Galvin's attorney objects to HISA's public notice

An attorney for Michael Galvin, a longtime racetrack veterinarian on the New York Racing Association circuit, has contended that the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority violated its rules on public disclosure when it posted a notice on its website this week charging that Galvin failed to submit veterinary reports on hundreds of horses he treated, in violation of HISA’s rules.

The attorney, Kim Bonstrom, said in a letter sent to HISA’s legal counsel on Thursday that the authority’s rules prohibited the posting of the notice until Galvin had received a copy. Both Bonstrom and Galvin’s email addresses were posted on the notice, and HISA has claimed that it sent the notice to the email accounts on Aug. 23.

Bonstrom said in an interview on Tuesday that neither himself nor Galvin had received the notice. Bonstrom provided the letter he sent to HISA on Thursday to Daily Racing Form, using an email address that is identical to the one HISA listed for Bonstrom on the notice.

The letter says that “HISA immediately should remove the notice from its website and, to mitigate the reputational and financial damages that may have been caused by HISA’s premature publication, publicly announce the retraction.”

A HISA spokesperson said Friday that the authority would have no comment on the letter.

The letter also references portions of HISA’s rules regarding public disclosure, which states that the disclosure should include “the identity of any covered person who is the subject of the alleged violation” and “the identity of any applicable horse.”

The notice charged Glavin with failing to submit 3,951 treatment records for 497 horses over a time period running from January 2023 to March of 2024. Under HISA’s rules, all treatments records for horses must be submitted to the authority.

The letter from Bonstrom says that because HISA did not specifically identify the horses, the notice was published in violation of the public-disclosure rule.
In the notice, Galvin was given a deadline of Aug. 30 to respond to the violations. The response could include “a statement admitting the violation or explaining the reasons why you believe that a violation has not occurred” or a “detailed explanation of a remedial plan you propose to undertake to cure the violation,” the notice said.

Bonstrom’s letter contends that because HISA violated its public-disclosure rules, “we further assume that no further submission presently is required of Dr. Galvin, and that the noticed matter will not proceed further.”

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