Round table speakers throw support behind USADA bill

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – A succession of speakers at the Jockey Club’s Round Table Conference on Matters Pertaining to Racing on Sunday attempted to make the case that the industry should collectively rally behind the organization’s effort to pass federal legislation that would install the United States Anti-Doping Agency as the sport’s drug czar.

The speakers included Edwin Moses, the gold-medal winning former Olympian and chairman of USADA, as well as Gov. Steve Beshear of Kentucky. Both stated the industry’s popularity and the public perception of the sport are being damaged by a lack of uniformity among racing states in regard to rules governing medication policies and penalties and that the federal bill would lead to greater public confidence in racing results among fans, bettors, and the sport’s participants.

“Our collective experiences over the last several decades have demonstrated that individual state racing commissions cannot get this job done,” said Beshear, who is serving out the last year of his second term as governor. “The only way to achieve these changes is through federal legislation.”

Moses, who has been involved in anti-doping efforts in human athletics since his heyday as an athlete in the 1970s and 1980s, said the USADA is a “lean, nimble, high-performing organization, just like the athletes we protect,” in outlining the private, nonprofit company’s work in enforcing anti-doping and drug-testing protocols for the U.S. Olympic program. He contended the USADA’s work over the past 11 years has led to renewed public confidence in the Olympics, which endured several high-profile doping scandals in the late 1990s.

“Horseracing has an opportunity to take a new path and make a serious change to affect the future of the sport,” Moses said.

The federal legislation that would put the USADA in charge of U.S. racing’s medication policies and drug-testing protocols has been introduced to the U.S. House of Representatives with the support of Rep. Paul Tonko (D-N.Y.) and Rep. Andy Barr (R-Ky.) Tonko attended Sunday’s round table.

While the legislation has drawn support from a number of like-minded racing organizations and the Humane Society of the U.S., several influential racing factions already have indicated they do not support the bill for a variety of reasons. Among the objections is fear from rank-and-file horsemen’s groups that the bill will be a vehicle to ban the controversial race-day use of the regulated anti-bleeding medication furosemide, while racetracks have raised concerns about the use of the International Horse Racing Act as an enforcement mechanism.

Under the bill, if states do not comply with the USADA rules, then tracks in the state will lose the interstate simulcasting rights granted under the IHA, which protects approximately 90 percent of the industry’s wagering revenues. (See here for an article detailing USADA’s role in Olympic regulation and opposition to the bill.)

The Sunday Round Table presentations represented the most visible effort yet by the Jockey Club to drum up support for the bill, which was written by the organization’s staff in consultation with members of the lobbying coalition, a group that includes the Breeders’ Cup and the Water Hay Oats Alliance (the organizations all share board members). Other presentations dealing with the legislation also seemed to indicate the Jockey Club would be expanding its search for support for the bill, an acknowledgement that the legislation has little chance to pass without a broader base of support. While several speakers emphasized compromise would be essential, they did not provide details about what issues would be up for negotiation.

“It will take determination, unity, and support to move it forward,” said Jim Gagliano, the chief operating officer of the Jockey Club. “It will take reconciliation and probably some sacrifice in the name of the greater good.”

Beshear also called on opponents of the legislation to reach out to supporters for common ground.

“We need to look at this proposal as a framework for positive reform and bring as much of the industry together as possible to improve it where we can, to make it feasible, and to see it as an opportunity to help preserve this industry,” Beshear said.

Opponents of the bill have stated the industry is facing the threat of unintended consequences from the installment of a top-down structure to regulate racing, and most have stated they prefer to continue to pursue uniformity on a state-by-state basis. That effort has proceeded in fits and starts over the last five years, and even supporters of the state-by-state effort acknowledge true uniformity among all 38 racing jurisdictions still is years away, if it is possible at all.

The bill would create a board controlled by the USADA that would devise the rules to be enforced in all U.S. states. The USADA would then monitor states’ compliance with the protocols while also directing a national drug-testing program. The arrangement would be nearly identical to the structure used by the Olympics, in which an international organization, the World Anti-Doping Agency, devises the rules enforced by agencies such as the USADA inside Olympic countries.

Two similar bills have failed to find traction in the U.S. legislature over the past four years, in large part because legislators are reluctant to support bills that would transform entire industries without comprehensive support. The coalition built by the Jockey Club is expected to argue the benefits of the bill outweigh any lack of unanimity in pressing for its adoption.

“Every member of the coalition firmly believes we are going down the right path,” said Gagliano. “We believe that our athletes will be safer, the integrity of competition will be enhanced, and the image of our sport will be improved when this legislation is passed.”