Two trainers who are members of a horsemen’s advisory group to the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority advocated for HISA to extend its jurisdiction to 2-year-old sales on Monday during a livestreamed “town hall” meeting with HISA’s chief executive officer. The trainers, Dale Romans and Ron Moquett, cited a recent case in which another trainer, Jeffrey Englehart, had been absolved of a clenbuterol positive after hair testing determined the horse had been administered the drug early in its 2-year-old career. The horse had been purchased by a client of Englehart’s at a 2-year-old sale, and the testing revealed that the drug was administered prior to the sale. By federal statute, HISA’s authority is currently limited to horses who have performed a timed workout at a racetrack or licensed training center. As a result, horses are not routinely tested by HISA until they have gone through the sales rings at juvenile sales, where the horses are usually timed performing extremely fast one- or two-furlong works. “I don’t understand why the sales companies aren’t held to the same standard as we are,” said Romans. Even prior to the advent of HISA, which took over most aspects of the regulation of racing in most U.S. states over the course of the past two years, horsemen were frequently critical of the lack of regulation at sales. Most sales companies perform random drug-testing of 2-year-old horses and offer drug tests to buyers before finalizing a purchase, but the testing is far less extensive than that performed in the racing environment. :: Subscribe to the DRF Post Time Email Newsletter: Get the news you need to play today's races!  Moquett said that the lack of HISA regulation over 2-year-old sales cast doubt on whether racing was serious about the claim that strictly enforcing anti-doping and medication rules was in the interests of the “safety of horses.” “I think it’s hypocritical to say we’re there for the integrity of the sport . . . when so much can be done – good or bad – to them in their 2-year-old years, especially preparing for a 2-year-old sale,” Moquett said. Lisa Lazarus, the chief executive of HISA, said during the livestream that she had talked with officials at the three major sales companies – Keeneland, Fasig-Tipton, and the Ocala Breeders’ Sales Co. – in October over a proposal for the companies to step up their current self-regulation. “They agreed to work together to come up with an anti-doping program that aligned with HISA, so there’s a sensible journey from weanling, yearling, and into horses of racing age that makes sense,” Lazarus said. “So basically not only are the trainers protected, but we know what’s happening with a horse throughout its lifetime, so we can better protect the horse.” Expanding the formal jurisdiction of HISA would require a change in the statute that created the authority. That might meet with some resistance from breeders, who, by and large, were one of the racing constituencies that advocated aggressively for the creation of HISA when its enabling legislation was passed in 2020. “I think that’s a Pandora’s box that needs to be opened, that should have been opened a long time ago,” said Romans. “We could go all way the way back to the day they’re born and start tracking them, if we want to do it right. And I know that’s a long way down the road.” :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.