HISA Authority

The Illinois-based trainer Gerald Butler, who is currently suspended 20 months and was fined $10,000 after a Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority (HISA)'s arbitration panel for Anti-Doping and Medication Control Program (ADMC) matters ruled in February that he possessed the banned substance levothyroxine (Thyro-L) in his Fairmount Park barn last summer, sued HISA in federal court July 3, seeking a stay of his penalties in a case that challenges the  definition of the word "possession." According to the sequence of events described in the arbitrator's decision, on June 13, 2024,...

In its ongoing case against Philip Serpe for a Clenbuterol positive stemming from last August, the Horseracing Integrity and Welfare Unit (HIWU) will not pursue a fine against the trainer--what could have been a $25,000 penalty--as per a letter issued by the agency last week. Serpe, however, argues that this action was taken by HIWU to prejudicially stymie his legal efforts in a federal court case against the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), which includes the contention that he has been wrongfully denied his...

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 United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit on Friday affirmed a ruling out of a lower federal court in Arkansas that had denied a preliminary injunction sought by horsemen in Arkansas and Iowa to halt the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act (HISA) and its Anti-Doping and Medication Control (ADMC) program. Chief Judge Steven Colloton took the lead in authoring the opinion for the three-judge panel, writing that the plaintiffs/appellants have "not established a fair chance of success on the merits, so the district court did not abuse...

Ahead of a Wednesday federal court hearing to determine if a temporary injunction is warranted in Oklahoma to keep the Horseracing and Safety Integrity Act (HISA) from being enforced in that state, the HISA Authority filed a legal response Monday that stated "there is no emergency" that would merit such action. The Authority further told the court that the eight licensed Remington Park horsepeople who are plaintiffs in the case are engaging in "foot-dragging and gamesmanship" in their repeated efforts to derail HISA on the grounds of alleged unconstitutionality. In...

The Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority called for potential researchers to prepare research proposals on the administration of furosemide, still commonly called Lasix in racing, to Thoroughbred racehorses during the 48-hour period before the start of a race, the organization said in a release Thursday evening. The call for proposals is expected to be released Sept. 1. As the Authority was created by the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act (HISA) of 2020, it is mandated by Congress to include at least one study on the use of furosemide. Included in...

Trainer Jonathan Wong has been provisionally suspended after being alerted late Wednesday that the B Sample confirmed the presence of Metformin in a post-race test taken from his trainee, Heaven and Earth (Gormley). Heaven and Earth broke her maiden at Indiana Grand June 1 but subsequently tested positive for the prescription drug Metformin, a type 2 diabetes treatment classified as a banned substance by the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act (HISA). During a conference call Thursday morning before representatives from the Horseracing Integrity and Welfare Unit (HIWU) and a judge,...

The North American Association of Racetrack Veterinarians (NAARV) is arguing for the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit to overturn the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act (HISA) on constitutional grounds because the law allegedly "places the racetrack veterinarians at a greater risk than other covered persons" from a due process standpoint. Chief among the assertions made by the NAARV in a 51-page "friend of the court" brief filed July 14 are that "initial findings of wrongdoing by a member of NAARV, pursuant to HISA, result in a...

The Arkansas-based lawsuit filed six weeks ago that is the most recent among five separate federal complaints attempting to derail the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act (HISA) via alleged constitutionality claims was broadly rebuffed Monday in separate legal filings by the defendants in the case, who are executives with the HISA Authority and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). The plaintiffs, led by Bill Walmsley, president of the Arkansas Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association (HBPA), and Jon Moss, the executive director of the Iowa HBPA, had asked a judge in United...

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...

Parties on both sides of a Sixth Circuit United States Court of Appeals case that seeks to reverse a lower court's decision to dismiss a constitutional challenge of the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act (HISA) argued via written briefs Thursday as to whether or not a pro-HISA law passed at the tail end of 2022 renders as "moot" any constitutionality claims in the under-appeal lawsuit. The Jan. 12 briefs were filed in accordance with a Dec. 30 request from the Sixth Circuit to explain how the Dec. 29 signage of...

Edited Press Release Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry will be the keynote speaker at the National HBPA's annual conference Mar. 6-10 at the Hotel Monteleone in New Orleans' historic French Quarter, the horsemen's organization announced. The conference, being hosted by the Louisiana HPBA, takes place in conjunction with the Association of Racing Commissioners International (ARCI) Annual Meeting and Racing Integrity Conference. Landry's keynote address is to be delivered Mar. 7. He has been at the forefront of states challenging the constitutionality of the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act (HISA) and...