HISA delays enforcing suspensions for injection rule violations

The Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority has temporarily limited the penalties against trainers for violating a rule that prohibits working a horse within seven days of the horse receiving an intra-articular injection, HISA officials confirmed on Thursday.

HISA will not enforce a 60-day suspension for a trainer who violates the rule until July 15 after concluding that the rule had not been “well understood” among horsemen, according to Lisa Lazarus, the chief executive of HISA. Lazarus said that “15 to 20” violations of the rule had occurred since the regulation went into effect on May 22.

However, horses that have worked within seven days of receiving an intra-articular injection will continue to be removed from racing eligibility for 30 days, as per the existing rule. In addition, the 60-day suspension for racing a horse within 14 days of receiving an intra-articular injection will also continue to be enforced.

Lazarus said that both elements of the rule had been explained in educational materials that HISA and its drug-enforcement arm, the Horseracing Integrity and Welfare Unit, had distributed in the lead-up to the May 22 launch of the Anti-Doping and Medication Control Program.

“But for some reason, the racing piece [of the rule] was heavily discussed and seemed to be well understood by trainers,” Lazarus said. “The training part was not. So because we had so many violations of the rule, and it was usually just off by one day, and we concluded it wasn’t intentional in any of the cases, we decided to use our prosecutorial discretion” to temporarily remove the suspension of the trainer from the penalty.

HISA sent out an “operations bulletin” on June 23 stating the new policy on the rule and saying the full sanction would resume as of July 15.

Lazarus said that the 30-day period of ineligibility was remaining in force because HISA considered that part of the penalty a “welfare issue.”

Lazarus also said that HISA’s Anti-Doping and Medication Committee is considering whether to modify the 60-day trainer suspension for violating the workout portion of the rule.

“There’s a feeling that the sanction may be too high,” Lazarus said.

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