Churchill Downs Inc. gets symbolic victory in HISA suit

A federal judge in Louisville has ruled that the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority violated its enabling legislation when it used a formula that included purses in determining a track’s dues to the organization.

The ruling, by Benjamin Beaton of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Kentucky, hands a symbolic victory to Churchill Downs Inc., which filed a lawsuit late in 2024 challenging the formula.

HISA received approval from its federal regulator in 2025 to modify the formula so that it was based purely on starts, and the new formula went into effect at the start of 2026. Churchill had argued in its suit that the enabling legislation limited the dues formula to a calculation using only starts.

The impact of the ruling is further dampened because Churchill Downs and HISA reached a settlement last week on the company’s delinquent dues for 2025. Under the agreement, HISA will drop an enforcement action against CDI that could have threatened its ability to send its simulcast signal out-of-state.

Despite notifying the court that the dispute had been settled and dropping its motion for a temporary restraining order, Churchill retained a motion seeking a ruling on the legality of the funding formula HISA had used from 2022-‘25.

In a statement released on Wednesday, Churchill’s chief executive officer, Bill Carstanjen, said that the ruling justified the company’s pursuit of the case.

“By finding that HISA continuously exceeded its authority, the court reiterated why it was necessary to bring this legal action,” Carstanjen said.

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