RCI forms committee to push for uniform rules

LEXINGTON, Ky. – A national umbrella organization for state racing commissions will identify those states that have not adopted the group’s uniform rules and work with the commissions to adopt the regulations, the group said on Wednesday, in an acknowledgement that state racing commissions have been slow to respond to national calls for action.

The Association of Racing Commissioners International, which represents racing commissions in all 38 U.S. racing jurisdictions, said in a release Wednesday that a newly formed committee headed by the organization’s chairman, Mark Lamberth, would “identify the jurisdictions that have yet to adopt portions of the reforms and develop strategies to work with the individual commissions to advance the reforms.” The decision was made to form the committee following a conference call with racing-commission members on Monday, the RCI said.

Lamberth is a member of the Arkansas State Racing Commission, which has adopted a subset of the RCI-approved rules regarding the use of therapeutic medications but has not adopted the full suite of uniform regulations, which also includes rules regarding laboratory accreditation and accelerating penalties for repeat offenders of medication rules.

The decision to establish a committee to push for uniform rules is in large part a reaction to criticism in and outside the racing industry that a years-long effort to develop the rules and get them adopted in racing states has proceeded far too slowly. Although the need for uniform rules has been widely recognized in racing circles for decades, a sustained and serious effort to gain consensus on uniform rules – a tedious, ongoing process spearheaded by the Racing Medication and Testing Consortium – did not begin until roughly five years ago, with a state-by-state approach to getting the rules adopted beginning in earnest only several years ago.

Some of the critics of this state-by-state process have banded together to push for the passage of federal legislation that would appoint the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, a nonprofit corporation, as the national overseer of the sport’s drug-testing and medication policies. Passage of the legislation, which was written by The Jockey Club and supporters of the effort, would make state racing commissions subservient to USADA’s authority, and the RCI has said it is opposed to the bill, citing a litany of concerns.

Although the bill has support from a small but influential coalition led by The Jockey Club, most Thoroughbred racetracks and rank-and-file horsemen are opposed to the bill. Most significantly, racetracks have expressed concerns over the bill’s use of interstate simulcasting rights as an enforcement mechanism. Some racetracks are capable of wielding a significant amount of influence over individual legislators.

While states representing 70 percent to 80 percent of the national handle have adopted parts of the uniform rules, very few states have adopted all components of the regulations. In some states, the regulations have been adopted in substantially the same form as the model rules but with small exceptions, a situation that has frustrated both supporters of the state-by-state reform effort and proponents of the legislation putting USADA in charge.

(See “USADA under the microscope,” www.drf.com/news/usada-under-microscope)

Lamberth said in response to an e-mail that the committee will shortly contact every racing jurisdiction in the U.S. regardless of the status of their compliance with the full uniform suite of rules. The committee members likely will be selected by the end of the week.

“We need to know what are their individual and unique issues so that RCI can bring its full resources into play,” Lamberth said. “That is a broad-based strategy, but the committee will have the latitude to recommend any strategy to accomplish our goal of full compliance.”

Lamberth said he could not provide specific strategies for gaining compliance but said the committee will work with all parties in the states to gain support. In some cases, the recommended rules have been blocked by opposition from Thoroughbred horsemen or organizations representing other breeds, and Lamberth said those organizations would be included in the discussions to adopt the rules.

Lamberth also said that at the present time, the RCI has not considered any options to force adoption of the rules, but he said the RCI may soon consider consequences for states that do not adopt the rules.

“I expect the committee to fully address noncompliance,” Lamberth said.