by West Virginia and its racing commission, plus the state of Louisiana. Three Oklahoma tracks–Remington Park, Will Rogers Downs and Fair Meadows are also among the plaintiffs.

The defendants are the United States of America, the HISA Authority, and six individuals acting in their official capacities for either HISA or the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).

This lawsuit is separate from the similar complaint over constitutional issues initiated by the National Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association against FTC members that is also currently facing a “motion to dismiss” by the defendants.

According to two documents filed Monday in United States District Court (Eastern Division of Kentucky), the defendants told the court that the plaintiffs' suit “falters out of the starting gate, as no Plaintiff has alleged an injury that satisfies Article III standing or has pressed a claim that is ripe for review.”

The motion to dismiss argues that “The FTC has not considered or subjected to notice-and-comment a single proposed rule under the Act, and any rule that the FTC may ultimately promulgate would not take effect until July 2022. Plaintiffs' allegations of harm are thus conjectural at best.

“Moreover, the non-Thoroughbred associations …will never be subject to the FTC-approved rules unless they or other third parties independently make that election. And the States' asserted harm from federal preemption is not fairly traceable to–rather, is inconsistent with–the commandeering claim they actually press.”

The filing continues: “Beyond those threshold stumbling blocks, Plaintiffs fail to state a claim on the merits. Their lead theory is that the Act unconstitutionally delegates legislative power to the Authority. But longstanding Supreme Court precedent makes clear that private entities may lawfully assist the development and implementation of federal regulation so long as the agency retains final review.”

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“Unfortunately, it is the story of this Preakness,” said D. Wayne Lukas, who has won the second jewel of the Triple Crown six times. “Racing doesn't deserve to get the black eye for something this minor. Now, if there is an all-out performance- enhancing drug, that's obviously different. But that just wasn't the case in this instance.”

Lukas, who created his own stir earlier this week with a statement made in defense of Baffert when he suggested a test at this level should be thrown out, underscored what he felt was the central idea lost in the dissemination of his comment making its way through social media.

“The thresholds are so low now that [trainers] are all fair game,” he explained. “I'm here looking at my horses and think I could be next. It could be any one of them in the Preakness or any of these races the way the thresholds are set.”

In regards to the ensuing media nightmare ignited by this week's revelation, Lukas argues that many outside of the industry might not fully understand the facts in a case like the latest to take the nation by storm.

“The average fan following the news doesn't really get the scale of a picogram,” he said. “They think it's a blatant violation and that the horse had something in his system that enhanced his performance. And we can't explain that to everyone, so racing overall gets a black eye.”

He continued, “Testing is so sophisticated and sensitive nowadays that even a negligible level could fail. The drug thresholds have just gotten lower and lower and I really think we've legislated ourselves into a hole here. I really think we've painted ourselves into a corner with what I believe to be, in many cases, unrealistic levels.”

“Trainers have become so conscious of what we're giving to our horses,” he said. “I know that certain eye ointments have substances that would cause a violation. You have to be very careful what's on the label these days. Even then, with everything we feed them and everything we put on them now you are scrutinized pretty intensely.”

A trainer for over five decades, Lukas said he takes a basic approach in his own operation, while trying to navigate the razor-edge balance between maintaining optimal health in his animals while steering clear of a much-dreaded raceday positive.

“Part of the issue is that the withdrawal times we are given are often very limited,” he said. They're not always accurate or don't take into account all the factors. They tell us the withdrawal time is four days and somebody still gets a positive test even though they withdrew at six days. So, what I do is I just double it. If they tell us there is a four-day withdrawal, I automatically double it, so that's eight days on our books. You have to go beyond what they tell you because there are a lot of inaccuracies in that regard. There have been a lot of positives of late where trainers followed the guidelines they were given and still got a positive.”

And as the sport continues to regain its footing after its latest assault, Lukas offered a pragmatic approach to maintaining the health of sport.

“I hope the Horse Racing Integrity Act takes a realistic approach and sets the thresholds at a reasonable level and in a uniform way, so we're not failing for topical dressings and eye ointments, as in the case this week. Bob is under the gun right now, but it could have been any one of us.”

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During a 10-minute news conference (click for video), Baffert repeatedly proclaimed his innocence.

“All I can tell you is that betamethasone is an allowed therapeutic medication, but we did not give it to this horse,” Baffert said. “In fact, Medina Spirit has never been treated with Betamethasone. I cannot believe that I am here before you guys. Yesterday, I got the biggest gut punch in racing for something I did not do.”

Baffert said Medina Spirit was found to have 21 picograms of the drug in his system.

Baffert said that Kentucky racing officials contacted his assistant, Jimmy Barnes, on Saturday to give him the news, which he then relayed to Baffert.

For the sport's most prominent trainer, Sunday's news was the latest in a series of drug positives related to the Baffert stable. In each case, the Hall of Fame trainer has denied any wrongdoing.

This story will be updated.

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Which is exactly why every honest horsemen should be 100% behind the Horseracing Integrity Safety and Integrity Act (HISA). It will give them a fighting chance.

HISA is not a magic bullet and it will not solve all of the sport's problems. Cheating will never go away totally. What HISA will do is to usher in a competent, effective system to police the sport. Instead of relying on each individual state and a system of drug testing that never really catches anybody, the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) will take over, responsible for leveling what has been, for far too long, an uneven playing field. There is no doubt that USADA is going to make it a lot harder to get away with cheating.

Many prominent horsemen have come out in favor of HISA, but their voice was drowned out by the news that broke Monday that the National HBPA, along with 11 individual state horsemen's groups, was suing to put the brakes on HISA. This would be like Citibank suing for more lenient penalties for bank robbers. It makes absolutely no sense.

The lawsuit was filed by the Liberty Justice Center, which calls itself a non-profit public-interest litigation center that was founded to fight against political privilege. In a statement the group released Monday, USADA was never mentioned. Instead, the group contended that HISA is unconstitutional and, therefore, should be struck down.

It's hard to imagine that there is one horsemen anywhere who cares one bit whether or not HISA is unconstitutional or not. Instead, one is left to connect the dots and after doing so, it wouldn't be hard to reach the conclusion that the only reason to have HISA overturned would be that they prefer the status quo over a new system under the control of USADA. That is to say that they are fine with a system that rewards cheats at the expense of the very people who make up the majority of their membership. Trainers and owners represented by the groups that are part of the suit should be outraged.

It's not at all clear that the actions taken by the National HBPA and its affiliate groups even have the backing of the majority of horsemen nationwide. Many prominent trainers and owners have been outspoken in their belief that something must change and that HISA is the best route out of this morass. And several key state horsemen's groups were nowhere to be found among the press releases and statements issued Monday. Some of them have, in fact, come out in favor of HISA.

That doesn't mean that there aren't trainers who side with the HBPAs. The National HBPA issued a press release that included comments of support from a handful of owners or trainers, among them Ron Moquett, who said, “My job is to take care of horses and the people who help me take care of horses. I don't see how this does any of that. I definitely agree there are some things we should do to better the industry. But this legislation takes you down a bunch of back, curvy roads where you don't know where you're going. Change for the sake of change does not solve problems and is likely to create new ones.”

Moquett is exactly the type of trainer who should enthusiastically support HISA. There's every reason to believe that he is as honest as they come. The trainer of the venerable Whitmore (Pleasantly Perfect), he has never been involved in any sort of scandal and his lifetime winning rate of 12% suggests that his horses are running on nothing more than hay, oats and water. It's the Ron Moquetts of the world who are getting pounded by those who have a chemical edge. If he does not believe that he has never been beaten by a cheater, I suggest that he is hopelessly naive. It's probably happened dozens, if not hundreds, of times.

The backers of HISA, including The Jockey Club, seem confident that the horsemen's lawsuit will eventually end in defeat. That doesn't mean there won't be damage done. HISA is supposed to go in effect by July 1, 2022. Because of the lawsuit, that date could be in jeopardy. If the HBPAs and the Liberty Justice Center want to go to the mat on this one, they very well could tie things up for years in the courts. That would do demonstrable harm to a sport that is trying to clean up its act and send a message to its many critics that it takes the issues of doping and horse safety very seriously.

A horsemen's group should be looking out for all of its members, which means it should be leading the fight for integrity. That they are standing in its way is very sad.

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Jockey Club president Jim Gagliano recently joined the Thoroughbred Daily News's Writers Room podcast to answer his and other questions about the industry's future.

“I don't think it should come out of the horseplayers' pockets,” Gagliano said of the HISA cost. “Every state funds its regulation differently. The problem that we faced when we were considering that matter, is there's really no one-size-fits-all that we could push down to the states. The most important thing we want to do is make sure we capture first the current expenses, and then that those were brought forward. After that, the Authority will work with each state and through its racing commission to determine what the number is. I suggest the simplest way is to share [the costs] between the tracks and the horsemen. But honestly, there's a lot of details to be considered.”

HISA has been a big focal point for The Jockey Club through out 2020. Now that HISA has been passed, Gagliano was asked what organization's focus will be.

“There's plenty,” Gagliano said. “How we market the sport. The opportunity of television, which thank goodness, during this pandemic, to see the amount of live televised hours of horse racing has been a godsend. We've talked about scheduling. We need to put the product in a place where it can have the best showcase. Other areas: HISA is going to put USADA into a role and there are now rules that will be in place that will change the sport, we believe. Investigations, that's something that racing has not done very well over the last bunch of years. I anticipate The Jockey Club will continue to invest in those kinds of resources to make sure that things we don't want to happen in our sport, don't happen.”

Read more at thoroughbreddailynews.com.

Listen to the full podcast episode here.

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