SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – The Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority will add a horsemen’s advisory committee to consult with its management over policies, rules, and procedures, the chief executive of the authority said during a keynote address at The Jockey Club Round Table Conference on Matters Pertaining to Racing on Sunday. Lisa Lazarus, who was hired as chief executive for HISA last year, announced the pending creation of the committee during a speech in which she asked industry groups to rally around HISA’s mission at a time when many horsemen’s organizations and The Jockeys’ Guild are participating in lawsuits seeking the invalidation of the authority or its rules. Many HISA critics have said that horsemen have not played a large enough role in consulting with HISA’s officials before its rules are promulgated. “We will approach the further development and guidance for our rules with a sense of humility and appreciation for the wealth of expertise that resides among industry members,” Lazarus said during her speech. :: DRF Bets members get FREE DRF Past Performances - Formulator or Classic. Join now! After the conference concluded, Lazarus said in an interview that the committee would likely be comprised of 8-10 owners and trainers, representing large and small operations. She said she would begin soliciting members in the next few weeks, with the goal of having the committee in place by September. The creation of the committee is an acknowledgment that HISA’s initial goal of limiting industry participation in the creation of its rules had led to widespread dissatisfaction among horsemen. HISA’s two current rule-making committees are each comprised of a majority of members who do not have roles in the racing industry. The majorities are required by HISA’s enabling legislation, and supporters of the legislation considered the outside-majority requirement to be a feature, not a flaw. Lazarus said after the conference that the committees would consult with HISA’s current management, and that it would not consult directly with the rule-making committees. “We need to do a better job in talking with horsemen during the rule-making function,” Lazarus said. Issues related to HISA dominated the Round Table agenda on Sunday. The Jockey Club played a leading role in drafting the legislation passed late in 2020 that created the authority, a private company modeled after the Securities and Exchange Commission that has the power to craft and enforce rules governing racing in all U.S. jurisdictions. While HISA has strong support among a number of leading racing organizations and states, the authority has had a prickly relationship with some racing commissions and trainer’s organizations, many of which opposed the creation of the authority from the start. Several of those parties have filed lawsuits challenging HISA’s constitutionality and have enlisted attorneys general and federal legislators to put pressure on the authority. During her speech, Lazarus pleaded with the authority’s critics to drop their opposition and support the authority as it attempts to gets its footing. “HISA is the law of the land,” Lazarus said. “There is no longer any disputing that fact. The task in front of us now is to make HISA and the sport the best it can be. We have one industry and one chance. Let’s have vigorous debates about what the rules should be. But let’s never forget that our real adversaries are the bad actors who tarnish our sport, anyone who is cavalier about horse welfare, and those who want to shut down horse racing for good.” That sentiment was shared by several other speakers at the Round Table, whose agenda is set by The Jockey Club. Tom Rooney, the newly hired chief executive of the National Thoroughbred Racing Association, which conducts federal lobbying efforts on behalf of the racing and breeding industries, said the NTRA has two primary objectives:. One is to protect the current tax breaks enjoyed by owners. The other is to support HISA, Rooney said. “If horse racing is going to continue to be successful in future years, the public needs to be assured that things like racetrack safety, uniform standards for anti-doping and medication, and a high degree of integrity are our highest priorities,” Rooney said. “HISA is working to be all these things and more, and it’s important that we give Lisa Lazarus and her team the chance to be successful, because her success means the success of Thoroughbred racing as a whole and maintaining the sport for future generations.  … I can tell you that Thoroughbred racing is lucky to have her on our team.” :: Get Saratoga Clocker Reports from Mike Welsch and the Clocker Team. Available every race day.   Stuart Janney, the chairman of The Jockey Club, took direct aim at some of HISA’s critics in his concluding remarks, and he castigated the racing constituencies that have joined lawsuits against HISA or encouraged non-racing officials to challenge the authority’s legality. He called the lawsuits a “waste of time and money,” and he specifically referred to a suit filed two weeks ago by Texas racing constituencies. “Like the cases that came before it and those that may come after it, the new lawsuit merely serves as a distraction and a waste of industry resources,” Janney said. “Ironically, under HISA, horsemen will be the ones who bear the brunt of these additional legal costs.” Pointedly, Janney singled out The Jockeys’ Guild for criticism, saying that HISA’s rules would have far-reaching benefits for riders because of its focus on health and safety. The guild joined one of the lawsuits because of its members’ widespread dissatisfaction for regulations limiting the use of the whip in the race. “It’s outrageous,” Janney said. “The jockeys are wasting their time and hurting our sport. I hope they come to realize that.” To address the controversy over new whip-use rules, which limit riders to six strikes during a race, The Jockey Club invited Dennis Madsen, the head of racing for the Swedish Horseracing Authority, to give a presentation on recent efforts in Scandinavia to limit whip use in flat racing. Madsen said that the current rules do not allow riders to strike a horse at any time, though they can carry a whip to avoid dangerous situations. Madsen said that polling on the limitations has indicated that bettors are satisfied with the new rules. He also said that inquiries into interference have gone down, that betting has not been negatively impacted, and that racing times have not declined. But Madsen also said that the new policies protect racing’s moral standing. “It does not make sense to strike an animal that we all love so dearly,” Madsen said.