Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association launches website

The Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association, an influential umbrella group for six state horsemen’s organizations, has launched a website designed to provide its members with horsemen’s services and information on local regulations and medications, the group announced on Wednesday.

The site, tharacing.com, includes links to sites providing stall applications and conditions books and includes information on therapeutic medication guidelines and regulatory codes. It also includes the positions of the THA on several controversial or notable subjects, such as the legal raceday use of the diuretic furosemide to mitigate bleeding in the lungs.

The THA is headed by Alan Foreman, a Maryland attorney who has spearheaded efforts to align the jurisdictions represented by the THA under one set of medication rules. While that effort has been largely successful in the THA states, it has lagged in other areas of the country. Critics of the state-by-state effort have been pushing instead for federal legislation that would create a top-down regulatory structure for racing, and they have mounted public relations efforts that include the maintenance of websites delineating their concerns and positions.

The THA site will also include local news and features relevant to the THA affiliates, which include organizations in New York, New Jersey, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Illinois. Tom LaMarra, a veteran journalist who formerly worked at the Blood-Horse and Daily Racing Form, was brought in by the THA earlier this year to head up the site.

The site will also be used to post notices and alerts of regulatory or policy changes affecting THA affiliates, the group said, and it will be available in formats for use on mobile platforms.

“The goal is to provide horsemen with timely information they need to conduct their business,” LaMarra said. “We hope this website meets those needs, and it will evolve accordingly.”