Tuesday's Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority (HISA) virtual town hall was a free-wheeling affair, with the bulk of the two-hour meeting spent on a discursive question-and-answer segment moderated by trainer Ron Moquett and bloodstock agent David Ingordo, two members of HISA's horsemen's advisory board.
The initial focus of the town hall was HISA's 2026 budget. This year's gross budget, recently approved by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), comes to $77.2 million. If all the available credits are utilized by the industry, the net budget comes out to $60.6 million (though historically, the actual money spent annually comes in under the net amount).
By far the biggest slice of the budget pie goes to running the anti-doping and medication control (ADMC) program, which comes to 66.5% of the budget.
Until now, HISA's assessments have been calculated based on each state's percentage of racing starts weighted by purse amount of racing starts, with a cap in each state of 10% of their purses. This year, that system changed, with a system calculated solely on number of starts.
The following are just some of the key points raised during the two-hour window, which touched upon the ADMC-program, the breeze-up sales and Lasix, among an assortment of issues.
LASIX
As Moquett put it, it's the “big elephant” in the room. As Ingordo described it, it's going to be a decision of “monumental stature.”
Since the inception of HISA, the diuretic Lasix (furosemide) has been banned in all 2-year-old races and in stakes races. But on May 22, HISA's nine-member Board of Directors will take a vote on whether or not the medication should be banned in all races.
Ron Moquett | Coady Media
Unless the board votes unanimously to continue the status quo, the medication will be banned. They could also make any number of modification recommendations to the current provisions.
To guide them, the board are using a report compiled just for this purpose, which includes scientific studies focusing particularly on the effect of furosemide on equine health and the integrity of competition.
According to Ingordo, who has read the report (and was careful not to betray any of its findings), described it as being as “thorough” as it could be.
“It looks at it from the viewpoint of where we are in the world. It is not something they threw together,” he said.
“There's one topic where the researcher said, 'You know, this will take two or three days to work out,'” Ingordo added. “It took 74 days. So, if there are any criticisms, “Oh, they just sit around and pull this out of the air,” I can tell you it's incorrect.”
HISA CEO Lisa Lazarus said that the ADMC committee and the HISA board also have access to the report.
“The board takes this incredibly seriously,” she said. “They recognize what the consequences are for horsemen, for the industry, for horses. And they are being extremely thoughtful, extremely deliberate and careful about this decision. I feel very confident that they're going to reach the right decision.”
Lazarus added that stakeholders shouldn't be worried Lasix would automatically be banned (which would gradually roll-out over a period of time) if there isn't a unanimous 9-0 decision by the board.
“That's really not a significant hurdle because this board does such a good job evaluating the information,” said Lazarus. “I can't remember a decision that wasn't 9-0. You know, they ultimately come to a consensus.”
HISA AT THE BREEZE-UPS?
As it currently stands, a horse falls under HISA's jurisdiction at the time of its first recorded work-out.
One of the questions raised was whether a work-out at the breeze-up sales could constitute an official workout, meaning these horses would also fall under HISA's jurisdiction.
Lazarus said that until now, they haven't considered the breeze-ups to be workouts, but added they were “looking” at it. “It's not an impossibility.”
Breeze show | Fasig-Tipton
Ingordo then proceeded to describe the voluntary changes the OBS Sales has instituted this year at their breeze-ups–changes he's helped institute with HISA's knowledge, calling them “HISA-adjacent.”
Among the key voluntary changes instituted by OBS this year, every horse now has a pre-breeze inspection. Noted veterinarian Dr. Barry Eisaman re-wrote the sales' medication rules.
Furthermore, lameness expert Helmuth von Bluecher watched all horses galloping every day (from the first day they shipped in) to flag the ones needing further veterinary scrutiny.
“Something north of 20 horses were scratched from breezing. Through the OBS April sale we just finished last Friday, there were 1,500 plus breezes and zero catastrophic injuries,” said Ingordo. “I think that's a first through those sales.”
While two horses were get vanned off during that time, they were alive and receiving treatment, Ingordo added.
REGULATORY VETERINARIANS
Moquett said that one of the main issues industry stakeholders broached with him was what he described as “overreach” by regulatory veterinarians.
“There's a huge issue with what many believe are overreaching commission veterinarians during pre-race inspections and [voided] claims,” said Moquett.
Lazarus stressed that regulatory veterinarians typically work for state commissions, and “HISA doesn't have any authority over state racing commissions, right, because they're state government.”
Lazarus said, however, that Dr. Jennifer Durenberger, HISA's director of policy and industry initiatives, is working on a “mapping project around vets' lists” with the idea of bringing “everything under one umbrella and one set of principles.”
Medication | Sarah Andrew
She added: “Being a reg' vet is like being a referee, an official, right?” said Lazarus. “People are human. They don't always make the same calls because they see different things… So, in order to bring everybody on the same page and to make sure that we're all consistent, that takes some time and some work.”
BUDGET LINE ITEMS, VENDORS
Several comments were focused on a call for greater budgetary transparency. One of those questions was whether HISA would commit to publishing “a fully itemized annual budget, including vendor payments and executive compensation on a regular basis.”
Lazarus said HISA “pretty much” already does that with its 990 non-profit filings and what it's required to report to the FTC.
“If you go onto our website and you look at the financial documents, you'll see those,” said Lazarus, who added, however, that “I'm not sure they include every single vendor.”
According to Lazarus, HISA conducts an open-bid process for any contract above $10,000. But she said she would be happy to disclose the full list of vendors both above and below that threshold.
“I'm happy to disclose who our vendors are and what that procedure is,” she said.
“There is nothing secret, nothing that we're not happy to be transparent about.”
Lazarus also expanded upon travel policy for HISA staff.
All HISA personnel fly economy, Lazarus said. “The one exception in my contract is that it allows me to fly business class if I go more than five hours. I've used that only one time in four or five years,” she said, explaining that was a result of conflicting work and personal commitments.
Lazarus recently took on an outside role as a chief equestrian advisor for a newly launched global showjumping venture. She said she received approval from the board to do it.
“My husband goes to play golf. I like to work on the weekends or whatever on some of these issues because I find them helpful to the work that I do because one of the things that I think is really important for the aftercare issue is that the Thoroughbred be considered a valuable horse in jumping again,” Lazarus said, in explanation. “And that's one of the issues I'm working on across sports.
LOANS
Since its inception, HISA has operated in part through loans provided by the Breeders' Cup, The Jockey Club and the National Thoroughbred Racing Association (NTRA).
John Roach, HISA's outside legal counsel, said that HISA was forced to go to these entities because the lawsuits filed against the newly-minted organization (questioning its constitutionality) meant no bank would loan them the necessary funds to get up and running.
Similarly, HISA was unable to accept loans offered by individual tracks, as these would be regulated facilities, Roach added.
“No one else was willing to give us loans,” he said.
According to Jim Gates, HISA's CFO, while some of the loan amounts have either been paid off or forgiven, there remains an outstanding loan balance of around $4 million.
Lazarus dismissed criticism that the loans from these industry organizations opened HISA up to potential conflict-of-interest issues in its role as regulator.
“Since we've had both the anti-doping and the racetrack safety program running, there haven't been any more loans [taken],” she said.
“From the standpoint of a conflict, all I can say is we operate completely independently. HIWU, as you all know, runs the anti-doping program,” she added. “They operate independently from us. So, the idea that somebody would get a special favor, it's not even something that can happen in the way the system is constructed, because it's instructed to be fair and unbiased.”
TEST BARN CLEANLINESS
Horse headed to the test barn | Sarah Andrew
Last week, the TDN reported how a methamphetamine pipe found at the entrance to the Los Alamitos test-barn last December raised questions as to whether federal and state oversight of these supposedly tightly controlled enclosures, where blood and urine samples are drawn before being sent off for testing, is sufficient to ensure they're operated in the cleanest, most transparent way possible.
One of the recommendations Moquett raised was a network of surveillance cameras in every test barn across the nation.
Lazarus said a “number of test barns” already have that. “I'm hoping that's going to be the case for the entire country soon,” said Lazarus.
Lazarus, however, pushed back against the suggestion that those responsible for blood collection wear gloves.
For one, “there's no risk [of contamination] because of the way the needle is manufactured,” she said. “And veterinarians don't like using gloves because of the dexterity issue to take blood.”
RACING IN FIVE YEARS?
When asked where she sees racing in five years, Lazarus said the sport is “generally in a much better place” from when HISA launched.
She pointed to how the HISA portal now provides a “sophisticated model of a horse's health history” and its risk profile.
“And you're seeing a lot of new people coming into the industry. I think we're going to continue to be in a better place,” she said.
“Now, will every racetrack survive? That I don't know. I don't know that we're going to always have the horse population to support every single race that we currently have,” she said.
Ultimately, “we need to get beyond the Supreme Court so that [we know if] HISA's constitutional or it's not,” Lazarus added. “I think that's really important for the industry to have that finality.”
Both Moquett and Ingordo highlighted the need to maintain the nation's smaller racing venues, emphasizing their role in the nurturing of young talent.
“The most important thing for me is understanding that the smaller venues, such as the ones we're worried about, the Hawthornes and some of the others, are breeding grounds for horsemen,” said Moquett.
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