HISA allows stays for two Southern California riders on one-day suspensions

The Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority, the federal organization that began enforcing limited rules in U.S. racing states on July 1, has issued stays of one-day suspensions handed down by California stewards to two riders for riding-crop infractions, according to officials.

The stays of the suspensions for jockeys Diego Herrera and Ryan Curatolo were issued on July 15 after Bing Bush, a Southern California attorney, appealed the one-day suspensions issued by the California stewards after rides on July 3 and July 8 at Los Alamitos Racecourse. Both riders were suspended for violating a HISA rule that went into effect on July 1 limiting riders to six overhand uses of the whip for an entire race.

The two appeals are the first to be filed with HISA, said a spokesperson for the authority. The stays of the suspensions were signed by Charles Scheeler, the chair of HISA’s board.

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Bush, who also manages a racing stable, said on Monday that both appeals were filed to argue that the riders used the whip in ways to avoid dangerous situations. He said in his appeals of the decisions that the riders used the whip “properly” and argued that forcing the riders to serve the one-day suspensions on the first day of the lucrative Del Mar meeting on July 22 would cause “irreparable harm.”

Although a spokesperson for HISA said that appeals of the penalties have not yet been scheduled, Bing said on Monday that he believed that the appeals would be heard during the second week of August.

The HISA spokesperson referred to sections of the authority’s rules that gives HISA the ability to grant stays of stewards’ decisions and schedule hearings for appeals of those decisions. Under those rules, a quorum of the HISA board can schedule hearings, and it “shall uphold the decision unless it is clearly erroneous or not supported by the evidence or applicable law.”

The board then has the ability to accept the stewards’ decision, modify the penalty, or send the case back to the stewards for further consideration. Any decision by the board “shall be the final decision of the authority.”