Travis Tygart | Horse Racing Free Tips

The Week in Review: Tygart, USADA Out to Clean Up the Game

We heard from the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA), its CEO Travis Tygart and the Director of Equine Science Dr. Tessa Muir last week when USADA released its anti-doping guidelines, rules and protocols. Once again, we saw that these are no-nonsense, dedicated people with a track record of cleaning up other sports. The release of the guidelines was an important step toward what will be a welcome change for racing–competent, dedicated policing from an outside entity replacing the current system, which just doesn't work.

(Quotes from this story were taken from Tygart and Muir's appearance on the TDN Writers' Room podcast and from Dan Ross's coverage in the TDN and his Q&A with Tygart and Muir.)

With Thursday's release of the details, there was a lot to digest. Here's what resonated with me:

(*) USADA is not going to rely solely on drug testing, which has been proven to be a woefully inadequate way of catching cheaters. There are always a number of potent drugs out there that can't be detected by standard drug tests. USADA may not have all the tools, including wiretaps, that the FBI had when it took down Jason Servis, Jorge Navarro and others, but Tygart made it clear that there are more ways to catch cheaters than just through drug tests.

“Can you bring a case if you don't have a positive test?” Tygart said. “In some states today, I don't think that's even possible under the rules. But if you look at Article Two of the rules, it identifies about 12 different types of violations. Only one or two of those includes a positive test. So possession, trafficking, complicity, attempted administration, retaliation against a whistleblower, those are things that can be anti-doping rule violations.”

He said that scientific evidence will be combined with “buckets of evidence”, much like what you see each week on shows like Law and Order and NCIS.

Tygart said they will also rely on a tip line that is already receiving calls. All of which is a step in the right direction. Neither Navarro nor Servis had any serious violations on their records that were the result of testing, which just goes to show that a lot more beyond testing needs to be done.

(*) USADA appears to understand the importance of going after more than just the trainers. It stands to reason that in most cases where performance-enhancing drugs are used, a veterinarian is involved. And what about the owners? It's hard to imagine they don't know what's going on when their trainer is wining at 30% and 50% off the claim. They should have to pay the price when their trainer is caught.

“When the horse is in training, the owner, the veterinarian, anyone else involved with the horse, they can be held accountable if they're complicit and part of a doping or a medication issue,” Tygart said. “The strict liability of the positive test doesn't apply to them. So there will be a slightly different way that this is prosecuted, but they absolutely can be held accountable under these rules.”

He added: “It's not just the trainer training the horse that has responsibility for this culture of a clean sport. Everybody within the sport should have a responsibility to ensure that it's being done the right way.”

(*) One thing that was not addressed last week was the obvious problem of having a trainer turn the stable over to an assistant once they are suspended. Life goes on largely uninterrupted for that stable with the head trainer getting what amounts to a vacation. There's not nearly enough of a deterrent here. At least with the more serious violations, the stable should be penalized along with a guilty trainer.

(*) USADA is going to rely heavily on out-of-competition testing and trainers must let USADA know at all times where a horse is located. He also said that out-of-competition tests won't be done on a random basis. For obvious reasons, the focus will be on trainers whose results suggest they might be using something to get an edge.

“It's what we call intelligent testing,” Tygart said. “It's not random. Some call it smart testing. Some call it target testing. We will use data.”

(*) You might want to call this one the “Baffert Rule.” While USADA will distinguish between violations that involve performance-enhancing drugs and overages of therapeutic medications, Tygart believes that there is a point where enough is enough when it comes to overages. Four minor infractions or therapeutic overages within five years could result in a sanction of up to two years.

(*) Just because a horse passes post-race urine and blood tests doesn't mean that they can't be caught later on. If someone uses something illegal and a new test for that substance comes around after the fact, they could get nailed. This is another welcome development.

“We will have the ability to do what is called retrospective testing,” Tygart said. “Samples will be put into storage. And then when you develop new tests in the future, we're going to be able to bring those samples out of storage and actually then analyze them with the new methodology for those prohibited old-time substances. That's also a great deterrent to people using things where they say you can't detect it. But in the future, when those technologies and the capabilities are enhanced and changed, then we can go back and you will still be subject to sanction (for a positive test).”

(*) More than six months after the race, the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission has still not acted when it comes to this year's GI Kentucky Derby and the reported betamethasone positive on winner Medina Spirit (Protonico). That, Tygart said, will not happen after USADA takes over.

“I was pretty stunned to hear that (Medina Spirit's) Kentucky Derby case hasn't been resolved yet,” Tygart said. “That's not going to happen on our watch. I mean, it's crazy that it's taken that long to get to a final resolution, particularly when someone is competing the entire time.”

Lawsuits have been filed by horsemen's groups and six states to shoot down the Horseracing Safety and Integrity Act (HISA), which is what created the need for a new method of policing the sport, and USADA has yet to sign a contract with the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority. Both factors could mean that the projected start date for HISA, July 1, 2022 will not be met.

But if and when HISA goes into effect, USADA will be ready. Tygart called the new rules a “gold standard program for the industry.” He's got that right. It's time for a new era.

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View From the Eighth Pole: A New Sheriff In Town?

The Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority is moving quickly to meet several deadlines before its federally mandated July 1, 2022, starting date to become the national regulatory agency for anti-doping and medication control for Thoroughbred racing in the United States.

Earlier this week, in consultation with the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, led by CEO Travis Tygart and Dr. Tessa Muir, USADA's director of equine science, HISA published a draft set of definitions, medication protocols and a list of prohibited medications.

The public has an opportunity to comment and offer feedback on those proposed rules before they go to the Federal Trade Commission next month for a second round of public comment and eventual approval by the FTC.

It's clear, from the proposed rules and comments by Tygart and Muir in a series of media interviews, that racing is in for some significant changes.

Gone will be the good old boy community of racing commissioners with conflicts of interest involving some of the people they are regulating. It is hoped the cavalcade of attorneys appealing fines, suspensions and disqualifications on behalf of trainers will grind to a halt as well, with strict, understandable and loophole-free regulations in place when the transition to the Authority occurs next July.

But first, some caveats.

USADA has yet to sign a contract with the Authority as the enforcement agency for when HISA goes into effect. Tygart and Muir have been instrumental in meeting with HISA committees and staff in developing the rules, and Tygart said USADA is ready to become the enforcement agency IF the final regulations approved by the FTC are “good rules that we can stand by.”

In other words, Tygart is not going to risk USADA's brand or his own good name on a mission if it is hijacked by people who are successful in watering down the rules.

There are also the lawsuits by horsemen's organizations in opposition to the federal legislation that created the Authority. These have yet to be resolved in court. Tygart calls them obstructionists who hope to delay implementation and cause the Authority to burn through limited financial resources.

“We fully anticipate those groups or individuals who have always been opposed to a new uniform policy being in place and independent, robust enforcement of those policies, that they're going to continue to try and obstruct it at every turn,” Tygart said.

If the legal challenges are defeated and USADA becomes the enforcement agency, this will be a different, cleaner game played on a more level field.

For starters, no medications will be permitted by statute for 48 hours prior to race day. A robust out-of-competition testing program will be phased in with “whereabouts” requirements for all horses registered with the Authority. That means if horses are removed from a racetrack stable area, a trainer must notify the Authority where that horse is going so that out of competition testing can be conducted. Violations of the whereabouts rule will be dealt with severely.

So will positive tests for prohibited substances that are now dealt with in many states with a slap on the wrist. For example, primary substances – those that should not be in a horse's system at any time – found in post-race or out-of-competition samples may result in suspensions of up to two years. Included in that group are anabolic steroids, blood-doping agents and clenbuterol.

Non-steroidal anti-inflammatories would fall under secondary substance rules that can be met with a 30-day suspension and fine. However, trainers who pick up four of those violations over a five-year period may be suspended up to two years.

And any positive drug test will result in automatic disqualification of that horse from a race.

“For the integrity of racing from the results standpoint, the disqualification of the horse is automatic,” said Muir. “We would take into consideration any mitigating circumstances, with respect to the fine or suspension.”

The days of Bute overages being looked upon as minor violations akin to a parking ticket will be over. Trainers who have been willing to take an edge or have sloppy medication oversight will need to clean up their acts.

A key element of HISA's anti-doping program will be intelligence and investigations that result in “non-analytical” cases where the evidence is something other than a positive drug test.

“The Navarro indictment showed that they were using things they know or believe not to be detectable by current testing methods,” Tygart said. “So if you say you have to have a positive test to be held accountable, you've just given a license to people to go use things there aren't tests for, because science is limited to a certain extent.”

Tygart and Muir both believe whistleblowers will be an important part of the program and said USADA has been receiving tips on wrongdoing for several years since the agency was first mentioned as part of the federal legislation. The draft regulations include language protecting whistleblowers and charging anyone who intimidates a whistleblower.

“The principle there is it takes a community of people who benefit from having good rules that protect their rights,” Tygart said. “Hopefully they will trust whoever the enforcement agency is. If it's us, we will work hard to gain that trust like we have in our human sports to bring forward information and then act appropriately based on that information.”

Long delays in the resolution of cases is another problem the current system has permitted through appeals to the commission and the civil courts. Under HISA, all “covered persons” (including trainers) will need to register with the Authority and in so doing agree to the rules, including an arbitration process that Tygart said has worked well with human athletes. USADA enforces medication rules for Olympic athletes and UFC fighters, among others.

“There are so many loopholes in how the current system works and (trainers and their attorneys) can win,” Tygart said. “Part of this process is to shut the legal, technical loopholes that people can exploit. My guess is a lot of the defense counsels out there who have made a living out of trying those cases are going to be frustrated because they are not going to win many cases, as they shouldn't. Justice should be served, and we don't look at that as a win or a loss.”

As such, under the proposed rules, if a trainer and USADA do not come to a mutual agreement on a resolution and sanctions for any violations, the case goes to an impartial arbitrator or independent steward panel, to determine an outcome.

“We resolve 95% or more of our cases in the human program (without going to arbitration),” Tygart said. “That's historically true because people know that if you break the rule, we're going to be fair in the ultimate consequence and take into consideration the individual facts to get to a fair outcome. People recognize that if you do something wrong, the best thing that you can do, honestly, is to take responsibility for it and not waste your time or their time to get to the inevitable. … People are willing to forgive and move on. What people don't like is those who make excuses or continue to lie or try to cover up their doping, and I think that principle will play very well here because the rules are not going to allow people to exploit them in the way they are currently being exploited.”

Tygart added, “When you sign up to be a 'covered person,' you agree to the rules of the game. If you don't like the rules, you don't have to play.”

Racing has needed a new sheriff for some time. It may finally have found one.

That's my view from the eighth pole

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HISA Publishes Initial Draft Of Proposed Anti-Doping, Medication Control Rules

The Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority's (the Authority) Standing Advisory Committees, comprised of experts from inside and outside the thoroughbred racing industry, and the independent U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA), have published initial drafts of proposed rules on hisaus.org for public comment.

As prescribed by the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act of 2020 (HISA), USADA has led the drafting process for the Anti-Doping and Medication Control Program. Three of the six documents pertaining to the Anti-Doping and Medication Control Program, including the proposed Equine Protocol, Prohibited List and Definitions, have been posted for public comment. The remaining documents, which include Equine Arbitration Procedures, Testing and Investigation Standards, and Standards for Laboratories and Accreditation will be published over the next two weeks.

In addition, and separate from USADA's work, the Racetrack Safety Program, which is made up of expanded veterinary exam protocols, enhanced racing and training requirements, minimum standards for surface maintenance and testing, and uniform reporting requirements has also been posted to the Authority's website for public review.

USADA and the Advisory Committees will review and incorporate relevant public feedback on the recommendations and submit them to the Authority's Board of Directors for approval. Following the Board approval process, the Authority will present its final proposed rules to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in early December. This will then initiate a formal notice and comment rule-making process during which stakeholders and the general public may once again weigh in by submitting comments for a 60-day period, after which the FTC will publish final regulations.

“We are honored to be involved at this stage to help draft and ultimately finalize gold-standard rules on anti-doping and medication control for the equine industry,” said USADA CEO Travis T. Tygart. “We are excited with where this process is headed and with proposed rules being published for two additional rounds of public feedback.”

“The rulemaking process is still underway, and we encourage experts, other industry stakeholders, racing fans and the general public to review and comment through our website. Although the final decision on which regulations will be approved and implemented ultimately lies with the FTC, we want to ensure that any interested party has the opportunity to offer their perspective and input,” said Charles Scheeler, Chairman of the Authority's Board of Directors. “While the FTC will authorize the final set of rules for the official launch of the Authority in July 2022, it is the Authority's full intention to continue to work with the industry to evolve and improve the rules beyond that time.”

Please visit hisaus.org to view and weigh in on the proposed regulations and follow the Authority on Twitter and Facebook to keep up with the latest developments.

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NTRA CEO Alex Waldrop Joins TDN Writers’ Room

There's plenty to talk about in racing these days, and NTRA CEO Alex Waldrop joined the TDN Writers' Room presented by Keeneland Wednesday morning to dig into a good deal of the sport's most pressing topics. Calling in via Zoom as the Green Group Guest of the Week, Waldrop talked about how to capitalize and sustain the positive handle trends of the past year, how to pay for the groundbreaking Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act, what movement he expects on H-2B visas with a new administration and more.

“Looking back over the last quarter and even the last half of last year, we were trending five, six, seven percent up over the prior year,” Waldrop said of the increase in handle the sport has seen. “So those trends are very positive. I do think they are related to the fact that new people are coming into the business. They're seeing horse racing as a viable option for the first time. I think that is attributable to a lot of the marketing dollars that were spent in 2020 to get eyeballs on our racing for the first time. And I think that's the way we keep this going. We continue to show our races on television, get more people in front of TV sets, mobile screens, all the distribution channels that we have out there, which are many now and are growing. That's the way to continue to grow.”

“Another way that I think we have to look at in 2021 is to get on more sports betting platforms,” he continued. “Sports betting is spreading across the country. It's a huge and growing business. If we can just get 5% of the number of people who are now betting on these mobile sports betting apps, that would be a huge win for horse racing. And I think in 2021, this is the year to really focus on what we can do to to piggyback on the success of sports betting in this country. To grow our visibility even greater.”

Asked about the tricky issue of funding HISA, Waldrop said that replacing the inefficiencies of racing's current patchwork regulation system will lead to savings on its own.

“HISA and the Authority, is all about centralizing the administration of medication control and racing safety matters. Putting it into one office. There will be significant savings. There'll be efficiencies when you compare costs that we now have for 30 state agencies,” he said. “I think 10 years ago we were spending almost $30 million a year on post race drug testing. That's an astronomical number. I don't think people realized we were spending that much money on drug testing. We're spending more than that now under the 30 state agencies. The second thing to remember is that HISA contemplates a broader-based and more equitable contribution from all industry participants, so not just one group or one tax will be paying for the costs of regulation.”

Elsewhere on the show, the writers reacted to a strong weekend of stakes at Fair Grounds, highlighted some key points from last week's exclusive interview with USADA CEO Travis Tygart and, in the West Point Thoroughbreds news segment, analyzed the passage of a historical horse racing legalization bill in the Kentucky House of Representatives. Click here to watch the podcast; click here for the audio-only version.

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