metformin

Representatives from the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act (HISA) and the Horseracing Integrity and Welfare Unit (HIWU) hosted a Town Hall Friday to dig down into the information issued in their recent annual reports and fatality metrics. One aim of the town hall, said HISA CEO Lisa Lazarus, was to publicly "look under the hood" of the fatality numbers to better understand how they're compiled. "How do we collect these metrics? What does the process look like? Why are we very confident that they are accurate?" said Lazarus. As much...

A judge in Louisiana has dismissed Jonathan Wong's complaint against the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority (HISA) in the District Court for the Western District of Louisiana, Lafayette Division, ruling that the state does not have jurisdiction over HISA, according to Brent Malmstrom, one of Wong's owners. The case, which stemmed from a June, 2023 Metformin positive, saw Wong receive a two-year suspension and spurred his move to Louisiana, where the Act is not in effect. In the complaint filed Tuesday, Wong asserted that...

The Mark Glatt runner Vanzzy (Verrazano) tested positive for Metformin and Gabapentin after finishing second in a Dec. 6, 2024 $16,000 claiming race at Los Alamitos, according to a ruling posted on the Horse Racing Integrity and Welfare Unit (HIWU) website. This is the first Metformin case HIWU has had since July 2024. Glatt has denied any wrongdoing, but his lawyer, Drew Mollica, said that an internal investigation had identified a barn employee who is taking both medications. "We have not yet been served the charges, but this is another...

Defending itself in a constitutionality lawsuit initiated by the trainer Jonathan Wong, the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority on Friday told a federal judge in Louisiana that the court should either toss out Wong's case entirely or hold off on letting the litigation proceed while the Supreme Court of the United States decides whether it will take on one of three active requests stemming from different cases whose parties all want the nation's highest court to weigh in on similar constitutional issues Wong raises in his lower-court lawsuit. In a...

The latest development in Jonathan Wong's ongoing case stemming from a June 2023 metformin positive saw him file a complaint against the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act (HISA) Authority in the District Court for the Western District of Louisiana, Lafayette Division. Wong is currently serving a two-year ban under HISA. In the complaint filed Tuesday, Wong asserts the Horseracing Integrity and Welfare Unit (HIWU) had threatened the immigration status of one of his intended witnesses before a prior arbitration hearing-something the agency denies doing....

The nation's racetracks appear primed for compliance with the first set of uniform receiving barn cleanliness, maintenance and security regulations. Just how stringent these rules will be remains up in the air. Back in August, the TDN took a dive into the issues that stakeholders frequently raise about the nation's fleet of receiving barns. This included the potential for unclean stalls, or receiving barns in poor overall physical condition, to cause environmental contamination through left behind trace drug residues. Last month, the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority (HISA) issued for...

Every week, the TDN posts a roundup of the relevant Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act (HISA)-related rulings from around the country. Among this week's rulings, several provisional suspensions have been handed out in cases pending a formal hearing. This includes trainers Frederico Villafranco and Diana Morici, who have been issued provisional suspensions for separate alleged methamphetamine positives. Trainer Francisco Ramos remains provisionally suspended with two additional alleged clenbuterol positives to go with four prior pending clenbuterol cases. Five of these cases--including the two most recent--were from out-of-competition tests. The other...

The list of trainers that have been informed by the Horse Racing Integrity and Welfare Unit (HIWU) that a horse they train has tested positive for the controversial drug Metformin has grown by two. According to postings on the HIWU website, Greg Foley and James Lawrence II have been notified that horses under their care had Metformin in their system. Lawrence's positive came from the  horse Cherished Wish (Mshawish) in a May 23 race at Penn National in which she finished second. The Foley horse to test positive was Camaro...

Since the launch of the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act's (HISA) drug testing program over a year ago, metformin has sucked up an awful lot of oxygen. Under HISA, there have been seven resolved cases and four pending cases involving metformin—perhaps not an especially large number on its own, until framed against the number of metformin cases adjudicated before the program went into effect. An Association of Racing Commissioners International's (ARCI) review of their database "going back decades" found five metformin cases for Thoroughbreds. All were from 2017 onwards. The...

Monday, HISA announced four new members to its Horsemen's Advisory Group, replacing six outgoing members. The advisory group was formed in 2022 to provide feedback to HISA from the boots on the ground in the racing industry. It is comprised of 18 members, representing a variety of viewpoints across the industry. We sat down with outgoing member David Ingordo to talk about how the group operates and what the experience was like. SF: Can you explain how members are chosen for this group? Is there a committee who picks them?...

The National HBPA has filed a 'motion to supplement the record' to their longstanding case currently before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in which they challenge the lawfulness of the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority. This new motion charges that it again shows that HISA, and not the FTC, is actually in charge of horseracing rules, pointing to the new policy governing how Metformin cases were handled. On Tuesday, June 4, HISA announced that some trainers whose horses had tested positive for Metformin would have their...

Trainer George Weaver is one of several trainers whose horses have tested positive for metformin who will have their suspensions deferred as the Board of Directors of the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority has requested additional review of the drug which is heavily prescribed and used to treat diabetes in people. "In line with HISA's Anti-Doping and Medication Control requirements, metformin is included in the Prohibited Substances List because there is no recognized therapeutic use for the substance in horses involved in Thoroughbred racing," HISA Board Chairman Charles Scheeler said...