HISA in spotlight at Jockey Club Round Table

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. -- Mired in four current legal challenges and beset by critics, the fledgling Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority will take center stage on Sunday morning at The Jockey Club Round Table Conference on Matters Pertaining to Racing in Saratoga Springs.

Don’t expect to hear much from its critics, however. HISA, the private company created by federal legislation passed late in 2020, remains resolutely supported by The Jockey Club, and the speakers lined up on Sunday include several of its biggest cheerleaders. Many are expected to acknowledge the growing pains facing the authority, but only as a backdrop to a larger discussion about the organization’s future.

Not surprisingly, Lisa Lazarus, the chief executive of HISA, will be the keynote speaker. A former top executive of the Federation Equestre Internationale, the international governing body for equestrian sports, Lazarus will provide an “update” on the activities of HISA since its jurisdiction took effect on July 1 in most racing states, The Jockey Club said. She will also discuss plans for HISA’s Anti-Doping and Medication Control Program, expected to launch on Jan. 1.

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The Round Table is scheduled to start at 10:00 a.m. Eastern on Sunday, and the program usually runs for two hours. A livestream of the event will be available below, as well as other sites.

HISA has encountered a stiff amount of resistance to its authority since it began ramping up operations, including two new lawsuits. One of those suits, filed by the states of Louisiana and West Virginia, has led to back-and-forth rulings in the past six weeks over HISA’s authority to operate in the state. Two other suits challenging HISA on constitutional grounds were dismissed earlier this year, but the plaintiffs – which include national horsemen’s groups and racing commissions – have appealed. In addition, a number of federal legislators have written to the authority questioning its actions.

The legislation creating HISA passed as part of an omnibus package late in 2020 that included hundreds of bills. According to The Jockey Club, Lazarus’s speech will be “complemented” by a video presentation from Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer, “who will offer his perspective on the significance of the passage of HISA to the Thoroughbred industry.”

Other speakers will include John Penza, a director of 5 Stones Intelligence, a private investigation company hired by The Jockey Club in the mid-2010s to investigate the use of illegal substances in racing. The results of that investigation were passed on to federal investigators, who indicted and arrested more than two dozen individuals involved in racing in March 2020. The Jockey Club has said that the indictments were illustrative of racing’s need for a national regulatory body with advanced investigatory powers.

Also scheduled to speak are Tom Rooney, the chief executive officer of the National Thoroughbred Racing Association, who will give a presentation on the NTRA’s federal lobbying work; Dennis Madsen, the head of racing for the Swedish Horseracing Authority, who will discuss Sweden’s new rules limiting use of the whip during a race; and Dr. Lauren Stiroh, a managing director of NERA Economic Consulting, who will review her findings from an analysis of economic trends in Thoroughbred racing and breeding.