HISA Calls for Further Provisional Suspension Limits

At the suggestion of its Horsemen's Advisory Group, the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority's board of directors has called on its enforcement arm to further limit the instances in which horsemen face immediate suspension, referred to as a provisional suspension.

When HISA began oversight of anti-doping and medication control efforts in horse racing in the spring of 2023, its enforcement arm, the Horseracing Integrity and Welfare Unit, placed provisional suspensions on covered persons accused of violations involving banned substances. These suspensions would be in place while cases played out.

But since the launch HISA has tightened the rules on when such provisional suspensions are applied. On Nov. 4 it announced plans to further analyze and review the use of these immediate suspensions to determine if further changes are needed to the rule and their application. During that time, the HISA board recommends HIWU put further restrictions in place on when it assigns provisional suspensions.

In a Tuesday press release, HISA said those circumstances should be limited to when a covered person has more than one horse test positive for the same banned substance, or when a barn search leads to the discovery of the same banned substance for which the covered person is being charged under the ADMC program; or when the alleged violation presents a substantial risk to the integrity of racing and/or the welfare of horses. 

The release added that, "Consequently, all provisional suspensions that do not fall within any of these defined categories will be lifted today, Nov. 4, 2024."

The Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association also supports the change announced today.

The HISA release noted that the change in provisional suspension policies will not affect the actual cases, which it still plans to move forward with under the applicable ADMC program rules. The change is that covered persons who have had their provisional suspensions lifted, or going forward not imposed, will be able to participate in racing while the case proceeds to resolution.

As previously announced, cases involving the banned substance metformin remain stayed. In the spring HISA announced that it would stay those cases while the industry's Racing Medication and Testing Consortium's Scientific Advisory Committee conducts a review of the available science relating to metformin. HISA officials said Monday that that study continues.

Metformin is commonly used in humans as a treatment for diabetes, raising concerns about potential human to horse environmental contamination. But in announcing the study in the spring, HISA officials also noted that, "HIWU has intelligence that some horsemen may be using metformin to try and gain a performance advantage."

Last fall, HIWU announced it would no longer impose provisional suspensions on covered persons upon notice of a positive test result in horses for banned substances that are recognized as substances of abuse in humans. Examples of banned substances under this category include cocaine, methamphetamine, methylenedioxymethamphetamine, and tetrahydrocannabinol.

Then in July HISA announced that in cases in which the trainer requests a split sample, provisional suspensions would not be put in place until such time that a split sample analysis had confirmed the initial finding.