Federal Trade Commission

The Horseracing and Safety Integrity Authority (HISA) made it clear on Monday that by Oct. 16, it intends to ask the United States Supreme Court to step in and decide the current HISA constitutionality conflict that exists because of clashing opinions out of two separate federal appeals courts. The move potentially sets up a final say, perhaps as early as 2025, on a legal showdown that has split factions of the Thoroughbred industry since HISA's initial passage in 2020. One week after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth...

Forty-five days after the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit declared that the Horseracing and Safety Integrity Act (HISA) is unconstitutional because its enforcement provisions violate the private non-delegation doctrine, both the HISA Authority and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) petitioned for a rarely granted "en banc" procedure that asks for a rehearing before all 17 of that court's judges instead of just the panel of three that issued the July 5 opinion. The HISA Authority's Aug. 19 filing asked for the rehearing based on three main...

A federal judge on Aug. 1 refused to grant an "emergency" request for a temporary restraining order that eight licensed racetrackers in Oklahoma requested on July 29 to keep the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act (HISA) from being enforced in that state before the Remington Park meet begins there Aug. 16. Chief Judge Timothy DeGiusti of United States District Court of Oklahoma (Western District) wrote in an order issued Thursday that, "Upon review, the Court finds the Application is facially insufficient to satisfy the requirements of Rule 65(b)(1) for issuance...

Eight individual owners, trainers and other Thoroughbred industry licensees in Oklahoma on July 24 filed what is now the sixth federal lawsuit in three years to try and get the Horseracing and Safety Integrity Act (HISA) declared unconstitutional. As in previous lawsuits that have similarly targeted the HISA Authority and Federal Trade Commission (FTC) as defendants, the Oklahoma horsemen want declaratory judgments, injunctions, and restraining orders imposed that would invalidate HISA rules and prohibit the HISA Authority, the FTC, and the Horseracing Integrity and Welfare Unit (HIWU) from enforcing the...

The July 5 opinion out of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit that declared that part of the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act (HISA) is unconstitutional is generating legal filings from both sides in a related case awaiting a decision in the Eighth Circuit. Both the plaintiffs/appellants in the Eighth Circuit case (led by Bill Walmsley, the president of the Arkansas HBPA, and Jon Moss, the executive director of the Iowa HBPA) and the defendants/appellees (executives with the HISA Authority and the Federal Trade Commission [FTC]),...

A judgment Friday by the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit declared that part of the Horseracing and Safety Integrity Act (HISA) is unconstitutional. Even though the three-judge panel agreed with "nearly all" of a lower court's ruling that other contested aspects of HISA's constitutionality were fixed by a Congressional amendment to the law in 2022, the panel's one unconstitutional finding has to do with the HISA Authority's broad powers to investigate and operate. The gravity of that unconstitutionality opinion could be enough to send the case...

Both the jockey and the owner/breeder of the second-place finisher in the Feb. 18 GIII Sunland Derby have filed a notice of appeal with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in an attempt to reverse a more-than-six-strikes whipping disqualification under Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority (HISA) rules that cost them the placing in that stakes and $85,360 in purse winnings. At issue is the contention by jockey Oscar Ceballos and Eleanor Martin, the owner/breeder of Alotaluck (Sir Prancealot {Ire}), that some of the 11 strikes of the whip that Ceballos administered...

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has affirmed an earlier Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority (HISA) arbitration panel ruling against trainer Jonathan Wong, suspending him for two years and fining him $25,000 for a 2023 post-race metformin positive. Metformin is a type 2 diabetes drug that HISA has classified as a banned substance. The next step in the appeals process would be a request for review by the FTC of the FTC administrative law judge's decision, according to a Horseracing Integrity and Safety Unit (HIWU) spokesperson. Wong will instead take the...

Every week, the TDN posts a roundup of the relevant Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act (HISA) related rulings from around the country. Among the key rulings from the last seven days, trainer Jimmy Corrigan has been provisionally suspended as a result of his trainee, Stay Lost--who won at Belterra Park on Oct. 7 last year--testing positive for Methamphetamine. HISA currently lists Methamphetamine--a common human recreation drug--as a banned substance, which comes with a possible two-year suspension. With banned substances under HISA, responsible parties are subject to a provisional suspension, prior...

Following the Federal Trade Commission's approval to add iron dextran to the Banned Substances list under the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority's (HISA) Anti-Doping and Medication Control (ADMC) Program rules, the Horseracing Integrity & Welfare Unit (HIWU) announced Tuesday that it will use the next 30 days as an educational period to give Covered Persons time to adapt to the new rule. Enforcement of the iron dextran rule will begin December 27, 2023. As a reminder, the use/attempted use, administration/attempted administration, possession, or trafficking of a Banned Substance constitutes an...

Edited Press Release The Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority (HISA) has submitted proposed rule changes to its Racetrack Safety Program to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) for review. A red-lined document noting these proposed changes is available here. The FTC will subsequently post the proposed rules to the public register for public comment. Until changes to the rules are approved by the FTC, the previously approved version of HISA's Racetrack Safety rules, which took effect July 1, 2022, will remain in place. Those rules are available in full on HISA's...

A federal judge has stayed a 14-month-old lawsuit initiated by the states of Louisiana and West Virginia that is trying to wipe out the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act (HISA) via alleged constitutional violations, ordering the case to be "administratively terminated" until the United States Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals makes a ruling in a separate suit in which the Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association (HBPA) is also alleging HISA is unconstitutional. However, U.S. District Court (Western District of Louisiana) Chief Judge Terry Doughty wrote in his Sept. 14 ruling...