Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority to post new rules on medication use, drug-testing programs

The Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority plans to post new rules covering the sport’s medication use and drug-testing programs on Friday, the legal counsel for HISA said Wednesday.

John Roach, the legal counsel, made the statement while appearing on an hour-long webinar administered by the Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association to guide owners and trainers through HISA’s registration process. He said the rules will be posted for public comment on HISA’s website “in 48 hours,” and that HISA plans to collect public comment over the next several weeks, in anticipation of filing the rules with the Federal Trade Commission, the federal overseer of HISA, on July 1.

HISA first released a batch of rules that covered equine drug-testing, penalties, and medication use in November of last year. But those rules were pulled from consideration later in the year after negotiations with the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, a private company, over an enforcement agreement for the program were called off. USADA had played a significant role in developing the rules.

Early last month, HISA announced that it had reached an agreement with another private company, Drug Free Sport International, to enforce its “anti-doping and medication control” program.

HISA’s other program, dealing with racetrack safety and establishing “covered persons,” goes into effect July 1, with some exceptions. The webinar on Wednesday was intended to familiarize licensees with the registration process, which will have to be completed by July 1 for horses to be eligible to race.
Under the registration rules, all horses who have started in a race or have had a timed workout are required to be registered, along with trainers, owners, backstretch workers, veterinarians, and other licensees. HISA and various horsemen’s groups have been mounting intense communications efforts over the past several weeks urging horsemen and owners to register.