TOBA joins Coalition for Horse Racing Integrity

LEXINGTON, Ky. – The Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association has joined a group pressing for federal legislation that would give the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency the authority to devise and enforce national medication policies, but the organization also will press for significant changes to the current bill, the group said on Monday.

In a release, TOBA, the largest organization in the U.S. representing owners and breeders, said the organization would join the Coalition for Horse Racing Integrity because it believes the legislation will lead to the implementation of uniform medication regulations in U.S. racing jurisdictions and “consistency” in regulations between the U.S. and foreign jurisdictions. The most significant difference between U.S. racing regulations and those in foreign countries is the use in the U.S. of the regulated anti-bleeding medication furosemide on race day.

However, TOBA noted that “more work needs to be done to develop an oversight and governance structure that will balance agency independence with accountability to our sport.” The release stated that TOBA would continue to work toward amending the legislation to address its concerns while a member of the coalition.

“We look forward to working with other members … to pursue this new approach to medication regulation,” TOBA said.

Under the bill, USADA, a private, nonprofit company, would control a board that would devise the sport’s medication policies, including drug-testing protocols. USADA also would be in charge of ensuring that U.S. racing jurisdictions enforce those policies. Tracks in states that are not in compliance with the policies would lose the right to send or receive simulcast signals.

Officials with The Jockey Club, which wrote the legislation along with other supporters of the effort, appeared before the TOBA board this spring to provide details of the bill, which had not yet been introduced to the legislature. Following that meeting, TOBA’s board discussed the legislation on several occasions, and, after the bill was introduced to a House subcommittee this summer by two co-sponsors, the organization formed a committee to study the bill and its impacts. It also distributed a survey to its members.

TOBA said its survey indicated that 68 percent of the respondents supported federal legislation “either in its present form or with some changes.”

While the coalition has been successful in drawing support from several influential quarters of the industry, large constituencies of the racing industry, including most rank-and-file horsemen’s groups and racetrack companies, remain opposed to the legislation for a variety of reasons. Furthermore, lobbyists in Washington who track racing issues have said the legislation has little to no chance to pass this year due to a lack of consensus in the racing industry and the fractured state of federal politics.

In February, The Jockey Club reached an agreement to buy a controlling interest in one of TOBA’s properties, The Blood-Horse, a print and Internet publishing company.