LA-Breds To Race For Nearly $6m In Stakes Purses This Year

The Louisiana Thoroughbred Breeders Association will have a nearly $6,000,000 stakes schedule this year the LTBA announced Tuesday. Offered over 67 stakes races, of which 33 will offer a purse of over $100,000, the purses are part of a continuing program to support accredited Louisiana-breds along with incentives for breeders and stallion owners.

“We are proud to offer a dynamic stakes program that provides a year-round schedule for Accredited Louisiana breds,” said LTBA secretary-treasurer Roger Heitzmann III. “Our owners and trainers have found this to be a tremendous benefit, and we are thankful to have four tracks that do great job of supporting Louisiana breds”

The post LA-Breds To Race For Nearly $6m In Stakes Purses This Year appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

Sixth Circuit: No Rehearing On HISA Constitutionality Decision

The United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit ruled Thursday that it will not grant a full-court rehearing to the losing plaintiffs who contested a three-judge panel's Mar. 3 decision to uphold the constitutionality of the Horse Racing Integrity and Safety Act (HISA).

The case is one of five anti-HISA constitutionality lawsuits currently active in the federal court system. Led by the states of Oklahoma, West Virginia and Louisiana, the plaintiffs collectively petitioned Apr. 17 for a rarely granted “en banc” procedure that asked for a rehearing before all 28 of the Sixth Circuit's judges instead of just the panel of three who had ruled that a change of language in the HISA law was sufficient to alleviate the plaintiffs' concerns over constitutionality.

“The court received a petition for rehearing en banc. The original panel has reviewed the petition for rehearing and concludes that the issues raised in the petition were fully considered upon the original submission and decision of the case. The petition then was circulated to the full court. No judge has requested a vote on the suggestion for rehearing en banc. Therefore, the petition is denied,” the May 18 order stated in its entirety.

A United States Court of Appeals explanatory page about how en banc requests work stated that the granting of that type of rehearing was “rare” at the federal level. The Sixth Circuit took on only seven en banc hearings between January 2018 and September 2021, according to the University of Cincinnati Law Review.

Beyond the above-mentioned states, the plaintiffs include the racing commissions from Oklahoma and West Virginia, plus three Oklahoma tracks (Remington Park, Will Rogers Downs and Fair Meadows), the Oklahoma Quarter Horse Association, the U.S. Trotting Association, and Hanover Shoe Farms, a Pennsylvania Standardbred breeding entity.

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

The underlying lawsuit dates to Apr. 26, 2021, when the plaintiffs sued, alleging that “HISA gives a private corporation broad regulatory authority.”

On June 2, 2022, that claim was dismissed by a judge in U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Kentucky (Lexington) for failure to state a claim of action. The plaintiffs then appealed to the U.S. Sixth Circuit.

In between the filing of that appeal and the Sixth Circuit's decision on it, an updated version of HISA was passed into law Dec. 29, 2022, with the aim of fixing constitutional flaws that a separate Fifth Circuit appeal had identified.

The Mar. 3 order by the Sixth Circuit affirmed the constitutionality of the amended HISA law. On remand from the Fifth Circuit, a United States District Court judge in Texas did the same thing May 4.

In its Apr. 17 rehearing petition, the plaintiffs had stated that parts of the panel's decision were “erroneous, and this Court should rehear the case en banc in order to resolve those questions of exceptional importance.”

Thursday's ruling by the Sixth Circuit disagreed.

The post Sixth Circuit: No Rehearing On HISA Constitutionality Decision appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

HISA Authority: Plaintiffs In La Lawsuit Have ‘No Right’ to Add New Parties

The Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act (HISA) Authority reiterated to a judge on Monday a belief that the plaintiffs in the federal lawsuit spearheaded by the state of Louisiana have “no right” to expand the scope of their complaint by letting new entities join the nine-month-old case in United States District Court (Western District of Louisiana).

“Plaintiffs characterize their joinder of new parties as a 'routine amendment,'” the Apr. 3 court filing stated. “But they do not dispute that the purpose of their amendment is to transform the preliminary injunction already in force in Louisiana and West Virginia into a nationwide injunction by adding a 'broad collection' of new plaintiffs stretching 'literally from coast-to-coast.'

“Nor do Plaintiffs deny that their recent maneuvering is intended to circumvent the difficult standard that applies to the still pending intervention motion previously filed by these same parties,” the filing continued.

“And they do not contest that had the original Plaintiffs been denied a preliminary injunction, none of the new parties seeking to piggyback on that relief would have joined this suit but instead would have tried their luck elsewhere.

“To the contrary, in a separate challenge in the Northern District of Texas that has been ongoing for two years, many of these same parties conceded that their 'strategic' decision to join this suit is motivated by their belief that the original Plaintiffs had found 'a judge who had previously been generous to those plaintiffs with equitable relief,'” the filing stated.

Back on Feb. 6, the plaintiffs filed an amended complaint to their original June 29, 2022, lawsuit, with the chief changes involving the addition of 14 new individual Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association affiliates, plus a wide swath of states, racing commissions, and individual racetracks.

After the defendants moved to strike the amended complaint on Mar. 6, the plaintiffs followed up three weeks later by filing a memorandum in support of allowing the new entities.

“Defendants suggest that Plaintiffs engage in something sinister by seeking amendment to request expanded relief,” the plaintiffs' Mar. 27 court filing stated. “But parties across the country routinely amend to seek expanded relief without issue.”

The judge in the case has now been supplied with written legal arguments on both sides of the issue, paving the way for a near-future ruling on the defendants' motion to strike the amended complaint.

The post HISA Authority: Plaintiffs In La Lawsuit Have ‘No Right’ to Add New Parties appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

Landry To Deliver Keynote Address at National HBPA Conference

Edited Press Release

Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry will be the keynote speaker at the National HBPA's annual conference Mar. 6-10 at the Hotel Monteleone in New Orleans' historic French Quarter, the horsemen's organization announced. The conference, being hosted by the Louisiana HPBA, takes place in conjunction with the Association of Racing Commissioners International (ARCI) Annual Meeting and Racing Integrity Conference.

Landry's keynote address is to be delivered Mar. 7. He has been at the forefront of states challenging the constitutionality of the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act (HISA) and the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority (Authority) that the law established. In addition to constitutionality issues, Landry has expressed concern for the financial hardship that a largely duplicative bureaucracy will put on large portions of the horse-racing industry. Louisiana has four tracks that conduct horse racing.

“I am honored to be chosen the keynote speaker at the National HBPA Conference, and I look forward to visiting with so many who ply their trade in such a great industry,” said Landry, a decorated Army veteran. “I will continue fighting for them to prevent the federal government from taking over horse racing.”

Added National HBPA CEO Eric Hamelback: “Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry embodies the positive vision with the inspiration and passion we seek in a keynote speaker. He has proven to be a strong advocate for horsemen and women who understands our labor-intensive industry with its substantial agribusiness, not only in Louisiana but throughout the country. He believes in a bright and better future for horse racing, and refuses to let us be trampled by special interests.”

More information and registration is available here.

The post Landry To Deliver Keynote Address at National HBPA Conference appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

Verified by MonsterInsights