Tag: horseracing integrity and safety authority

‘Bullish On Thoroughbred Racing,’ New NTRA Chief Rooney Sets Sights On Washington

When the National Thoroughbred Racing Association board began its search for a new president and chief executive officer to replace Alex Waldrop, who announced his retirement earlier this year, it became obvious that it would be vital to find someone who knew his or her way around Washington, D.C.

That's why the hiring of former U.S. Rep. Tom Rooney to fill that role seems like a perfect fit and the decision to open a Washington office makes sense. Who knows the U.S. Capitol better than a former Member of Congress. Rooney brings the added value of coming from a family that is well known not only in sports as longtime owner of the NFL's Pittsburgh Steelers, but also in racing.

The Rooney family has owned several tracks over the years, including Yonkers Raceway in New York, and currently the Palm Beach Kennel Club, which has evolved into a card room and simulcast center after dog racing in Florida was killed via statewide referendum. Rooney is actively engaged in the Thoroughbred industry through his family's Shamrock Farm in Maryland, where he currently serves on the board of the Maryland Horse Breeders Association

Rooney, 50, is a native of Philadelphia who served five terms in the U.S. House of Representatives in Florida's Districts 16 and 17 that comprise an area bordering the Gulf Coast in the south-central portion of the state. Rooney was interviewed by Paulick Report publisher Ray Paulick.

When he was running for president, Joe Biden asked, “Why should you get a (tax) break for racehorses and not get a break for child care?” How would you answer that question?
Tax relief for child care costs supports our country's working families. It is the right thing to do. It's also the right thing to do to make sure that the tax code treats investments properly, especially when that investment is in an industry like ours that isn't well understood. Owning, raising, and training Thoroughbreds is the economic foundation of our industry, supporting thousands of family farms and open working space. The majority of breeding operations are small, local farms that are incredibly important to the economic health of their communities.

How important is preservation of the depreciation for racehorses and other tax benefits to the health of the industry? Is there any danger they could be taken away?
It's very important to make sure the tax law is an accurate reflection of the economics of this industry, and the current rule regarding depreciation is set to expire at the end of this year. This is something the NTRA is already focused on that will be a big priority for me out of the gate. Additionally, some of the tax relief that was included in the 2017 legislation will begin to sunset or change in other ways over the next few years and those could impact investment in racehorses. Our work to maintain or expand these provisions is at the top of our agenda.

Where does the racing industry stand with its political action committee? Is Horse PAC large enough to give the industry a chance to be heard by Members of Congress?
Whether people like it or not, campaign contributions are a big part of how our political system works. Horse PAC is vitally important to our efforts in Washington. Not only do we have to raise and distribute money, but I need to be at the table to go shoulder to shoulder with the other industries competing for legislation that benefits them.

What challenges do you see coming up in Washington, D.C., relative to the startup of the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority?
Change isn't always easy and, in this case, we are looking at implementing a new system of federal oversight. This is a substantial change, involving coordination among the FTC, the HISA Authority, USADA and industry stakeholders. It's going to take consensus and collaboration. We can't turn back here. The old system was not serving us well both practically and in terms of public perception.

What were your views on HISA (and previous attempts at similar legislation) during your years in Congress and what are they today?
I never got a chance to vote for HISA as I was already out of Congress when it passed, but I would have voted in support. In addition to the comprehensive reforms it enables, it also gives us a chance to show the public and government leaders that we are addressing fundamental safety issues and are headed in the right direction. We have to give HISA a chance to succeed.

The vision for the NTRA has evolved from a “league office” that at one time was operationally merged with the Breeders' Cup. Among other things, it incorporated marketing and promotion, broadcast rights, racing sponsorships, group purchasing and advocacy in Washington, D.C. What would you say are the NTRA's top priorities today?
I can't really speak to what happened 15-20 years ago. RIght now, the NTRA's top priority is to build on our track record at the federal level, to make sure our political leaders understand the important economic contributions our industry generates, that they appreciate our collective responsibility and commitment to the safety and welfare of our athletes.

New NTRA president and CEO Tom Rooney (center) presenting a trophy at the Maryland Million

Your family has been involved in the NFL for many years as owners of the Pittsburgh Steelers. What did the NFL do to become so popular over the last 30 or 40 years that horse racing failed to do?
The NFL and major network television were a perfect marriage. The irony is that in the early days of the Steelers, our family's racing operations provided the funding that kept the team alive.

I'm bullish on Thoroughbred racing. Even with the issues of the last few years, the sport has built a reservoir of goodwill with the public. Interest remains strong — the Kentucky Derby this year had higher ratings than the World Series, the Masters and the NBA Finals. A national survey of sports bettors this summer showed horse racing as their sixth favorite sport to bet. We were behind football, basketball, baseball, soccer and boxing but ahead of golf, hockey, tennis and several others.

How do you see sports betting on the competitive landscape? Is there any upside from it for horse racing?
It's here and it's only going to get bigger, so we need to view sports betting as an opportunity. This is a highly engaged audience of people who enjoy betting and many of them may not currently bet on racing. Thoroughbred racing is premier betting content that should be attractive to this audience. It is important that we integrate racing into sports betting platforms and it is encouraging that it is already happening with examples like FanDuel Racing and NYRA's partnership with BetMGM.

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FTC Updates Rules By Which HISA Can Submit Draft Regulations, Procedures

The Federal Trade Commission has made updates to its Rules of Practice, establishing a formal process by which the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority can submit its draft rules and procedures to the FTC for review and an approval decision.

Under the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act of 2020, the FTC is required to review and decide whether to approve or disapprove rules proposed by the Authority in a number of areas, such as anti-doping and racetrack safety. The new procedural rules establish requirements applicable to the Authority for its submission of proposed rules to the Commission for review.

The new procedural rules identify what the Authority must submit to the Commission for the Commission to evaluate and decide whether to approve or disapprove the Authority's proposed rules. The Authority's proposed rules will be published in the Federal Register for public comment.

Consistent with the Act, the new procedural rules require the Commission to approve or disapprove of any proposed rules or rule modifications submitted by the Authority within 60 days of their being published in the Federal Register.

The Commission vote to approve the changes to the FTC Rules of Practice was 5–0. The changes will be published in the Federal Register shortly.

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TIF Examines Changes Suggested By Horseracing Integrity And Safety Authority

Many across racing might be wondering how American horse racing under the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority (HISA) could change.

To date, there are many questions and relatively few answers.

But two recent interviews with Dr. Tessa Muir, director of equine science for the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA), offer a glimpse into a possible future for the sport.

The suggestions Muir makes, while understandably qualifying that it is far too early to assess USADA's exact role with HISA given the lack of a contract between the two and no rule base in place just yet, are concurrently exciting and ground-breaking for American racing.

While there is much to be determined, one thing is certain: if Muir's early suggestions are close to the reality of USADA's likely involvement as HISA's enforcement agent, American racing is due for seismic changes, even if those are not fully in place by July 2022 when HISA is due to launch.

The Thoroughbred Daily News published the first piece on Aug. 29. Dan Ross posed several thoughtful questions to Muir about USADA's role, a focus on adopting a transparent approach to testing and results, and how their execution of anti-doping measures in human sports might translate to racing.

“It's probably a little too early to delve into specifics. There are things we've discussed with the Authority. If you take USADA's example of what there is with human sports, you can search any individual athlete by name, and you can see how many times they've been tested within that breakdown.”

“You can also look to other racing jurisdictions where they already publish some of this data, such as in Racing Victoria. After the race day, they publish a report on what horses got tested, pre-race and post-race.”

Using the example of Melbourne Cup Day in 2020, blood was drawn from 38 horses before racing (to be analyzed after the race), urine was drawn from six more and post-race samples from every race winner, along with the second and third finishers in the big race.

As it stands in U.S. racing now, few stakeholders know which horses are tested, with the exception of race winners. A ledger of out-of-competition tests is not available. Muir gives the impression this will change under USADA's role in HISA.

“There's a need for transparency in competition–for race day and in the out-of-competition component. If you look at USADA's history, they've been huge advocates for transparency and for sharing testing data.

“If you look on their website, you can search for an individual athlete and see how many times they've been tested in a year or in a quarter, which I think is a really positive thing.”

“On the equine side, we definitely want to publish testing data. I think there's a balance–you want to publish and be transparent to the point it doesn't compromise the integrity of the independent testing program you've got in place.”

The status quo, however, has been far different.

In a recent court filing (see page 16 of the document), prosecutors from the Southern District of New York argued indicted Standardbred trainer Nick Surick entered horses in races where he believed post-race testing would not be done for substances which he used in his horses.

Natalie Voss from Paulick Report drew attention to transcripts in the recent filing which indicated the indicted trainers may have been tipped-off, regularly, by track security staff of possible searches.

Knowing which horses are tested, when and how often is a crucial step towards improving overall confidence in the sport.

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Three days following the publication of Ross's Q&A with Muir, she outlined more of the possibilities in an interview with Ray Paulick, citing USADA's “whereabouts” program which requires human athletes to report their daily schedule, enabling doping control officers to locate them for out-of-competition testing.

This would revolutionize testing in American racing, and require tremendous administrative attention from trainers and their staffs. Muir's remarks on this topic, to Paulick, are below:

“The intent of the (federal law) is that horses are accessible at any time at any place from the point of their first workout until they retire from racing. In order to conduct that 'no-advance-notice' testing anywhere at any time, you need whereabouts information in order to find the horse.

“That really is a critical underpinning for prevention, deterrence and detection of misuse of substances. Whilst specifics of how that may look are currently not finalized, if you look at any good anti-doping program in the world, whereabouts is a really key component. And that requires locations, not just while horses are in training but when they are in other locations resting or pre-training.”

USADA's “Whereabouts Policy” details the degree of specificity required by human athletes to ensure they can be located for testing.

Athletes must submit accurate contact information, providing a full schedule including “each location where the Athlete will train, work or conduct any other regular activity (e.g. school), as well as the usual timeframes for such regular activities.” In addition, they must identify one hour each day between 5 A.M. and 11 P.M. “during which the Athlete will be available and accessible for Testing at a specific location.”

Complete details of every overnight location must be provided on a quarterly basis, delineated by day. Any amendments to these plans must also be filed. The Whereabouts Policy document notes:

“The athlete must provide sufficient information to enable a doping control officer to find the location, to gain access to the location, and to find the Athlete at the location. For example, declarations such as 'running in Rocky Mountain National Park' are insufficient.”

Failure to comply with USADA's entire “doping control process” for human athletes can lead to suspensions of up to four years “and other consequences.”

In 2013, track and field athlete Trey Downing was suspended for 18 months for failing to provide a sample at a doping control officer's request.

In December 2020, UFC athlete Yair Rodriguez was suspended for six months for violating the UFC's Anti-Doping Policy by accruing three “Whereabouts” failures in each of the first three quarters of 2020. According to the release of the sanction, “Rodriguez was eligible for a reduction in the period of ineligibility because his conduct did not raise suspicion that he was trying to avoid being available for testing.”

Introduction of such a policy across American racing is difficult to comprehend given the status quo and will leave HISA and USADA, not to mention trainers, with a mountain of administrative work to assure compliance over time.

The recently released transcripts of conversations from trainers Jorge Navarro and Jason Servis, as well as veterinarian Kristian Rhein and other indicted individuals highlight the importance of doping control agents having routine access to horses, and this includes knowing where all horses are supposed to be at all times. Navarro and Rhein both pled guilty in August and are due to be sentenced in December.

In one of the wiretapped calls from June 5, 2019, Servis tells Rhein that testers, presumably from the New Jersey Racing Commission, were looking for Sunny Ridge at Monmouth Park on June 3, more than a week after he won the Salvator Mile (G3) there. Servis told Rhein that the horse was not there, but at Belmont. He then wonders incredulously why the testers took a sample from a juvenile that had not run well.

Standardbred trainer Nick Surick hid horses to evade out-of-competition testing, according to a recent filing in the case by prosecutors. Paulick Report posted the full filing and it can be accessed here (Surick evasion details are on page 17 of the document).

Whereabouts policies, and penalties assessed for failures to comply with them, increase the difficulty of evading detection.

A national voice leading a unified effort to educate horsemen on a single set of rules has not been a feature of the American racing landscape.

New rules and new procedures will require outreach the likes of which the American racing industry has not witnessed previously. USADA offers a series of documents which outline the polices and procedures of their anti-doping control programs – some for athletes, coaches, health care professionals – and include details of testing and results management, rights and responsibilities, whereabouts and whistleblower policies, investigations principles and more.

Dr. Muir told Ross “the education component of any anti-doping and medication program is a foundation to the success of the program. There's a variety of ways to actually deliver that information in an effective way. Something we'll be looking to is [to have] a level of education in place ahead of the first of July 2022.”

While acknowledging that nothing has been developed as of yet given the lack of rules, USADA's expertise in communicating policies and procedures is well-established.

Muir acknowledged USADA is cognizant of the need to produce materials in Spanish and that outreach efforts goes well beyond just trainers.

“There are a lot of parties beyond just the trainers and the grooms who touch these horses on a day-to-day basis, and therefore, we want to be in the best position possible to give people the tools to comply with the rules.

When HISA begins to operate, with USADA as its expected enforcement agent, there is no expectation that all of the elements of the programs Muir outlined are fully operational.

“Achieving what she calls a 'gold standard' program will not happen overnight,” wrote Ray Paulick. “Muir puts an 18- to 24-month timeline on that goal.”

Among the education efforts, Muir notes that participation from the industry, including via anonymous tip lines, will be needed to supplement formal efforts to maintain an improved sport. A USADA-administered tip line won't be racing's first – but it will be the first under a new, unified rule set, and one run by an organization with actual, nationwide control.

“The testing investigations comes under the responsibility of the enforcement agency (presumably USADA), but the tip lines and other things must have industry ownership,” Muir said. “When it comes to the responsibility for clean racing and preventing, deterring and detecting people who might be doing the wrong thing, it's the responsibility of the whole industry to call that out and prevent it and to stand up for clean racing.”

Undoubtedly, the question of cost comes into consideration.

A robust approach to anti-doping efforts in American racing will be more expensive under HISA than the present. But Muir told Ross that the current state-by-state approach has made it challenging to understand how much is spent at present on these efforts, making future cost projections all the more difficult.

“I think one of the challenges at the moment is that there's not any one currently accepted understanding of what the total cost and total amount currently being spent is. So, getting a handle on that is quite difficult to know: How is it going to be more expensive, and by how much?

“As the [HISA] chairman [Charles Scheeler] alluded to at the [Jockey Club] Round Table, he said publicly that they anticipate the costs are going to go up, and of course, that's to be expected for an enhanced and more effective program of the scale we're looking at here.

“It's a comparatively small investment–I'm not saying it's necessarily a small amount of money, not to belittle the amount–but a comparatively small investment in protecting the fairness of clean racing for all our horsemen and obviously the health and welfare of the horses and the longevity of the sport in the future.”

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USADA’s Dr. Tessa Muir: Industry Confidence In Anti-Doping Program Key Element To HISA Success

How will equine medication rules and enforcement be different once the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority becomes the federally mandated regulatory body for Thoroughbred racing next year?

For starters, for the first time, regulations related to medication, testing and enforcement will be uniform in every racing state. That's a tremendous achievement in itself.

Efforts to form uniform rules go back decades to the days of the National Association of State Racing Commissioners (predecessor of the Association of Racing Commissioners International).  There has been incremental progress, through development of model rules that only went into effect if individual state racing commissions and sometimes legislators bought into them. Too often they didn't adopt them as written.

The enabling legislation creating the Authority, the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act, overcomes those hurdles. The Authority is a non-governmental agency that will have federal oversight from the Federal Trade Commission, especially in its formative stage. Prior to July 2022, when the Authority is scheduled to be operational, the FTC will be required to accept, reject or amend the rules that the Authority is now developing to regulate medication and safety policies.

Dr. Tessa Muir, who joined the United States Anti-Doping Agency as head of its newly created equine program earlier this year, is part of the team developing those regulations. While USADA does not yet have a contract with the Authority, it's fully expected that it will be the agency named to that position, enforcing anti-doping policies in much the way it does for athletes in the Olympics, Paralympics and UFC fighters from the world of mixed martial arts.

Muir has worked as a regulatory veterinarian with Racing Victoria in Australia and before then spent six years with the British Horseracing Authority as a veterinarian assistant and anti-doping manager.

“We are diligently working with the Authority,” Muir said in an interview with the Paulick Report. “The core rules that we are developing will form the basis of the program. Implementation is that final step in bringing HISA to reality.

“Alongside the rules,” Muir added, “we are working with the Authority and hope to have a contract in place with them ASAP.”

In parallel with development of medication regulations, which will lean heavily on existing guidelines from the International Federation of Horseracing Authorities and the Association of Racing Commissioners International, Muir said USADA and the Authority are also working through a business model to determine staffing or contract labor needed to enforce its program. Among other things, there will be a need for investigators and what USADA refers to as doping control officers.

“One of the really great things with combining USADA and its human side with its equine side – assuming we do have a signed contract with the Authority – is that there will be some crossover between what goes on in the human world and the equine world,” Muir said. “Clearly, there are a lot of things that are also different, but again, where possible, we'll be trying to leverage resources sensibly to make it as streamlined as possible.

“What we are looking to do is to take the best elements from good anti-doping programs, whether they be equine or human, and create consistent, thorough and robust rules that fit the U.S. Once we have those rules, we can enforce them to ensure clean racing, the health and welfare and long-term soundness of our equine athletes.”

USADA and the Authority will also need to establish laboratory standards and an accreditation program before determining which of the existing drug testing laboratories will be utilized. While laws in some racing jurisdictions currently require testing to be conducted at in-state university labs, the assumption is that the enabling federal legislation will supersede such state laws.

Muir said post-race sampling will continue to be a part of a USADA anti-doping program, but it's obvious a significant focus will be on out-of-competition testing. Achieving what she calls a “gold standard” program will not happen overnight. Muir puts an 18- to 24-month timeline on that goal.

“A lot of it relates to collection of the data and to have a smart testing program, whether that be in or out of competition,” Muir said. “You have to develop the technology and the information and intelligence from the investigations to form that big picture on how you conduct testing.”

Muir describes best practices out-of-competition testing as an “anywhere, anytime”program that will be accompanied by a “whereabouts” requirement. That means the location of horses may need to be reported to the Authority or to USADA at all times so that surprise visits by doping control officers may take place.

“The intent of the (federal law) is that horses are accessible at any time at any place from the point of their first workout until they retire from racing,” Muir said. “In order to conduct that 'no-advance-notice' testing anywhere at anytime, you need whereabouts information in order to find the horse. That really is a critical underpinning for prevention, deterrence and detection of misuse of substances. Whilst specifics of how that may look are currently not finalized, if you look at any good anti-doping program in the world, whereabouts is a really key component. And that requires locations, not just while horses are in training but when they are in other locations resting or pre-training.”

Muir said testing is not the only way to catch violators, since some substances can be very difficult to detect.

“When you look at blood doping agents or illicit substances, it's not just things like EPO that are potentially difficult to detect,” she said. “There are other substances such as insulin, which have relatively short detection windows but potentially a much larger window for effect.

“In general terms, detection of a prohibited substance in a sample is only one of a number of different anti-doping rule violations. That detection isn't necessarily the only way to determine that someone has broken the rules.”

Muir listed anonymous tip lines as an important tool, though realizes that racing, like other sports that have struggled to control performance-enhancing drug use, there seems to be a de facto code of silence among many participants.

For that to change, Muir said, the industry will need to buy in to the principle that clean racing is better for everyone.

“The testing investigations comes under the responsibility of the enforcement agency (presumably USADA), but the tip lines and other things must have industry ownership,” she said. “When it comes to the responsibility for clean racing and preventing, deterring and detecting people who might be doing the wrong thing, it's the responsibility of the whole industry to call that out and prevent it and to stand up for clean racing.”

Muir admits that won't happen if the industry lacks confidence in USADA and the Authority.

“People have got to have confidence in those enforcing the rules, that they are acting on and doing the right thing,” she said. “I've had a lot of respect for USADA for a long time: that voice for the clean athletes and those doing the right thing. On the equine side it's the same proposition: standing up for the good people who are doing the right thing. They need to have trust that those enforcing the rules are going to help stand up for their rights.”

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