Former commission members file brief supporting Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority
Former members of racing commissions in Kentucky, Ohio, and Indiana stressed in a “friend of the court” briefing filed on Wednesday that they believed the implementation of a national regulatory structure for racing would protect and improve the U.S. racing industry.
The brief, filed in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky, was filed by three former members of the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission, including a previous chairman, as well as a former chairman of the Ohio State Racing Commission and the former executive director of the Indiana Horse Racing Commission.
The brief was filed in order to support a motion to dismiss a lawsuit that is challenging the legality of the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority, which was authorized by legislation passed late last year. The lawsuit was filed by Louisiana, Oklahoma, and West Virginia, supported by their racing commissions.
In the brief, the former racing commission members said that the motion to dismiss had “ably addressed the legal threshold flaws” in the lawsuit, and they provided no new legal arguments supporting the dismissal.
However, the members told the court that “horseracing is at an existential crossroads” and that the racing and breeding industries constituted important components of states’ economies.
“Without legislation like HISA, public confidence in horseracing may well erode to the point that this signature industry of the Commonwealth of Kentucky and key industry in many other states ceases to exist,” the brief states.