Seven named to committee to select board for Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority

Supporters of federal legislation that would create a national regulatory body for racing have named seven members to a committee that would be responsible for selecting the organization’s board of directors.

The seven appointees have no direct connection to racing and include a former governor of Oklahoma, Frank Keating, and a former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Joseph Dunford. According to a press release from the supporters, the nominating committee members were selected, in part, by officials from The Jockey Club, the Breeders’ Cup, Keeneland, and Churchill Downs Inc.

The legislation, which has been called the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority, was passed on a voice vote last week in the House of Representatives. Supporters of the bill believe that the legislation will pass this year due to a recent announcement from Kentucky Sen. Mitch McConnell, the Senate majority leader, that he would push the bill through the Senate.

The nominating committee will have the responsibility of selecting five independent members of the board and four other members who represent various constituencies in racing but do not presently have any financial ties to the industry. If the legislation is passed this year, the national regulatory body will have an official start date of Jan. 1, 2022.

In addition to Keating, who also was a U.S. Attorney and state prosecutor, and Dunford, who was the principal military adviser to the White House from late in 2015 to Sept. 30 of last year, the nominating committee members include:

* Len Coleman, who is the former president of the National League of Professional Baseball Clubs. Coleman will serve as co-chair of the nominating committee.

* Dr. Nancy Cox, dean of the College of Agriculture at the University of Kentucky, who was instrumental in starting that college’s equine program. Cox will be the other co-chair of the committee.

* Katrina Adams, the immediate past president of the United States Tennis Association, who this year was a guest speaker at The Jockey Club’s Round Table Conference on Matters Pertaining to Racing. Adams gave a presentation on the need for diversity in racing.

* Dr. Jerry Black, a former president of the American Association of Equine Practitioners and a visiting professor at the Texas Tech School of Veterinary Medicine.

* Ken Schanzer, a former president of NBC Sports. Schanzer was at NBC when the network secured the television rights to the three races of the Triple Crown and the Breeders’ Cup.