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The Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority (HISA) and Horseracing Integrity & Welfare Unit (HIWU) has announced the individuals who will comprise their Internal Adjudication Panel (IAP), which will hear Controlled Medication Rule Violation Cases under HISA's Anti-Doping and Medication Control (ADMC) Program. Controlled Medication Rule Violations are defined in the Rule Series 3000: Equine Anti-Doping and Controlled Medication Protocol.

IAP members are appointed by mutual agreement of HISA and HIWU for four-year terms and serve as independent contractors to both entities. The individuals announced Friday, including state stewards, were selected for their deep equine regulatory experience. State stewards will be prohibited from participating in cases originating in their state of employment. All members of the IAP will receive training on HISA's adjudication processes under the ADMC Program before they can hear cases and must complete continuing education on an annual basis to maintain their eligibility to serve.

“We are excited by the group we have assembled to hear Controlled Medication Rule Violation cases, which we expect to be the most common types of cases under the ADMC Program,” said Ben Mosier, HIWU's executive director. “With their extensive and diverse experiences in equine regulation, we are confident that they will act fairly and consistently during the adjudication process.”

“The Internal Adjudication Panel will play a significant role in the enforcement of the ADMC Program given HISA's distinction between medication overages and doping violations for the first time in our sport,” said HISA CEO Lisa Lazarus. “As such, I'm thrilled by the depth of knowledge and expertise each individual who has agreed to serve on the panel will bring to our adjudication processes, benefitting the entire racing community.”

Additional information about requirements for service on the IAP and adjudication procedures for Controlled Medication Rule Violations can be found in the Rule Series 7000: Arbitration Procedures from HISA's ADMC Program regulations.

The members of the IAP are as follows, with their “prohibited states” in relation to hearing cases included in parentheses where applicable:

Rick Abbott (Pennsylvania) spent 40 years as a Thoroughbred sales agent and was a member of the Pennsylvania State Horse Racing Commission from 1996 to 2009. He chairs the Appeal and Review Committee of the National Steeplechase Association (NSA).

Eddie Arroyo (Illinois) is a former jockey and served as the senior state steward representing the Illinois Racing Board for 32 years. He spent five years as the assistant to the chairman and president of Arlington Park and also served as general manager of Sportsman's Park for five years. Arroyo is on the board of directors for the Racing Officials Accreditation Program (ROAP) and a recipient of the Pete Pederson Award.

Lisa Blackstone serves as vice president of the Arabian Horse Association, chair of the United States Equestrian Federation's (USEF) Ethics Committee, and co-chair of USEF's Hearing Committee. The Hearing Committee presides over horse show rule infractions, including drug violations and horse welfare issues. Blackstone is a founding member of the Equine Law Section of the State Bar of Georgia.

Barbara Borden (Kentucky) was first licensed as a Kentucky steward in 1993 and appointed chief steward for the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission in April 2012, a position she currently holds. She participates on the License Review, Rules and Regulations, and Safety and Integrity Committees of the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission. Borden, who began her racetrack career working with horses at various tracks around the country, has held numerous racing official positions, including licensing administrator, detention barn assistant, horse identifier, and administrator for the Kentucky Thoroughbred Development Fund.

Patricia Bowman (Indiana) is a 2017 graduate of Godolphin Flying Start and brings 15 years of experience in the horse racing industry. She has worked in various capacities on the backstretch and in racing offices and is currently a state steward with the Indiana Horse Racing Commission.

Lori Dinoto (Ohio) trained, owned, and bred Thoroughbred racehorses for 20 years before becoming a racing official in 2014. She currently works as a steward at Mahoning Valley Race Course and at Thistledown.

Connie Estes (New Mexico) has served in various roles in Texas racing, including licensing clerk, steward, director of licensing, interim executive director, and deputy director of operations at the Texas Racing Commission. As deputy director, she oversaw all track staff, including veterinarians, stewards, licensing agents, auditors, and investigators. Estes has worked for the New Mexico Racing Commission as a state steward and for the Breeders' Cup as a safety steward.

Hilary Forde, director of HF Consult Sports Law, specializes in equine and sports law and has more than 12 years of experience working in anti-doping control and medication matters in equine sports. A native of Ireland, she currently serves as a tribunal clerk for the International Federation for Equestrian Sports (FEI), in addition to other sports law consultancy roles for various international sports governing bodies.

John Herbuveaux (California) has been a steward for the California Horse Racing Board since 1983 and is a recipient of the Pete Pedersen Award.

Duncan Patterson (Delaware) has been involved in horse racing for more than 50 years as a trainer, amateur steeplechase jockey, owner, and steward for the NSA. He has been a racing commissioner since 1988. Patterson is currently chairman of the Delaware Thoroughbred Racing Commission, chairman of the Drug Testing Standards and Practices Committee for the Association of Racing Commissioners International (ARCI), and a member of the Stewards Advisory Committee for the NSA.

Diane Pitts practiced corporate, partnership, and securities law before becoming involved in the governance of equestrian sports through the United States Eventing Association and USEF. She is currently on the board of directors for the latter organization. In 2022, Pitts was reelected to a second term as a member of the Tribunal of the FEI, which has jurisdiction to hear claims in matters such as equine doping, equine abuse, safeguarding, and harassment.

Erika Riedl has vast experience in sports law, integrity, and governance matters. From 2012 to 2020, she was a clerk for the Tribunal of the FEI, where she oversaw more than 250 cases, including those concerning human and equine anti-doping. Riedl has acted as an arbitrator and panel member of various sporting disciplinary bodies and is a Centre for Effective Dispute Resolution-accredited mediator.

Kim Sawyer (California) has been licensed in the racing industry since 1968, holding a range of roles, including jockey, trainer, outrider, receiving barn tester, and racing official. She has been accredited as a steward since 1999 and employed by the California Horse Racing Board since 2005. She received the Pete Pederson Award in 2019.

Eric Smith (Indiana) is a ROAP Level I-accredited flat racing steward. He is currently the senior state steward for the Indiana Horse Racing Commission and has worked in Illinois, Virginia, West Virginia, and New Mexico, as well as for the ARCI.

Edward Weiss (California) is an arbitrator, mediator, and hearing officer with 35 years of legal and litigation experience. He has been a litigator in private practice, an assistant U.S. attorney, and general counsel of Ticketmaster.

About the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority

Established when the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act was signed into federal law in 2020, the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority (HISA) is responsible for drafting and enforcing uniform safety and integrity rules in Thoroughbred racing in the U.S. Overseen by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), HISA was created to implement, for the first time, a national, uniform set of rules applicable to every Thoroughbred racing participant and racetrack facility. HISA is comprised of two programs: the Racetrack Safety Program, which went into effect July 1, 2022, and the Anti-Doping and Medication Control (ADMC) Program, which is anticipated to go into effect on March 27, 2023.

The Racetrack Safety Program includes operational safety rules and national racetrack accreditation standards that seek to enhance equine welfare and minimize equine and jockey injury. The Program expands veterinary oversight, imposes surface maintenance and testing requirements, enhances jockey safety, regulates riding crop use, and implements voided claim rules, among other important measures.

The ADMC Program will create a centralized testing and results management process and apply uniform penalties for violations efficiently and consistently across the United States. These rules and enforcement mechanisms will be administered by a new independent agency, the Welfare Unit (HIWU), established by Drug Free Sport International (DFS). HIWU will oversee testing, educate stakeholders on the new program, accredit laboratories, investigate potential ADMC violations and prosecute any such violations.

About the Horseracing Integrity & Welfare Unit

The Horseracing Integrity & Welfare Unit (HIWU) was established in 2022 by Drug Free Sport International to administer the rules and enforcement mechanisms of the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority's (HISA) Anti-Doping and Medication Control (ADMC) Program. The ADMC Program will create a centralized testing and results management process and apply uniform penalties for violations efficiently and consistently across all American Thoroughbred racing jurisdictions that HISA governs. HIWU will oversee testing, educate stakeholders on the new program, accredit laboratories, investigate potential violations, and prosecute any such violations. For more information, please visit hiwu.org.

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When the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority's Anti-Doping and Medication Control program goes into effect as anticipated on March 27, testing will be conducted at one of six laboratories that are currently accredited by the Racing Medication and Testing Consortium, HISA chief executive officer Lisa Lazarus said on Thursday.

Speaking during a media conference call, Lazarus said the six labs selected by HISA and the Horseracing Integrity and Welfare Unit – the agency established to administer the rules and enforcement for HiSA – are the Ohio Department of Agriculture's Analytical Toxicology Laboratory; the Animal Forensic Toxicology Laboratory at the University of Illinois-Chicago; Industrial Laboratories in Denver, Colo.; Kenneth L. Maddy Equine Analytical Chemistry Laboratory at the University of California-Davis; Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture's Pennsylvania Equine Toxicology and Research Laboratory; and University of Kentucky Equine Analytical Chemistry Laboratory.

Three remaining RMTC-accredited labs not selected are the New York Equine Drug Testing and Research Program in Ithaca, N.Y.; Texas A&M Veterinary Medical Diagnostic Laboratory; and the University of Florida Racing Laboratory.

“We really think it's a momentous occasion and an important day,” Lazarus said in reference to the launch of HISA's Anti-Doping and Medication Control program. “It will be the first time ever that horse racing has a national, uniform, robust program.”

The uniformity extends to the laboratories selected to conduct testing, Lazarus said, indicating that the six labs will be testing for the same drugs and using the same levels at which to call positives.

The collection and chain of custody of samples will also be uniform – and paperless – Lazarus said. Collection kits and shipping procedures are standardized, she added, with samples sent to labs no later than the day after collection.

“When we did our audits of state racing commissions, they were all over the map with how they collected samples,” Lazarus said.

Racing states whose labs have contracted with HISA and HIWU will continue to have their samples tested in-state. For states like New York and Florida, whose labs have not been selected by HISA and HIWU, testing will be handled by out-of-state labs that Lazarus said “make the most economic sense from an efficiency standpoint.”

Dr. George Maylin, director for the New York lab, has been in charge of testing Thoroughbred and Standardbred races in the state since the early 1970s, first at Cornell University and then at Morrisville State College. The HISA/HIWU agreement will not affect Standardbred testing in New York or any other state. At this stage, neither Standardbred nor Quarter Horse racing is covered under HISA.

Something that will not be harmonized or uniform when HISA launches its medication program are various interest groups that either support or oppose it. Strident opposition to HISA was expressed by several individuals at the recent convention of the National Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association.

“When I ask a lot of these folks, 'What would you want out of an anti-doping program?' what they say is, 'We want to catch the cheaters. We want you to be realistic and measured about medications, and we want you to understand that sometimes there are contaminants in the environment that we can't control,'” said Lazarus. “And that's exactly what our program does.”

As an example, Lazarus outlined the first-of-its-kind Atypical Findings Policy that recognizes 27 substances that are the likeliest to cause positive tests through contamination. The test results are analyzed internally, she said, discussions with the responsible parties are held, and if “there's a compelling case and it's much more likely than not that it was contamination, it would be like the case never happened.”

One of the challenges cited by Lazarus is the spread of misinformation about HISA and the fact that many who are spreading it haven't taken the time to actually read the regulations.

“There's never been a national regulator,” said Lazarus. “There's a fear of the unknown. … There's a lot of distrust in our industry.”

Lazarus said she is focused on two things as HISA moves into its new phase.

“I want to make sure the program runs as smoothly and as well and as efficiently and as ethically as it possibly can, and build trust. If I can get those two things to happen as a team, I think we'll be successful. But change is always hard, and this is seismic change.”

The March 27 launch is contingent on anticipated approval of ADMC regulations on that date by the Federal Trade Commission, which oversees HISA. Because of a court order on pending litigation, HISA regulations on both its racetrack safety and ADMC programs are not being enforced in Louisiana or West Virginia. That litigation is ongoing, with two separate Courts of Appeals rendering different opinions on the law's constitutionality.

Last November, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act was unconstitutional because it did not provide enough authority to the FTC for its oversight role of HISA. The case was sent back to a federal district court in Texas. The law was amended in December, strengthening the FTC's role, and the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals subsequently ruled it constitutional. The issue may end up in the Supreme Court.

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Commissioners in Kentucky and Pennsylvania held special meetings this week to make decisions on whether to enter into agreements with the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority for its Anti-Doping and Medication Control (ADMC) program, which is slated to begin March 27. The program will include national, uniform drug regulations and will use standardized testing across states. It will be administered by the Horseracing Integrity & Welfare Unit (HIWU), using many of the existing laboratories that had previously been contracted by states to do post-race, pre-race, and out-of-competition testing.

Kentucky's commission voted unanimously to enter into an agreement with the organization with no discussion. The commission did include a caveat to the agreement that it would not collect fees from Thoroughbred racetracks and that agreement could be terminated if all or part of the federal bill creating the Authority was found unconstitutional by a court with no appeals remaining.

Pennsylvania's commission discussed the matter in an hour-long meeting which included input and questions from industry stakeholders. Their agenda broke the question of an agreement with the Authority into three parts — approval of the 2023 expenditure for operating costs related to national safety regulations, approval of an agreement with the Authority/HIWU for the ADMC program, and an agreement as to the routing of laboratory services through the Authority/HIWU.

According to a presentation from Thoroughbred Bureau director Tom Chuckas, Pennsylvania was assessed a total of roughly $6 million for all components of the national regulatory program for 2023. The commission believes that it will receive credits of roughly $4.8 million for utilizing existing staff and facilities like the test barns and sample collectors, etc. to administer Authority/HIWU rules, which leaves a bill of $1.2 million, roughly the amount of the costs of the safety program. The commission is paying those expenses from tax revenue, and is not passing those costs on to the racetracks or the horsemen. Chuckas said the costs for the safety portion of the program for the remainder of 2023 are similar to what they were in 2022.

The agreements before the commission only run through the end of 2023, thus allowing for renegotiation later if the first nine months of cooperation do not go well, according to Chuckas.

Todd Mostoller, executive director of the Pennsylvania Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association, expressed numerous concerns over the legal future of HISA, as well as hesitation that if the commission allocates money to the expenses of the programs, they won't have the funds to administer state regulations if HISA is found unconstitutional down the road.

Jeff Matty, executive director of the Pennsylvania Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association, expressed trust in the commission to act in the best interest of Pennsylvania racing stakeholders.

The PHBPA represents horsemen at Penn National and Presque Isle Downs while the PTHA represents horsemen at Parx Racing.

Russell Williams, president of the U.S. Trotting Association, cautioned the commission against approving agreements with the Authority or HIWU because he believes another federal alternative may be coming soon. The USTA and Hanover Shoe Farm, a Standardbred operation led by Williams, were parties to a lawsuit alleging the federal law creating HISA is unconstitutional.

“There is legislation about to be introduced in Congress,” Williams said. “Now, I know better than to make specific predictions, however the primary sponsor of this legislation has been talking with us. We provided him with a draft. The draft came from the national racetrack vets, from the HBPA, from the USTA, and it's already been through legislative services.

“This bill is a state-administered program so the states would form an interstate compact that would use state authority and state experience, state funding, and save millions of dollars over the HISA structure,” Williams said.

The Pennsylvania commission unanimously approved the $1.2 million cost of the safety program for 2023, noting that the commission had previously cooperated with the Authority when national safety rules went into effect in July and while the process had not been flawless, all parties were happy to continue cooperation.

The body approved an agreement for the anti-doping medication program with one vote against, from commissioner Darryl Breniser, and one abstention from Dr. John Egloff. It also approved the lab services agreement, with a vote against from Breniser and an abstention from Dr. Corinne Sweeney.

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