State Regulators See Steps Toward Uniformity Under HISA

Executive directors for racing regulators in prominent states have seen important steps toward uniformity in rules, enforcement, and lab standards benefit the sport since oversight of safety, medication control, and anti-doping has shifted from state regulators to the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority in recent years.

That assessment, along with specific examples of how this improved uniformity has helped their state programs, was offered by three of the four executive directors participating in a panel on HISA at the Racing and Gaming Conference at Saratoga Aug. 12 in Saratoga Springs, N.Y. In late May HISA celebrated its one-year anniversary of overseeing the sport's anti-doping and medication control efforts, after beginning oversight of safety issues in July 2022.

Louis Trombetta, executive director of the Florida Gaming Control Commission, said that before the launch of HISA, Florida horsemen who failed post-race drug tests at the state lab would readily send split samples to labs he said didn't examine samples as thoroughly. He said horsemen chose those labs in an effort to gain a negative finding and effectively end their cases. Trombetta said the practice pointed to the varying levels of testing throughout the country under state-to-state regulation of racing's medication and anti-doping.

"I think having uniform standards for labs and testing has improved and it's been a good thing for the sport," Trombetta said.

Robert Williams, executive director for the New York State Gaming Commission, said states that already carried high standards in rules and policies on safety and drug testing likely didn't see much change when HISA arrived. He said that was the case for New York, noting that it had already moved forward in these areas thanks to efforts such as the Mid-Atlantic Plan to Reduce Equine Injuries and other efforts to standardize rules throughout the region.

While Williams believes there's been more uniformity, he'd like to see HISA document these improvements in its reports.

"An important thing for HISA is that it has brought standardization to the calls on drug findings—they get called the same way," Williams said, noting that he'd like to see reports that actually document this change.

The executive director of the California Horse Racing Board, Scott Chaney, said that under the state-to-state system horsemen who didn't wish to follow stricter safety rules California put in place about five years ago simply left for jurisdictions with less stringent policies. Chaney said that as HISA has become the standard in the majority of racing jurisdictions, that option to leave California for less stringent states is not as readily available—forcing horsemen to adapt to new standards rather than finding places to race with lesser standards.

Chaney also said that HISA is well-positioned to improve safety in the sport thanks to the impressive technology it uses to keep tabs on horses.

"The technology that HISA is using is light years ahead of what most of us were using," Chaney said.

While uniformity dominated much of the conversation of the panel, it initially addressed the topic of whether there would be any savings for the sport as state regulators would figure to downsize as HISA takes over some of their biggest responsibilities. Racing and Gaming Conference founder Patrick Brown, also a Thoroughbred owner, said that topic came to him as he was thinking about the changing sport.

The short answer: Any savings for the sport are trickling in.

Chaney noted that state government entities are slow to move in general and, beyond that, with HISA's future still being determined in a number of court cases it wouldn't make sense for the CHRB to let workers go until those cases are fully resolved.

Trombetta noted that Florida wanted to find ways to stay involved and has opted to continue to collect post-race samples. After those samples are collected, they're turned over to HISA. Trombetta noted that HISA handles the collection of any out-of-competition samples. Trombetta said the state has seen some savings in its funding of the Florida lab as well as some reductions on the legal side, as HISA now oversees and handles those areas.

Also participating on the panel was Texas Racing Commission executive director Amy Cook, who said state laws made it difficult for the state to bring in HISA. Texas has opted to not have HISA oversee the sport's safety, medication control, and anti-doping, which has resulted in races from the state not being available for off-track wagering outside Texas.