HBPA

The 2023 Claiming Crown will be staged for the first time since 2011 at the Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots in New Orleans on Saturday, Dec. 2, the National HBPA and the TOBA said in a joint release early on Thursday. The event will feature eight races totaling $1 million in base purses, headlined by the $200,000 Claiming Crown Jewel. Eric Hamelback, CEO of the National HBPA said, "The Claiming Crown was designed to celebrate our hard-knocking, unsung heroes of the turf. What better place--especially for our 25th running--than...

In two separate court filings Thursday, the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act (HISA) Authority and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) both sharply criticized the National Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association (NHBPA)'s decision to seek an injunction that would delay the May 22 implementation of the Anti-Doping and Medication Control (ADMC) program. What stood out was that neither the HISA Authority nor the FTC shied from trying to link the NHBPA's desire to maintain the "status quo" to the grim headlines that have dominated the sport over the past week. "Seven...

Even as the National Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association (NHBPA) is trying to halt the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act (HISA) for good, its attorneys filed a response in federal court Thursday that criticized the Federal Trade Commission (FTC)'s Apr. 27 order that mandated the third delay in nearly a year for the implementation of the Anti-Doping and Medication Control (ADMC) program, this time from May 1 to May 22. The NHBPA told the court that the FTC's issuance of the order to delay the program without first providing a...

The recently amended federal lawsuit spearheaded by the state of Louisiana against the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act (HISA) Authority and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is facing a new challenge from the HISA Authority defendants, who filed a Mar. 6 motion to strike the latest version of the complaint based on allegations that the plaintiffs are "improperly" attempting to use federal rules of civil procedure to turn the case to their advantage. The chief beef in the HISA Authority's Mar. 6 "motion to strike" filed in U.S. District Court...

As the legal saga that is HISA continues to be bantered around the courts horse racing fans have heard some common themes develop from those in support of and in opposition of the legislation and regulations. Those in opposition have raised many points they have repeated used as arguments for what is wrong with the entire idea and process. One of the themes that has been made as part of every opposition argument is that there is a better way to go about this, and a better set of uniform...

Turf specialist Kitodan, who went from being claimed twice last year to winning Kentucky Downs's GIII $750,000 Big Ass Fans Dueling Grounds Derby, has been selected the National HBPA's 2022 Claiming Horse of the Year, the group announced Friday morning. "We are blessed that we were able to claim that kind of horse compared to where we were just a few years ago," said western Kentucky-based trainer Eric Foster,  whose wife Brooklyn's Foster Family Racing and partners Doug Miller and Bill Wargel campaign the now 4-year-old colt after claiming him for...

The National HBPA issued a letter today saying the organization was approached by trainers Wesley Ward and Larry Rivelli to help facilitate an open letter to the industry. While this is being distributed by the National HBPA, which also assisted in putting the letter together, the sentiments are those of trainers Wesley Ward, Larry Rivelli and the undersigned horsemen and racing participants. They encourage others who agree with this letter to add their name by using the link here and below. More than 400 have signed up in 24 hours...

The United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit on Friday ruled that the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act (HISA) is unconstitutional because it "delegates unsupervised government power to a private entity," and thus "violates the private non-delegation doctrine." The Appeals Court order by a panel of three judges reverses a lower court's decision earlier this year that dismissed a constitutionality lawsuit initiated in 2021 by the National Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association (NHBPA). The Nov. 18 order also remands the case back to U.S. District Court (Northern District...

Barely six weeks into its existence as the sport's national rule enforcer, the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority (HISA) has spent $1.8 million defending itself in four separate lawsuits currently pending or under appeal in federal court. But the true irony behind the spiraling costs of the anti-HISA litigation is that almost all entities--owners, trainers, jockeys, tracks, racing commissions and states--are going to have to pay twice, regardless of the final outcomes of those complex lawsuits. That's because plaintiffs like the Jockeys' Guild and various horsemen's associations will spend their...

Led by 14 affiliates of the Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association (HBPA) and four racetracks, an alliance of entities seeking protection from the alleged harms of the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act Authority (HISA) have asked a federal judge to allow them to participate in an existing lawsuit that claims HISA and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) violated the Fourth and Seventh Amendments to the U.S. Constitution, plus the process by which federal agencies develop and issue regulations. On Friday, the anti-HISA parties filed what is known as a "motion...

Four U.S. senators, Chuck Grassley (R-IA), Joe Manchin (D-WV), Joni Ernst (R-IA) and John Kennedy (R-LA), sent a letter to the Federal Trade Commission and Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority Monday asking for clarification and explanation about HISA's ability to meet its upcoming July 1 implementation deadlines for the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act (HISA). "The Authority publicly stated in a December 2021 press release that it will not implement the Anti-Doping and Medication Control program by the statutory deadline of July 1, 2022," the letter said. "This deadline is...

Since issuing a cheat sheet to help guide industry participants through the launch of the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act (HISA) on July 1, the TDN has been fielding unanswered questions that industry participants have about the process to register, and about the anticipated playing field within a few weeks, forwarding them to HISA for response. The first two batches of reader questions, alongside HISA's responses, can be found here and here. The latest batch of answers is below. Some of the questions have been edited for brevity and clarity....