Jockeys' Guild contends HISA injunction applies to riders in all jurisdictions

The Jockeys’ Guild, a national organization representing a vast majority of riders across the U.S., is contending that a preliminary injunction issued on Tuesday by a federal judge preventing the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority from enforcing its rules in Louisiana and West Virginia will apply to all members of the Guild riding across the U.S., an interpretation that could lead to turmoil in stewards’ stands.

The injunction was issued on Tuesday by Judge Terry Doughty of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Louisiana in response to a suit filed by the states of Louisiana and West Virginia, along with the Jockeys’ Guild. Doughty wrote in his ruling that “the geographic scope of the injunction shall be limited to the States of Louisiana and West Virginia, and as to all Plaintiffs in this proceeding.”

The Guild’s attorneys contend that the inclusion of the last clause in the ruling should be interpreted as applying to all members of the Guild regardless of the state in which they are riding. If the interpretation of the Guild is correct, it has the potential to introduce confusion into the stewardship of races at tracks across the U.S.

Under the Guild’s interpretation, stewards would be unable to issue penalties to Guild members riding in any state under HISA’s rules. Because HISA’s rule on whip use differs, in some cases substantially, from whip-use rules that were previously enforced in states prior to HISA’s rules going into force on July 1, stewards would be required to apply different whip-use rules to members of the Guild than non-members, even in the same race, because non-members would still be subject to the HISA rule.

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A Guild official who spoke on the condition of anonymity confirmed that the Guild’s interpretation would lead to that chaotic outcome. The official said that multiple attorneys had reviewed the language of Doughty’s ruling and come to the same conclusion. The official also said that attorneys for the other plaintiffs in the suit agreed with the interpretation.

A statement issued by one of the Guild’s attorneys threatened legal action if any steward in any state issued a penalty to a Guild member under HISA’s whip-use rule beginning Wednesday.

“Should HISA, or any of its designated representatives, attempt to enforce any of the enjoined rules against a Guild member in any state, the Guild intends to take immediate action to ensure compliance with the court’s order,” said Kate Swearengen, the general counsel for the Guild.

HISA said in a statement issued early on Wednesday afternoon that it did not accept the Guild’s interpretation and would “continue to enforce its rules in all applicable jurisdictions, with the exception of Louisiana and West Virginia.” The statement did say that HISA’s rules would not apply to five individuals who were plaintiffs in the case, including a jockey, Gerald Melancon, who has ridden for nearly 40 years in Louisiana.

Prior to the statement being released, a steward in a major racing jurisdiction had said that word had begun circulating about the Guild position and that stewards were waiting to hear from HISA about how they should officiate races on Wednesday.

The Guild, whose chairman, the leading rider John Velazquez, is on a standing committee at HISA that approved its current whip-use rule, has lodged objections to HISA’s approach to regulation of whip use since the authority began formulating its rules a year ago. However, those dissatisfactions had been bubbling for years as various jurisdictions began to write separate rules limiting the use of the whip in the race over the Guild’s objections.

The HISA rule limits riders to six overhand uses of the whip during the race, among other restrictions. Since the rule went into effect on July 1, stewards at tracks across the U.S. have issued more than 60 penalties for violations of the HISA rule.

The Guild represents the vast majority of leading riders in the country, but membership in the Guild is not a requirement for riders. A Guild spokesperson said that the “active membership” in the organization currently stands at 950, with that total also including exercise riders who have only a few mounts a year.

Given that it would be nearly impossible for stewards to apply different rules to riders in the same race depending on whether or not they are members of the Guild, the most likely course of action for stewards will be to apply the state’s existing whip-use rule to all riders in a race – just four weeks after adjusting to the new HISA rule.

The lawsuit that triggered the preliminary injunction was filed on June 29, two days prior to the advent of HISA’s jurisdiction in most racing states in the U.S. Although Doughty denied an emergency injunction a day after the suit was filed, he ruled on Tuesday that the suit’s plaintiffs had standing and that several of the contentions made by the plaintiffs in the suit had a reasonable chance of “succeeding on the merits” in a final ruling, justifying the injunction.

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Doughty’s ruling did not include any reference to specific rules governing use of the whip, though a memorandum he prepared explaining the ruling referenced a claim made by the plaintiffs that the 14-day public-comment period for the rules HISA submitted to its federal overseer, the Federal Trade Commission, violated federal statutes requiring public-comment periods of at least 30 days.

Doughty said that the plaintiffs were likely to “succeed on the merits” of this claim, which could have the effect of invalidating the three sets of HISA rules already approved by the FTC, which includes the whip-use rule.

“The defendants failed to meet their high burden and to properly follow procedure when implementing the approved rules,” Doughty wrote.

In their initial motion requesting a preliminary injunction, the plaintiffs in the suit had told Doughty that the stakes were high given the “chaos” surrounding the implementation of the HISA rules.

“All three sets of final rules will wreak havoc on the racing industry within a matter of days,” the plaintiffs wrote.

Just hours after the Guild sent out its release, the Louisiana Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association, which was also a plaintiff in the suit, sent out a notice to its members quoting the same language as the Guild to contend that the injunction issued by Doughty “applies to all of the members of the LHBPA, regardless of the U.S. jurisdiction in which the owner and/or trainer is racing and/or training.”