Federal Trade Commission

Trainer Phil Serpe, who is fighting both in federal court and at the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) level to overturn a two-year suspension imposed by the Horseracing Integrity and Welfare Unit (HIWU) for a clenbuterol positive in one of his trainees, on Wednesday was notified by the FTC that his legal team would not be allowed to have new evidence considered in his nearly 18-month-old case. Serpe's suspension stems from clenbuterol detected in the urine of Fast Kimmie (Oscar Performance) after her Aug. 10, 2024 victory in a $30,000 claiming...

The Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority (HISA) seeks public comment on proposed modifications to the Rule Series 5000 (Equine Testing and Investigation Standards) and 7000 (Arbitration Procedures) of its Anti-Doping and Medication Control (ADMC) Program by Monday, Feb. 23, the regulator said via a press release on Thursday. The proposed modifications build on HISA's ongoing review of the ADMC Program. In November, HISA distributed for public comment proposed modifications to other Rule Series comprising the ADMC Program (1000, 3000 and 4000). Comments received in response to that request are under...

For the second time in 2 1/2 years, the same panel of three judges on the Sixth Circuit of the U.S. Court of Appeals in Cincinnati has affirmed the constitutionality of the Horseracing and Safety Integrity Act (HISA) in a lawsuit spearheaded by the states of Oklahoma, West Virginia and Louisiana. The case had alleged that the HISA Act gave a private corporation--the HISA Authority, which operates under the auspices of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC)--far too broad regulatory authority. The plaintiffs claimed that was a violation of the non-delegation...

Trainer Phil Serpe, who is fighting both in federal court and at the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) appeal level to overturn a two-year suspension imposed by the Horseracing Integrity and Welfare Unit (HIWU) over a contested clenbuterol positive in one of his trainees at Saratoga Race Course in 2024, on Thursday had the judge in his lawsuit deny a request for a preliminary injunction for the second time in five months. In explaining his decision, the judge in charge of the case, David Leibowitz of United States District Court (Southern...

The latest twist in the legal odyssey involving Phil Serpe and the agencies that regulate racing at the federal level was made public late on Tuesday, when the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) issued an order staying the issuance of a $25,000 fine that had been imposed against the veteran Thoroughbred trainer barely one day earlier by an administrative law judge (ALJ). That ALJ, Jay Himes, had been assigned by the FTC itself to adjudicate Serpe's FTC-level appeal of banned-substance charges. In addition to re-imposing the fine that the Horseracing Integrity...

The administrative law judge (ALJ) handling Phil Serpe's appeal to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) stemming from a two-year suspension imposed by a Horseracing Integrity and Welfare Unit (HIWU) arbitrator over a contested clenbuterol positive case has upheld the sanctions imposed against the veteran trainer. However, Jay Himes, the ALJ, also wrote in his Sept. 12 decision that he would "modify the award to add a $25,000 fine against Serpe," even though the ALJ also ruled that, "I hold without merit Serpe's argument that he is entitled to a jury...

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) on Tuesday opened a two-week public commentary period for a number of proposed Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority (HISA) rule changes. The modifications would affect the Rule 8000 Series, which outlines enforcement procedures, violations, sanctions, investigatory powers, and hearing processes for alleged violations of HISA regulations. Rules related to anti-doping and medication control are excluded from this round of proposed changes, because they are covered separately in the 3000 Series. Selected highlights of the proposed changes, as explained in the Sept. 9 Federal Register notice...

Trainer Phil Serpe, who has an appeal pending with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in an attempt to overturn a two-year suspension imposed in July by a Horseracing Integrity and Welfare Unit (HIWU) arbitrator over a contested clenbuterol positive case from last summer at Saratoga Race Course, is also seeking to renew his request for a preliminary injunction in a 10-month-old lawsuit against the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority (HISA) and the FTC. A key issue in Serpe's federal court filing is the fact that HIWU and HISA did not...

The arbitrator in charge of trainer Phil Serpe's contested clenbuterol positive detected in a filly who won last summer at Saratoga Race Course has issued a final decision that metes out the exact penalties sought by the Horseracing Integrity and Welfare Unit (HIWU)--a two-year suspension, plus a race disqualification and forfeiture of purse winnings. Beyond the potentially career-ending banishment of the 66-year-old trainer, what was striking about the decision is that it did not impose any monetary fine upon Serpe. According to ADMC Rule 3223, Serpe could have faced a...

In a federal court case involving the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority (HISA) that is being closely watched because it involves a trainer's allegations of a wrongful denial of Seventh Amendment rights to a jury trial, a judge in Florida on Thursday denied conditioner Phil Serpe's request for preliminary injunction in a lawsuit initiated last October against the HISA and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). The civil complaint involves "banned substance" sanctions stemming from the alleged detection of clenbuterol in an Aug. 10, 2024, Saratoga Race Course winner from the...

On the eve that Churchill Downs, Inc. (CDI) and the New York Racing Association, Inc. (NYRA) were scheduled to appear at separate enforcement hearings in front of the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority board to address disputes over their non-payment of assessment fees that are based partially on purses, those two prominent Thoroughbred track operators teamed up to sue the Authority and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in federal court, alleging that both the fee impositions and the attempted enforcement actions for non-payment are "illegal." According to the civil complaint...

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) on Nov. 6 issued an order approving the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority's $80-million budget for 2025. The Authority's proposed 2025 budget garnered only three public comments after it was first submitted to the FTC on July 31 and subsequently published in the Federal Register. The public commentary period closed Sept. 12. According to the FTC's order, "Two of the comments were brief and did not address the Decisional criteria that the Commission must apply in determining whether to approve a proposed budget. A third,...