Texas | Horse Racing Free Tips

Marked Increase for 2023 Texas Summer Yearling Sale Catalog

A total of 264 yearlings have been catalogued for the 2023 Texas Summer Yearling sale, a 52-head increase over last year's edition of the sale. The sale will be held Aug. 28 at Lone Star Park in Grand Prairie, Texas.

“The increase in entries points to the success our sales have had,” TTA Sales Director Foster Bridewell said. “We've continued to push to grow our sales as a healthy marketplace to buy and sell for not only our regional buyers and sellers, but also attracting interested folks from all over the country.”

Sires include Bolt d'Oro, Connect, Classic Empire, Liam's Map, Malibu Moon, and Practical Joke as well as freshman stallions Echo Town, Global Campaign, Honor A. P., Improbable, Instagrand, McKinzie, Mr Money, Spun to Run, and Vekoma.

Regional stallions represented include American Freedom, Bobby's Wicked One, Bradester, Competitive Edge, El Deal, King Zachary, My Golden Song, Star Guitar, and Too Much Bling.

“We're proud and grateful of the offerings our breeders, owners, and consignors have brought forward for our 2023 Texas Summer Yearling sale,” Bridewell said. “We have a diverse book in terms of stallions and pedigrees and we think this could be one of our best sales yet.”

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Letters to the Editor: Texas Horse Racing Needs HISA

The horse…inquisitive, sensitive, totally aware, much smarter than you think, fearful, and a creature of habit. When my daughter returns to our family barn after training in Florida for six months, her retired horses greet her with a whinny. An old friend has returned.

The horse is a fabric of historical Texas. The horse represents how we all arrived here, and how we survived in the earliest days. Some horses are bred to run–that's their job. All animals need a job and thrive when working. The thoroughbred's instinct is to run as fast and as far as it can. As long as there are horses, there will be horse races, and men and women will admire the sheer determination, stamina, strength, and speed of the majestic horse.

The tragedy at Churchill Downs this past May, in which twelve horses broke down on the racetrack, fractured their lower legs and needed to be euthanized, should never be repeated. The cause of this rash of sudden breakdowns is uncertain: the current American thoroughbred may be bred too strong up top across the chest with lower legs that are relatively too thin and fragile, or changes in the surface of the track due to humidity and weather variations may increase the risk of a ligamentous injuries which can then predispose to falls and catastrophic fractures. Most horses can survive the surgery, but few can survive the confinement and partial weightbearing needed to allow these fractures to heal.

The Jockey Club, in recognizing this problem, sought relief from Congress and in one of the few truly bipartisan pieces of legislation in the past 10 years, the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act (HISA) was passed. This lifesaving legislation allows the government to designate a corporate entity to unite the horse industry, to find ways in which horse tragedies can be eliminated, and drug abuse can be regulated at the Federal level.

The model is not a new one. A Federally sponsored corporate entity serves to regulate the Securities and Exchange Commission. The needs are similar. Regulation among multiple states with multiple interests are consolidated under a single governing body with superior resources and a single purpose-driven goal.

In response to the HISA act, most states have supported and endorsed this model, but a few outliers, including the State of Texas represented by the Texas Racing Commission, have sought to preserve the status quo.

The Commission's stated rationale is that only the Texas Racing Commission may regulate parimutuel racing and simulcast wagering in Texas. Although National regulation affects all aspects of our life living in Texas, the Texas Racing Commission, due to this perceived legal technicality, has been unable to find a compromise solution. As a result, the Texas racing industry suffers, the Texas patrons who enjoy horseracing suffer, and our thoroughbred gladiators suffer the most.

A second consequence of this stalemate is that racetracks in Texas can no longer simulcast Texas races to other communities and states and receive wagers allotted for their racing program. Without the ability to simulcast, the betting handle at Sam Houston Racetrack during the winter meet fell 90% and the handle at the current Lone Star spring and summer racing meet is not significantly better. Tracks survive by taking approximately 15% of the betting handle to support their operations and purses. The current situation is unsustainable.

Having served on the Texas Racing Commission for 10 years, including four years as Chairman, I can attest that the Commission staff, stewards, and the working regulators are superb and unmatched in their quality and dedication. The political appointees of the Commission, however, have lost sight of their designated purpose.

In this one rare instance, Congress has actually provided us–and our horses–a solution. Ultimately, HISA has the resources, the regulatory power, and sophisticated lab testing that can root out illegal drug use, research track surfaces, and analyze breeding patterns. HISA has the potential to improve the sport and create a safe horseracing animal that can thrive in a newer environment.

The Texas Racing Commission needs to recognize its responsibilities and protect our animals in an ever-changing world. The consequences of the Texas Racing Commissioners' opposition to these efforts simultaneously leaves our horses at risk and our tracks on the path to ruin.

Texas deserves better.

Robert Schmidt, MD is a Fort Worth based orthopedic surgeon specializing in joint replacement surgery of the hip and knee. He and his wife had bred and raced thoroughbreds under the colors of Oak Meadow Farm. He was appointed by Govenor Perry to the Texas Racing Commission and served for 10 years, including 4 years as chairman. He currently serves as Mayor of Annetta North, Texas.

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Texas Judge Says No to ADMC Injunction

The Texas judge handling the National Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association (NHBPA) constitutionality lawsuit that is trying to halt the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act (HISA) on Wednesday refused to grant an injunction that would delay the May 22 implementation of the Anti-Doping and Medication Control (ADMC) program.

In issuing his order, United States District Court Judge James Wesley Hendrix of the Northern District of Texas (Lubbock Division) pointed out that it is the second time in two weeks that he has informed the plaintiffs in a court order that they have not established a likelihood of success on the merits of their case.

The judge also stated in the May 17 order that the horsemen “misunderstand” the legal standards that apply to the granting of an injunction in this particular instance.

“The Court denies the motion for an injunction pending appeal,” Hendrix wrote. “As detailed in its 55-page Memorandum Opinion and Order [issued May 4], the plaintiffs have not established a likelihood of success on the merits. And even if their proposed standard applied, they have not made a substantial case on the merits given the congressional amendment in response to the Fifth Circuit's opinion…

“Because the plaintiffs have not established a right to an injunction pending appeal under either the correct standard or their preferred standard, the Court denies the motion,” Hendrix wrote.

“The plaintiffs misunderstand the correct standard for a district court considering a motion for injunction pending appeal,” Hendrix continued, adding at a later point, “The 'substantial case on the merits' standard does not apply to injunctions pending appeal.”

The planned appeal to the Fifth Circuit is the latest wrinkle in a lawsuit that has lingered in the courts for over two years.

On Mar. 15, 2021, the NHBPA and 12 of its affiliates sued personnel from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the HISA Authority, seeking to keep HISA from being implemented. Judge Hendrix dismissed that suit on Mar. 31, 2022.

The NHBPA plaintiffs appealed, leading to a Fifth Circuit Court reversal on Nov. 18, 2022 that remanded the case back to Hendrix's court. In the interim, an amended version of HISA got signed into law on Dec. 29, 2022. That fix was designed to make HISA compliant with the constitutional defects the Fifth Circuit had identified.

On May 4, 2023, Hendrix validated the newer version of HISA as constitutional. One day later, the NHBPA informed him it is planning another appeal back to the Fifth Circuit, and it wanted the ADMC's rollout stopped while that process played out.

On May 8, Hendrix wrote that, “The Court previously denied injunctive relief, but the plaintiffs again request an injunction, arguing that they will be injured by the ADMC rule during the pendency of an expected appeal.”

Nine days later, on May 17, Hendrix handed down his decision denying that motion, noting that “the Court is not persuaded by these passing references to [cases that the NHBPA cited as precedents], especially when the plaintiffs have not identified any case in which a district court granted an injunction pending appeal after denying a motion for preliminary injunction (much less following a consolidated bench trial).”

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Judge Orders Gulf Coast vs. HISA Case Transferred To Same Division As NHBPA Suit

An Amarillo Division federal judge in Texas on Thursday ordered the most recently filed lawsuit out of four active nationwide cases all trying to overturn the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act (HISA) to be transferred to the Lubbock Division that is currently handling the National Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association (NHBPA)'s similar and recently remanded complaint.

The Apr. 6 order by U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk (Northern District of Texas, Amarillo Division) comes more than eight months after the litigation was initiated on July 29, 2022, and just one day after the plaintiffs in the Amarillo case asked for a temporary restraining order and motion for preliminary injunction to halt the enforcement of HISA.

The plaintiffs in the case are Global Gaming LSP, a limited liability company that owns Lone Star Park; Gulf Coast Racing LLC, the owner of a greyhound track that no longer conducts live racing in Nueces County, and both LRP Group Ltd. and Valle De Los Tesoros, which are two limited partnerships separately looking to operate new horse tracks in south Texas.

The defendants are the HISA Authority and the Federal Trade Commission.

“Here, Plaintiffs have asked for extraordinary relief in asking for a TRO and a preliminary injunction,” the judge wrote. “Aside from the merits, at issue in the TRO is whether [the] NHBPA [case's 30-day injunction out of the Lubbock Division] remains binding on Defendants.”

The judge outlined the chronology of the two cases that led to his decision.

“In November 2022 the Fifth Circuit held that HISA violated the private nondelegation doctrine [in the NHBPA appeal]. On Dec. 23, 2022, Congress enacted legislation amending the operative language of HISA to purportedly cure the constitutional defect. The amendment was signed into law by President Biden on Dec. 29. Defendants then filed a motion to vacate the Fifth Circuit panel opinion and a petition for panel rehearing. On Jan. 31, 2023, the Fifth Circuit denied Defendants' motions and remanded the case to the Lubbock Division.”

The judge continued: “Because the Fifth Circuit remanded that case back to Lubbock, the Lubbock Division is in the best position to answer these questions. The issues raised by this case and the Lubbock Action substantially overlap. Both cases involve plaintiffs representing the horseracing industry. Both cases involve the same defendants. Both challenge the constitutionality of HISA. The proof adduced to resolve these claims will likely be identical. And the plaintiffs in both cases share the same ultimate objective.

“The Lubbock Action was filed more than a year before this case was filed and the Lubbock Division is much more familiar with the applicable law,” the judge's order continued. “Thus, the principles that underlie the first-to-file rule justify transferring this case to the Lubbock Division.

Quoting from precedents, the judge stated the legal basis for transferring the case.

“Under the first-to-file rule, when related cases are pending before two federal courts, the court in which the case was last filed may refuse to hear it if the issues raised by the cases substantially overlap. The rule rests on principles of comity and sound judicial administration. The concern manifestly is to avoid the waste of duplication, to avoid rulings which may trench upon the authority of sister courts, and to avoid piecemeal resolution of issues that call for a uniform result.”

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