Tag: horseracing integrity and safety authority

HISA: Committee Announces Board, Standing Members Of Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority

The Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority's (the “Authority”) nominating committee announced today members of its board of directors and standing committees. The process was led by Nancy Cox, University of Kentucky vice president for land-grant engagement and dean of the College of Agriculture, Food and Environment, and Leonard Coleman, former president of the National League of Professional Baseball Clubs.

The 2020 Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act (“HISA”) created the Authority as the independent governing structure charged with proposing and enforcing health-and-safety standards subject to consideration and adoption by the Federal Trade Commission over Thoroughbred racing in the United States. The independent nominating committee reviewed more than 160 nominations, evaluating nominees from within and outside of the industry. In addition to ensuring a diversity of professional backgrounds, the committee took into consideration geographic, racial and gender diversity.

Under the authority and oversight of the Federal Trade Commission, the Authority board and standing committee members are responsible for developing, implementing and enforcing a series of uniform anti-doping, medication control, racetrack safety and operational rules to enhance equine safety and protect the integrity of the sport.

Board of Directors

The nine-person board includes five members from outside of the Thoroughbred industry and four industry representatives. The two chairs of the Authority's standing committees serve on the board of directors, and the board is expected to select the board chair at its first meeting. The board of directors includes:

  • Steve Beshear is an independent director from Kentucky. He served two terms as the 61st governor of Kentucky. An attorney by trade, Beshear has an extensive background in public service in Kentucky, including terms as Lieutenant Governor, Attorney General and a member of the Kentucky House of Representatives.
  • Adolpho Birch is an independent director from Tennessee who will chair the Anti-Doping and Medication Control Standing Committee of the Authority. Birch is senior vice president of business affairs and chief legal officer for the Tennessee Titans. Prior to joining the Titans, he spent 23 years at the National Football League's headquarters, with responsibilities that included administration and enforcement of the NFL's policies related to the integrity of the game, substance abuse, performance-enhancing drugs, gambling and criminal misconduct.
  • Leonard Coleman is an independent director from Florida. Coleman is the former president of the National League of Professional Baseball Clubs. He joined Major League Baseball in 1992 as the executive director of market development. Previously, Coleman was a municipal finance banker for Kidder, Peabody and Company and served as commissioner of both the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs and Department of Energy. Coleman is also a former board member of Churchill Downs.
  • Ellen McClain is an independent director from New York. McClain serves as the chief financial officer for Year UP, a nonprofit organization dedicated to closing the opportunity divide by ensuring that young adults gain the skills, experience and support that will empower them through careers and higher education. From 2009-2013, she served in various leadership roles with the New York Racing Association (NYRA), including as its president.
  • Charles Scheeler is an independent director from Maryland. Scheeler is a retired partner at DLA Piper. He has an extensive legal career in the private and public sector. Prior to joining DLA Piper, Scheeler was a federal prosecutor in the US Attorney's Office and served as lead counsel to former Senator George Mitchell in his investigation of performance-enhancing substance use in Major League Baseball. Scheeler also has extensive experience investigating and monitoring Division I athletics programs' compliance with the National College Athletics Association.
  • Joseph De Francis is an industry director from Maryland. De Francis is the managing partner of Gainesville Associates, LLC. Prior to this role, he was a senior executive for various Thoroughbred racing entities including the Maryland Jockey Club and Magna Entertainment Corporation. De Francis has served on several industry and charitable organization boards, including the National Thoroughbred Racing Association (“NTRA”) and the Johns Hopkins Heart Institute, among others.
  • Susan Stover is an industry director from California, and she will chair the Racetrack Safety Standing Committee of the Authority. Stover is a professor of surgical and radiological science and the University of California, Davis and an expert in clinical equine surgery and lameness. Her research investigates the prevalence, distribution and morphology of equine stress fractures, risk factors and injury prevention, as well as the impact of equine injuries on human welfare.
  • Bill Thomason is an industry director from Kentucky. Thomason is the immediate past president of Keeneland, a role he served in from 2012 to 2020. Throughout his career, Thomason has been engaged with several industry organizations, including the NTRA and American Horse Council, as well as several civic and corporate boards, including the Kentucky Chamber of Commerce and the University of Kentucky Gluck Equine Research Foundation.
  • DG Van Clief is an industry director from Virginia. Van Clief retired in 2006 from serving as president of the Breeders' Cup since 1996. A long-time racing executive, Van Clief was chairman of the Fasig-Tipton Company and a trustee of the Jockey Club Foundation. For several generations, his family operated Nydrie Stud in Virginia, and his grandmother bred 1947 Kentucky Derby winner Jet Pilot.

“Over the past several months, the nominating committee carefully reviewed each nominee with a deep and enduring understanding of the important responsibility entrusted to them in selecting the inaugural board and standing committees of this essential entity charged with standardizing safety in the industry” said nominating committee co-chair Nancy Cox. “Thanks to the time and effort of the committee, we have a diverse board and standing committees with broad expertise who will bring the thoughtfulness and skill needed in implementing the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act.”

Anti-Doping and Medication Control Standing Committee

The committee is comprised of four independent members and three industry members:

  • Adolpho Birch, chair (Tennessee, independent director) – see above
  • Jeff Novitzky is an independent member from Nevada. Novitzky is Ultimate Fighting Championship's (UFC) vice president of athlete health and performance. In this role, he partnered with the United States Anti-Doping Agency to implement UFC's anti-doping program. Prior to UFC, Novitzky was a federal agent for the Food and Drug Administration and an investigator for the Internal Revenue Service.
  • Kathleen Stroia is an independent member from Florida. Stroia is senior vice president of sport sciences and medicine and transitions for the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) and the WTA's representative on the board of the Society for Tennis Medicine and Science. Stroia has served on various committees related to her sport, including the International Tennis Federation Medical Commission, the Tennis Anti-doping Committee and the U.S. Tennis Association Sport Science Committee, among others.
  • Jerry Yon is an independent member from Florida. Yon is a retired gastroenterologist and previous member of the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission (“KHRC”), where he helped establish the Kentucky Equine Medical Director position, and is a past chair of the Equine Drug Research Council, which advises the KHRC on drug testing, regulations and penalties.
  • Jeff Blea is an industry member from California. Blea is equine medical director at the University of California, Davis School of Veterinary Medicine. He is also a partner/owner in Von Bluecher, Blea, Hunkin, Inc., an equine veterinary medicine and surgery practice. Blea has served on and led several equine industry organizations including the American Association of Equine Practitioners (“AAEP”), Southern California Equine Foundation and the NTRA's Safety and Integrity Alliance.
  • Mary Scollay is an industry member from Kentucky. Scollay is the executive director and chief operating officer of the Racing Medication and Testing Consortium (RMTC), one of the industry's foremost scientific authorities on performance enhancing drugs, therapeutic medications and laboratory testing. She has served as a racing regulator since 1987 and is an active member in several industry and professional practice organizations including the AAEP and the International Group of Specialist Racing Veterinarians.
  • Scott Stanley is an industry member from Kentucky. Stanley is a professor of analytical chemistry at the University of Kentucky's Maxwell H. Gluck Equine Research Center and director of the Equine Analytical Chemistry Laboratory. A research scientist with more than 30 years of regulatory drug testing experience, his work focuses on developing new anti-doping approaches and the establishment of the Equine Biological Passport project.

Racetrack Safety Standing Committee

The committee is comprised of four independent members and three industry members:

  • Susan Stover, chair (California, industry director) – see above
  • Lisa Fortier is an independent member from New York. Fortier is the James Law Professor of Surgery, Equine Park Faculty Director and associate chair for Graduate Education and Research at the Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine. Her primary clinical and translational research interests are in equine orthopedic surgery, tendonitis, arthritis and regenerative medicine.
  • Peter Hester is an independent member from Kentucky. Hester is an orthopedic surgeon specializing in sports medicine and previously worked for equine veterinary surgeon William Reed at Belmont Park. While in medical school, he was a night watchman at Ballindaggin Farm and has maintained a passion for the sport and rider safety.
  • Paul Lunn is an independent member from North Carolina. Lunn is dean of the College of Veterinary Medicine at North Carolina State University. Previously he was a professor and administrator at Colorado State University and the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Lunn's scholarly interests are in equine immunology and infectious disease.
  • Carl Mattacola is an independent member from North Carolina. Mattacola is dean of the University of North Carolina, Greensboro School of Health and Human Sciences. Prior to this, he was associate dean of academic and faculty affairs for the College of Health Sciences at the University of Kentucky. Mattacola's research has focused on neuromuscular, postural and functional considerations in the treatment and rehabilitation of lower extremity injury.
  • Glen Kozak is an industry member from New York. Kozak is senior vice president of operations and capital projects for the New York Racing Association's (NYRA) facility and track operations, which include Belmont Park, Saratoga Race Course, Aqueduct Racetrack and others. Prior to joining NYRA, Kozak worked for the Maryland Jockey Club as vice president of facilities and racing surfaces.
  • John Velazquez is an industry member from New York. Velazquez is one of the most accomplished and respected jockeys in the history of horse racing, having won almost 6,250 races. He is North America's all-time leading money-earning jockey and holds the record for most graded stakes wins. He is a board member of the Permanently Disabled Jockeys' Fund and co-chairman of the Jockeys' Guild. He was inducted into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame in 2012.

“The overwhelming response to the call for nominees is a clear example of the industry's interest in and commitment to addressing the safety needs in this sport,” said Leonard Coleman, co-chair of the nominating committee and incoming board member. “The members of the Authority's two standing committees bring extraordinary knowledge to the process of developing uniform standards in anti-doping and medication control and racetrack safety—a critical need for the horseracing industry.”

Members of the board of directors and standing committees underwent a comprehensive screening process, and the members of the board of directors and any independent member of a standing committee are subject to HISA's strict conflict of interest restrictions to ensure the Authority's independence and integrity.

“On behalf of the Authority, we want to thank the lawmakers who sponsored and supported this legislation in Congress, as well as the members of the nominating committee for their time, effort and professionalism,” said Cox.

Today's announcement received praise and support from Congressional leaders who shepherded the passage of the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act last December.

“The official formation of the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority is the critical next step in safeguarding this cherished sport. I'm grateful to University of Kentucky Vice President Nancy Cox, and the other members of the nominating committee for their diligence in selecting respected individuals to serve on thoroughbred racing's independent governing body, said U.S. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), who introduced the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act in the Senate and led it to enactment. “With uniform, national standards for medication-use and track safety, we can address the challenges facing horse racing and preserve one of Kentucky's signature industries for generations to come. Along with all horse racing fans, I look forward to the Authority's work to protect horses and jockeys and to give every competitor a fair shot at the winner's circle.”

“Today, the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority Nominating Committee put forward an impressive slate of individuals that will lead the Thoroughbred racing industry forward,” said Congressman Andy Barr (R-KY-06). “This group of regionally and professionally diverse individuals will guide the implementation of uniform standards of safety and competition. I want to thank each member for volunteering their time and talents to serving this vital industry. The Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act is a historic reform that will strengthen Kentucky's signature industry for generations to come.”

“Reforming the noble sport of horse racing—and implementing the high standards we established in our Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act—will require a deft, experienced and compassionate group of hands that can balance the historic and geographically diverse character of this sport's past with a resounding and ethical vision for its bright future. The group of leaders advanced by the nominating committee today has what it takes to meet that challenge, and I look forward to working with them to ensure they get the job done for the sake of our equine athletes and the many people and communities who depend on them,” said Representative Paul Tonko (D-NY-20).

Additional information on HISA can be found at hisaus.org.

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USTA To Join Upcoming Lawsuit Challenging Horseracing Integrity And Safety Act

By a vote of 35-8, the United States Trotting Association Board of Directors on Friday, April 16, elected to join an upcoming federal lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the Horseracing Integrity & Safety Act (HISA), which was passed by Congress and signed into law last year.  The USTA repeatedly has expressed reservations about the legislation's legality, in particular whether or not it violates the Constitution's non-delegation doctrine and anti-commandeering principle.

In a statement made in September 2020, USTA President Russell Williams said, “The constitutional concerns raised by HISA are substantial and pervasive. Those concerns embrace the structure and powers of the regulatory body at the heart of the bill and extend even to the bill's more peripheral provisions.”

On Friday, Williams further elucidated his concerns to the USTA Board in prepared remarks in which he also assured the board that the Association will assume no portion of the cost of district court proceedings.

If allowed to stand, HISA would remove from the states the power to regulate racing medication and safety matters and give them to a private entity, the newly created Horseracing Integrity & Safety Authority (Authority).  HISA is scheduled to go into effect no later than July 1, 2022.  The Federal Trade Commission will oversee a rule-making process that eventually will establish and approve the medication control and racetrack safety programs to be enforced by the Authority.  The new law stipulates that HADA initially will be funded by loans taken out by the Authority, which will then be repaid by fees assessed to the state racing commissions.   No price tag has yet been attached, however, nor has it been determined which segments of the industry will pay for HISA.

The legal action that the USTA will be joining is expected to be filed shortly by the State of Oklahoma and Hanover Shoe Farms.   That follows a similar claim against HISA brought last month by the National Horsemen's Benevolent & Protective Association (NHBPA) and 11 of its affiliated state organizations.   That suit, filed in the Northern District Court of Texas, alleges the law creates a private organization and gives it federal authority, which it claims is unconstitutional.

An attendance and voting summary appear below.  A “yes' vote reflects support for joining the lawsuit, while a “no” designation indicates opposition to doing so.

Present:  C. Antonacci, I. Axelrod, S. Beegle, D. Bianconi, D. Bittle, J. Bluhm, M. Breuer-Bertera, B. Brown, J. Cross, G. Ducharme, Chairman J. Faraldo, M. Ford, J. Frasure, R. Gillock, K. Greenfield, J. Gregory, T. Haight, S. Hedington, J. Hensley, S. Hoovler, J. Ingrassia, M. Kimelman, S. Lilly, Vice Chairman M. Loewe, D. Marean, J. Matarazzo, S. McCoy, C. McErlean, R. Miecuna, Treasurer J. Miller, J. Mossbarger, S. Oldford, J. Pennacchio, J. Reynolds, A. Roberts, R. Roland, J. Roth, J. Settlemoir, D. Siegel, D. Spriggs, M. Sweeney, A. Tetrick, M. Torcello, S. Warren, President R. Williams, J. Zambito

Not Present:  B. Alexander, D. Ater, L. Calderone, C. Callahan, K. Crawford, B. Kenney, C. Leonard, R. Mackinnon, S. O'Toole, S. Peine, T. Powers, R. Schnittker, J. Stratton, G. Wand

Yes:  Axelrod, Bianconi, Beegle, Bittle, Breuer-Bertera, Brown, Cross, Ducharme, Faraldo, Frasure, Gillock, Gregory, Haight, Hedington, Hensley, Hoovler, Ingrassia, Kimelman, Lilly, Loewe, Marean, Matarazzo, McCoy, Miecuna, Miller, Oldford, Pennacchio, Roberts, Roth, Spriggs, Sweeney, Tetrick, Torcello, Williams, Zambito

No:  Antonacci, Bluhm, Ford, McErlean, Roland, Settlemoir, Siegel, Warren

*Two votes from directors who were confirmed to be present on the call but experienced technical difficulties in being heard were added to the final tally.

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Horseracing Integrity And Safety Act A ‘Poll-arizing’ Issue

People apparently have strong feelings about the poll published over the last week in the Paulick Report asking readers whether they support or oppose the lawsuit filed by the National Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association and state affiliates to stop the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act from being enacted.

We've done polls before on this legislation, asking whether readers were in favor of the Act while it was working its way through Congress and then, following its passage in December 2020, whether the creation of a national office (the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority) for medication and safety regulations will have a positive or negative impact on racing.

All those polls expressed strong support for the legislation.

That's why it was a bit surprising to see what appeared to be overwhelming support (about 60%) from our readers for the HBPA's lawsuit asking a federal court to declare the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act unconstitutional.

A reader pointed out they were able to vote more than one time and suggested that maybe someone supporting the HBPA was “stuffing the ballot box.”

Turns out this person was right.

The software we use to poll readers does collect the IP address for all voters but does not identify them in any other way. It also gives us the option to block any one IP address from voting more than one time. Unfortunately, that box was not checked when this poll was published.

I was able to download and export a file of all votes onto an Excel spreadsheet and sort by IP address. Lo and behold, there were multiple cases of what I would call “extreme voting.” In one case, an IP address was responsible for voting more than 1,000 times. Another voted 500 times. The timestamp on the votes showed some people spent a lot of their daylight hours trying to influence the outcome of this poll.

I went through the document and then back to the voting software and eliminated any multiple votes from the same IP address. In the vast majority of cases, those casting multiple votes were on the side of the HBPA. When all multiple votes were eliminated (no matter which side of the issue they supported), opposition to the HBPA lawsuit came in at 66%, with only 34% supporting the HBPA challenge. This is from a total of 2,230 votes (nearly 1,800 votes from the original 4,000-plus were discovered to be duplicates).

This poll is no longer accepting votes

Do you support or oppose the lawsuit filed by the National HBPA and some of its affiliates to stop the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act from going into effect?
Vote

The funny thing about this attempt to tilt a non-scientific public opinion poll is that it will have absolutely zero bearing on the legal challenge launched by the HBPA. We asked our readers how they felt because many of them are HBPA members or affiliated with other horsemen's organizations (Thoroughbred Horsemen's Associations or Thoroughbred Owners of California).

So why do it? Why sit at a keyboard for hours and vote hundreds of time on a meaningless poll on some horse racing website that has no influence on a federal court in west Texas, where the HBPA lawsuit was filed?

Maybe some people just can't help but cheat.

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NTRA: ‘Contrary To HBPA’s Hyperbole, HISA Is Neither Unprecedented Nor Unconstitutional’

Following Monday's announcement that the National Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association (NHBPA) is filing a lawsuit against the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act (HISA), the National Thoroughbred Racing Association (NTRA) issued the following response:

Contrary to HBPA's hyperbole, HISA is neither unprecedented nor unconstitutional. HISA emulates the long-established FINRA/SEC model, with even greater protections for all stakeholders. It is disappointing that the HBPA—an entity whose mission is supposedly the welfare of horses and horsemen—would seek to undo much needed reforms to protect the industry's participants.

“HISA, a well-crafted and comprehensive piece of legislation, creates the national framework that addresses our industry's critical need for consistent, forceful anti-doping control and equine safety standards,” said Alex Waldrop, President and CEO of the NTRA. “The NTRA Board of Directors, which consists of representatives from tens of thousands of breeders, owners and trainers from more than 40 states, as well as thousands of horseplayers and virtually every major racetrack in the United States, voted to support HISA. We plan to work tirelessly on behalf of our members and a broad array of interested parties and stakeholders to support HISA's successful launch in July 2022.”

In 2020, the U.S. Congress overwhelmingly passed, and the President signed into law, the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act (HISA). Through this landmark legislation, HISA recognizes and empowers the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority (Authority) to protect the safety and welfare of Thoroughbred horseracing's most important participants—its horses—by delivering commonsense medication reforms and track safety standards.

The NHBPA, along with several of its state affiliates, seeks to upend this historic and bipartisan effort to protect Thoroughbred horses and ensure the integrity of horseracing. The HBPA has recently filed a baseless lawsuit in federal court in Texas, seeking to declare HISA unconstitutional on its face. Setting aside its fatal threshold deficiencies—including the lack of any concrete or imminent harm—the HBPA's lawsuit is meritless. HISA is constitutionally and legally sound. On behalf of a broad spectrum of organizations underlying the sport of Thoroughbred horseracing, we offer the following responses to the various claims by HBPA.

1. HBPA Claim: HISA violates the constitutional “non-delegation doctrine.”

Reality: HISA does not violate the non-delegation doctrine because the United States Supreme Court has long recognized that Congress may rely on private entities so long as the government retains ultimate decision-making authority as to rules and enforcement. HISA recognizes and empowers the Authority to propose and enforce uniform national anti-doping and equine safety standards, but only upon review, approval and adoption by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). Though this is a first for the Thoroughbred horseracing industry, HISA's structure is not new. HISA follows the FINRA/SEC model of regulation in the securities industry, and, like that model, is constitutional because any action the Authority undertakes is subject to the FTC's approval and oversight.

2. HBPA Claim: The HISA runs afoul of the Appointments Clause.

Reality: The Authority is a private entity, independently established under state law, and recognized by HISA. As such, it is simply not subject to constitutional restraints on appointments (or removal) of its Board members. Indeed, any such claim is at war with HBPA's non-delegation theory premised on the fact that the Authority is a private entity. On the one hand, the HBPA claims that the Authority cannot take action because it is private entity, but then argues, on the other hand, that the Authority cannot appoint its own Board members because it is effectively a public entity. These two HBPA arguments are in conflict, but have one important thing in common: they are both wrong.

3. HBPA Claim: HISA violates due process protections.

Reality: The HBPA's due process theory also falls flat. Though the HBPA complains of equine industry participants regulating their competitors, a strong bipartisan majority of the House and the Senate made clear in HISA that a majority of the Authority's Board members must be from outside the equine industry. To be sure, a minority of the Authority's Board members will have industry experience and engagement. But it is difficult to understand how that statutory recognition of the value of informed voices constitutes a deprivation of due process. What's more, with respect to the minority industry Board members, HISA expressly provides for equal representation among each of the six equine constituencies (trainers, owners and breeders, tracks, veterinarians, state racing commissions, and jockeys). Furthermore, the committee tasked with nominating eligible candidates for Board and standing-committee positions is made up of entirely non-industry members. HISA further imposes broad conflicts-of-interest requirements to ensure that all of its Board members (industry and non-industry alike) as well as non-industry standing committee members (not to mention their employees and family members) are required to remain free of all equine economic conflicts of interest.

Beyond these robust safeguards, established precedent confirms what common sense indicates: even when a private entity is engaged in the regulatory process, agency authority and surveillance protect against promotion of self-interest. Under HISA, for example, the FTC has the authority to decline the Authority's proposed rules and overrule any sanctions—ensuring that neither the Authority nor the individuals making up its Board can use their position for their own advantage in violation of constitutional restraints.

HISA has broad support from the Thoroughbred industry, including: organizations such as the Breeders' Cup, National Thoroughbred Racing Association, The Jockey Club, The Jockeys' Guild, American Association of Equine Practitioners and the Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders' Association; the nation's leading racetracks, including Churchill Downs, Del Mar Thoroughbred Club, Gulfstream Park, Keeneland, The Maryland Jockey Club, Monmouth Park, The New York Racing Association and Santa Anita; leading horsemen's organizations such as the Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association and the Thoroughbred Owners of California; prominent Thoroughbred owners Barbara Banke, Anthony Beck, Arthur and Staci Hancock, Fred Hertrich, Barry Irwin, Stuart S. Janney III, Rosendo Parra and Vinnie Viola; leading Thoroughbred trainers Christophe Clement, Neil Drysdale, Janet Elliot, Claude “Shug” McGaughey, Bill Mott, Todd Pletcher and Nick Zito; grassroots organization Water Hay Oats Alliance, with more than 2,000 individual members; international organizations the International Federation of Horseracing Authorities and The Jockey Club of Canada; and prominent animal welfare organizations American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, Animal Wellness Action and the Humane Society of the United States.

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