Tag: joe moore

Who Bears Compliance Responsibility if WV Can’t Hire HIWU Vets?

Facing a dire shortage of veterinarians at the state's two Thoroughbred tracks and under deadline pressure to decide whether to enter into a voluntary implementation agreement with the Horseracing Integrity and Welfare Unit (HIWU) prior to that entity's Jan. 1 start date, the West Virginia Racing Commission (WVRC) on Monday pressed a representative of HIWU for clarity on who, exactly, will bear responsibility if the minimum required number of equine drug testing employees can't be hired within the next six weeks.

It took some polite but persistent questioning by commissioner J.B. Akers to get an answer to that question. But Alex Waldrop, the recently retired National Thoroughbred Racing Association chief executive who now works as an advisor to HIWU, eventually conceded that “the burden right now is on HIWU.”

Akers had wanted assurance that West Virginia's racing wouldn't be subject to a shutdown if neither the commission nor the tracks could fill the federally required positions related to the coming of HIWU, an overarching national concern that has ramifications beyond just Mountaineer Park and Charles Town Races.

“I have a hard time believing that we're alone on this issue,” Akers said. “If it's only a few jurisdictions that's one thing. But if it's a substantial number of jurisdictions [that can't meet the staffing statute], I think that frames the issue a little differently.”

HIWU is the entity that will operate HISA's anti-doping program. HISA creates the rules HIWU will enforce.

In October, the WVRC, like racing commissions other states, was notified of the details of the combined agreements that HISA and HIWU want racing jurisdictions to either accept or decline prior to the Jan. 1 implementation date. Commissions and/or tracks have already been assessed costs for the 2023 operations of the two programs; if states opt-in to the agreements and pay some of the costs up front, their assessments will be reduced.

Joe Moore, the WVRC's executive director, said his state is already operating under a modified 2022 agreement with HISA on its racetrack safety program. He explained that he would like the proposed combined 2023 HISA and HIWU agreements split into two separate ones because the safety standards are a “much smoother agreement to extend [but] I believe the HIWU agreement is going to be a much heavier lift.”

At a time when the hiring marketplace is fierce nationwide and Mountaineer and Charles Town already find it difficult to obtain veterinary help, Moore stated it would be next to impossible for West Virginia to go out and hire at least 12 new people to work in drug testing oversight, which according to the incoming HIWU rules must consist of at least one veterinarian, a veterinary technician, a test barn supervisor, and five assistants at each track.

“I will tell you that neither of West Virginia's two test barns are anywhere close to this minimum,” Moore said.

“At Charles Town we have a vet supervisor who conducts our blood draw, two full-time assistants for urine collections, and a part-time assistant. Charles Town has one vet that does the pre-race and nightly card at the same time. We do not have a dedicated vet for the test barn, and we do not have a licensed vet tech,” Moore said.

“At Mountaineer Park, you have a licensed vet tech and three [per-diem] vet assistants for urine collection. Mountaineer Park has one vet for pre-race and nightly racing and no vet dedicated to the test barn,” Moore said.

Moore said one idea could be for the WVRC to staff the positions as best as it can, then ask HIWU to “fill in the gaps” while rebating the state for the positions West Virginia pays to cover.

“Or HIWU may take the stance of, 'You don't have enough [staff]. We're going to take over the whole operation,'” Moore postulated.

Another option, Moore said, would be to see if HIWU would be amenable to compromising on some of the required test barn positions by reducing or eliminating them.

Waldrop said that third option isn't likely to happen: “I don't think there is much, if any, leeway in [eliminating] the individual positions that need to be filled on a daily basis at West Virginia racetracks.”

But Waldrop did add that, “I do think that a cooperative effort between West Virginia and HIWU is the best way to go forward here. But I can't deliver that today. I can't promise that will be the case.”

Akers asked Moore if it would even be possible for the WVRC to post the jobs, interview candidates, perform background checks, and hire and train them prior to the Jan. 1, 2023, deadline.

Moore replied, “Commissioner, this couldn't be done by January of 2028. The racing commission does not have the funding to hire 12 additional personnel on a full-time basis.”

Willing and available veterinarians, Moore added, “don't exist out there right now.”

Waldrop explained that HISA and HIWU could assist with hiring by tapping into the resources of Drug Free Sport International, which has been hired to build HISA's independent Anti-Doping and Medication Control enforcement agency.

But while technicians and specimen collectors can be more easily trained to do their jobs, Waldrop admitted that, “The veterinary aspects are the most challenging. And I can tell you that HIWU is well aware of that, and they've been aware of that for some time. That's probably the biggest hurdle that they see in the near term. And they certainly intend to be prepared on Jan. 1.”

Waldrop continued: “Vets are hard to come by anywhere in the country right now, though, so I'm not going to sit here and say West Virginia is entirely unique. Equine vets [who are] familiar with the racetrack, that's a challenge. But it's one that HIWU has accepted, and they are confident that they can meet it.”

Akers then again prompted Waldrop to clarify who'd be held responsible if that didn't happen.

“Is it going to be HIWU's position, if, you know, that the state of West Virginia is out of compliance and it's our fault this didn't happen?” Akers asked. “Or is HIWU going to take responsibility and say that [the WVRC] made reasonable attempts and couldn't find the personnel to hire?  Or is our racing jurisdiction going to be allegedly out of compliance with the statutory scheme, and therefore threatened by you with regard to whether we're even allowed to race or not?”

Waldrop replied that, “At this point in time, 'Who's out of compliance?' is an issue we could debate. But I think from the industry standpoint, it's HIWU's intention to be up and running and prepared to go Jan. 1.”

Waldrop continued: “One of the challenges you have in West Virginia [is] that you don't have the budgetary resources to hire these individuals…and I respect [and] understand that. HIWU doesn't have that challenge. HIWU has the financial resources to hire these people. So it's one of those hurdles that can be overcome because HIWU has that ability…. HIWU is part of Drug Free Sport, which is an international organization which has massive resources, financial as well as personnel, that they can draw upon.”

Akers said that it was his understanding that HIWU, HISA and Drug Free Sport don't currently have any regulatory veterinarians on staff.

“You're correct,” Waldrop answered. “You're focusing on exactly the right point, which is the challenge here is reg vets. The other positions we will provide. The reg vets are the challenge.”

But Akers still hadn't received a direct answer to his compliance question, so he respectfully but emphatically asked a third time if West Virginia was at risk of having its racing shut down over not having the required HIWU hires in place.

“I don't think that last scenario is going to occur, sir,” Waldrop replied. “HIWU will work with HISA, and do their level best to keep racing going in West Virginia without interruption to provide the staff that's necessary…So I would say to you that the burden right now is on HIWU to be prepared on Jan. 1.”

Akers said he appreciated that answer, adding that while he understood that Waldrop isn't a HIWU executive, he did want the minutes of the meeting to reflect that the HIWU advisor had articulated that “the burden should be presently on HIWU to make sure that these requirements are implemented by Jan. 1 to the extent that those are their mandates.”

In light of a long list of questions that Akers said he still had about entering into a voluntary HIWU agreement for 2023, Waldrop offered to set up a conference meeting in about two weeks between HIWU's executive director and general counsel and any interested West Virginia racing stakeholders and commission members.

The commission ended up taking no action on Monday on either opting into or out of the HISA and HIWU agreements for 2023.

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HISA Visits Mountaineer During Chronic Vet Shortage at Track

A representative of the Horse Racing Integrity Act's (HISA) Racetrack Safety Team has been on the grounds at Mountaineer Park in West Virginia this past week–at a time when the track is experiencing an ongoing chronic shortage of attending, association and regulatory veterinarians, according to observers.

According to Jami Poole, president of the Mountaineer Horseman's Benevolent and Protective Association (MHBPA), there is often no veterinarian on the facility's grounds during training hours.

“I'm not pleased about the vet situation here in the morning time,” said Poole, who estimated that training is conducted at Mountaineer for about 50% of the time without a veterinarian on the grounds to ensure that any potentially stricken horse is attended to immediately.

Poole declined to answer when asked if the veterinary shortage at Mountaineer has led to any instances of horses' welfare put in jeopardy.

One unnamed source, however–who asked to remain anonymous for fear of professional reprisal–said that the lack of a veterinarian on the grounds during training has led to one instance, which occurred about two months ago, of an injured horse remaining unattended for a prolonged period of time.

“The horse broke down at around 8:30 in the morning,” said the source. The nearest veterinarian was around 30 minutes away, according to two other sources.

According to Lori Bohenko, the West Virginia Racing Commission's (WVRC) regulatory veterinarian at Mountaineer, there have been two fatalities during morning training at Mountaineer this year. The other, Bohenko said, was a sudden death for which she was present on the track.

The veterinary shortage during training, said Poole, has been ongoing since the start of the year. Curiously, neither the WVRC nor HISA requires a racing association like Mountaineer to maintain a veterinarian presence during training hours.

“Many tracks exceed the current HISA regulations to provide veterinary coverage whenever horses are on the racetrack, and HISA strongly encourages the few that do not provide this care to re-examine their practices and do everything possible to ensure veterinary care is available at all times,” wrote HISA director of racetrack safety Ann McGovern in emailed answers to a series of questions.

McGovern added that the HISA Racetrack Safety representative who visited Mountaineer was working with track management “to provide support and help bring Mountaineer into compliance with HISA's Racetrack Safety standards.”

A dearth of veterinarians at Mountaineer raises equine welfare concerns in other ways, according to those on the grounds.

Aside from no association veterinarians at Mountaineer, Poole said that there was only one full-time attending veterinarian for the entire backstretch–what sources estimate to be typically between 400 and 600 horses.

There should, said Poole, be at least two full-time attending veterinarians for the backstretch. “Good if we had four,” he said, adding that a veterinarian from Texas has expressed interest in working at Mountaineer next year. “I hope she doesn't change her mind,” he said.

Furthermore, the lone regulatory veterinarian who conducts pre-race examinations is sometimes late to the facility due to conflicting work commitments, Poole said. This has occasionally led to pre-race examinations being conducted in the paddock, immediately before a race, he said.

“It's happened probably three times,” said Poole, adding that the sheer workload at Mountaineer was too large for just one regulatory veterinarian. “We couldn't do without her, so you've got to work around her schedule, too,” said Poole, about Bohenko.

The WVRC's other regulatory veterinarian for Mountaineer, Jon Day, retired this past May.

Poole said that he has repeatedly alerted the WVRC, Mountaineer track management and HISA to the veterinary shortage at the track.

The WVRC executive director Joe Moore, did not dispute Poole's claims. “The Racing Commission is aware of the shortage of racetrack veterinarians, not only in WV, but across the country,” wrote Moore, highlighting an industry-wide problem hitting smaller tracks like Turf Paradise especially hard.

When asked what steps the WVRC has taken to correct the veterinary shortage at Mountaineer, Moore wrote that the commission has increased the rate of pay for regulatory veterinarians in recent years.

However, when it comes to private attending veterinarians on the backside, they are there “at the request/contract of the Mountaineer Horsemen,” wrote Moore.

When asked about the track's veterinary shortage, Jim Colvin, Mountaineer's director of racing, wrote, “You will have to address the veterinarian questions to Joe Moore from the WV Racing Commission since Mountaineer has no vets that work for us or are employed by us.”

Colvin failed to answer follow-up questions about whether Mountaineer has attempted to hire association veterinarians to assist the commission's regulatory team and to cover holes during training. Colvin also failed to respond to questions about the recent visit by a HISA representative.

When asked the same question, Moore wrote that commission management was not involved with the HISA representative's visit to Mountaineer Park. “I'm certain he spoke with Racing Commission staff while onsite. However, I have no further details about said conversations.”

HISA's McGovern left the door open to the new federal organization stepping in to fill the veterinary holes at Mountaineer.

“Should HISA determine that safety is compromised at a covered racetrack, HISA has the authority to place a vet at the racetrack, at the racetrack's expense,” she wrote. “HISA has compensated Regulatory and Association veterinarians to enforce HISA regulations. Those expenses are billed back to the racetrack.”

McGovern wrote that HISA “recognizes the national shortage of Equine veterinarians and has had internal discussions about programs to incentivize veterinary students to consider Equine medicine.”

She added, however, “those plans are longer term and do not address the immediate needs.”

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West Virginia Advances Model Rules; 2022 Implementation Hinges On Legislature

After a failed attempt last year to adopt a group of drug-related model rules that every other racing jurisdiction in the mid-Atlantic region has already implemented, the West Virginia Racing Commission (WVRC) on Monday voted 2-0 to advance to the state legislature new regulations concerning medication abuse and stepped-up penalty scales.

The July 12 passage of new rules concerning clenbuterol, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, intra-articular injections and the adoption of the most current Uniform Classification Guidelines for Foreign Substances list did not come without drama and several detours.

In fact, much of the wide-ranging debate centered not on the actual rules themselves, but on over-arching reasons for whether the board should even be voting on the rules package at all.

Back at the May 18 WVRC meeting, when the rules package was approved and sent out for its public commentary period, chairman Ken Lowe, Jr. said he would not support the system of fines included within some of those Association of Racing Commissioners International (ARCI) model rules because he believed they were too onerous for West Virginia trainers to bear.

Yet at Monday's meeting, Lowe didn't follow through on his vow to tinker with the penalty system.

“You can't pick on every little bitty nanogram out of a 1,200-pound animal when there  are people out there doing things that are a lot worse,” Lowe said.

“I hope every cheater gets caught and is suspended from the game–the big stuff, not the minor stuff, if it is an error,” Lowe said. “I'm not trying to convolute all this stuff–I swear I'm not. I'm just trying to help people understand that it's the bad people that I want to get caught and [be put] out of business. It's not the ones that screw up slightly or overlook something.”

Prior to the vote, Kelli Talbott, an attorney representing WVRC, advocated that board members seriously consider the model rules, lest West Virginia remain out of step.

“For what it's worth, we're the only mid-Atlantic state that does not have these,” Talbott said.

“I understand, commissioner Lowe, you pointed out that we should be mindful [that] West Virginia is different in some ways, that we should take that into account,” Talbott said. “But on the other hand, when you have [neighboring] states now having had these rules for a year or more…that's a concern.”

Talbott also pointed out that the commission “can't ignore the elephant in the room,” which is the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act [HISA].

The federal regulatory system that will be created by that law is scheduled to go into effect July 1, 2022, and Talbott said it would supersede existing state regulations pertaining to racing (West Virginia is a plaintiff in a lawsuit trying to keep HISA from being implemented).

“You just have to be somewhat mindful of looking at what's going on at the federal level,” Talbott said. “I think it's highly likely that HISA will adopt rules that look a whole lot like these model rules that [we're proposing] and other states already have.”

Talbott also told commissioners that the governor in June had handed down a streamlining mandate telling state agencies to only send rule proposals to the legislature that were “deemed necessary.” She also noted that West Virginia's horsemen's groups had filed written comments opposing the model rules, which could lead to a “battle in legislature.” And even if the model rules do get adopted by the legislature, it will be about a year before they are actually implemented at the state's two Thoroughbred tracks.

“At this point, I don't think we can deny that West Virginia's an outlier in the mid-Atlantic with regard to these rules,” Talbott said. “But on the other hand, you have opposition from the horsemen, you have the governor's executive order, you have the HISA implementation. And so I think the legitimate question is, 'Is it really something that you want to take on this year?'”

Lowe responded to Talbott's briefing by reminding her that it was not her place to advocate one way or the other for model rules.

“I'll say this in all due respects: The commission will decide the policy,” Lowe told Talbott firmly but politely. “You're always welcome [to provide] your legal opinion. But we need to make the policy decisions ourselves.”

Quixotically, Lowe then veered away from discussing the pending agenda item, seemingly to defend himself for not having spoken up at ARCI meetings against the crafting of these sorts of model rules.

“Don't ever think because Ken Lowe didn't vote against something [at an ARCI meeting] he voted for it,” Lowe said, referring to himself in the third person.

At the ARCI meetings, Lowe said, “I'm so damn outnumbered I feel like the lone ranger sitting there…. I think differently than many of these fine folks do.”

Talbott spoke up to tell Lowe that she never raised the issue of what Lowe did or didn't vote for at the ARCI level.

Lowe then diverged again, getting to what he said was the crux of the issue.

“The biggest point I have in this whole ordeal, to me, is the diminishing or doing away with Lasix, furosemide,” Lowe said. “I think that's one of the biggest travesties that's occurring in horse racing in this country right now. Because I've seen it. I've witnessed horses bleed. I've seen horses choke on their own blood. To do away with that is a fatal mistake.”

This time Lowe's digression was interrupted by WVRC executive director Joe Moore, who pointed out that Lasix isn't even included in the rules package that the board had up for a vote.

“The statement you just made has nothing to do with the three medication rules that are before this commission to vote on today, correct?” Moore asked. Talbott confirmed that Lasix was not up for any sort of vote.

After the conversation got steered back to the agenda item, Lowe asked if any commissioner would make a motion to either support or quash the proposed model rules.

Commissioner J.B. Akers moved to advance the rules package to the legislature, noting that last year, he was the only commissioner who supported essentially the same proposal.

“I know West Virginia is not New York or Kentucky or California. I realize that these rules, to some extent, can be more onerous on the horsemen in this state,” Akers said. “I realize that some people don't like these rules. But we're the only state in our region that has not adopted these model rules.”

Commissioner Tony Figaretti voted in favor of the motion with Akers. Lowe asked if there was any opposition, then said, “Hearing none, the motion passes,” without casting his own audible voice vote.

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Serrano’s Drug Test Raises Questions About How Racing Will Deal With Medical Marijuana Cards

The legalization of medical marijuana has been spreading across the United States for the past several years, and on July 27, stewards at Mountaineer Park faced a decision that racing jurisdictions around the country will likely see more of in the near future.

Jockey Keivan Serrano underwent a random drug test on July 26, and was found to have THC, or tetrahydrocannabinol, in his system. (THC is the primary psychoactive compound in marijuana.)

Serrano possesses a medical marijuana card, though it was obtained in Ohio. Mountaineer is located in New Cumberland, W.V. and Ohio's medical marijuana office does not have any reciprocity agreements with other states.

West Virginia passed a medical cannabis bill three years ago when Senate Bill 386 was signed into law on Apr. 19, 2017. The bill's language set a goal of having infrastructure such as dispensaries, medical marijuana cards, etc., in place within two years, but it still hasn't happened.

“Medical marijuana is legal in West Virginia,” said West Virginia attorney Harley Wagner. “The legislation has been passed, it's just that the components to it actually coming to fruition aren't in place yet.”

Until then, any individual caught with marijuana in their possession in West Virginia is still able to be cited by police. Wagner explained that for a small amount of marijuana, the case could be taken to court and the citation could be expunged after six months if the person does not accrue any similar citations.

Serrano did not have any marijuana in his possession when he was tested by the stewards at Mountaineer. At the time of his testing — after the races on July 26 — Serrano said he was straightforward with the testing agent about his medical marijuana card, and included the information on the official testing report.

Serrano said stewards called him the following morning to tell him he'd tested positive for THC, as he'd expected. They asked about Serrano's card, and why he had the prescription.

“I use it to sleep at night,” Serrano said. “We race at night, and sometimes I don't get home until 11:30 at night, then I'd have to get up again at five the next morning. So it helps me sleep.”

Serrano said the stewards asked him to send them the documentation he had in his possession, because West Virginia racing rules indicate that a licensee testing positive for a prescription drug is not subject to penalties, under rule 178-1-24.3.v. He also said that the stewards told him this was their first time dealing with a medical marijuana card held by a licensee.

It was Serrano's second positive test for THC in 2020 — he also tested positive at Fonner Park in Nebraska back in March.

Serrano found out via the ARCI website on July 29 that he had been summarily suspended by the stewards, pending a hearing scheduled for Aug. 5.

According to Joe Moore, executive director of the West Virginia Racing Commission, Serrano was suspended because he “did not produce a document which identified the amount or dosage of medical marijuana that was permissible for him to ingest in appropriate and specified intervals, nor did he produce a document that would have allowed the Stewards to determine whether the amount of THC in his system was consistent with a prescribed dosage.”

The level of THC in Serrano's system at the time of the test was not made public in the official ruling.

Serrano made waves on social media after the suspension became public, announcing he was leaving the sport of horse racing, but the 22-year-old said his retirement from the saddle had been on the horizon for a while.

“I've always struggled with my weight, and I always told myself that if I ever got scared or if I got too heavy, that I would stop,” Serrano said. “I don't want to not give owners and trainers 100 percent, because that's something I pride myself on.”

Serrano plans to return to school in Puerto Rico. He'll attend pre-med classes online beginning in August with the goal of one day becoming a neurosurgeon.

“I had a good run,” said Serrano, who retires with 105 wins from 1,129 starts. “I don't have any regrets.”

In the meantime, the West Virginia racing commission has not officially made a determination regarding the use of medical marijuana in licensees, including jockeys.

“The West Virginia Racing Commission has not addressed medical marijuana in its rules inasmuch as the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources (WVDHHR), the state agency responsible for administering West Virginia's medical marijuana program, has not implemented the program and rules in West Virginia,” Moore explained. “It remains to be seen how the state of West Virginia will address the recognition of other state programs and other state medical marijuana authorization cards. Until such time as the Racing Commission has more direction and guidance from the WVDHHR, it is premature to make amendments to the rules of racing.”

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