The HISA Newsletter

December 14, 2023

Dear Thoroughbred racing participants,

As we wrap up 2023 and reflect on the industry’s progress over the last year, there is much to be proud of. Since HISA’s Anti-Doping and Medication Control (ADMC) Program was implemented in May, Thoroughbred races across the country have been held – for the first time ever – under uniform racetrack safety AND anti-doping rules. A truly historic accomplishment for our sport.

This year has been one of collaboration and partnership with countless industry stakeholders as we work to harness the vast experience and knowledge of racing participants and industry leaders to help us reach our goal of promoting safety and integrity in the sport we care so much about. We’ve continued to meet with and lean on the insights and expertise of our 19-member Horsemen’s Advisory Group, whose feedback has helped inform several rule changes we’ve proposed to the FTC this year. As part of our strategic response to clusters of equine fatalities across the country earlier this year, we formed a Track Surface Advisory Group to analyze track consistency and advise the HISA Board on an ongoing basis. Additionally, we asked some of the industry’s top experts to form HISA’s Furosemide Committee, which will oversee a three-year study on the use of furosemide on horses during the 48-hour period before the start of a race.

We have also made notable progress on our commitment to advancing jockey health and safety: we appointed racing’s first ever National Medical Director; together with the Jockeys’ Guild, we hosted two industry summits on jockey mental wellness; we introduced racing’s first-ever national concussion protocol and have partnered with HEADCHECK, a digital concussion protocol management platform, to allow racetrack personnel to access consistent information and improve the care they provide riders; and we gathered an esteemed group of experts to form a Steering Committee and Advisory Council to develop and propose programs to provide mental wellness support resources for jockeys.

We’ve also seen promising early progress from the enforcement of our ADMC Program by the Horseracing Integrity & Welfare Unit (HIWU): more than 45,000 horses have been tested since May 22; HIWU has publicly disclosed 59 pending and resolved Banned Substance cases as of December 1; and the average adjudication time from sample collection to resolution of an ADMC case is 61 days, marking a significant improvement in many jurisdictions. With the goal of running a fair testing program under which every Covered Person has access to a strong legal defense, we recently introduced a program to provide pro bono legal representation to horsemen who do not have the resources to hire a lawyer to defend themselves against an alleged ADMC violation.

As I stated at the annual Global Symposium on Racing in Tucson earlier this month, I’m incredibly proud of HISA’s industry collaboration in 2023 and am optimistic about the substantial impact the industry can make on safety and integrity in 2024 with those continued partnerships. In 2024, HISA is focused on:

• Continuing to engage with our Horsemen’s Advisory Group, the Jockey’s Guild, HISA’s Track Advisory Group, the HISA Furosemide Committee, the soon to be formed “Next Generation” Group and other industry participants, including racetracks, horsemen, breeders, veterinarians and sales companies.
• Continuing to work with Amazon Web Services and Palantir to apply data analytics, machine learning and artificial intelligence to HISA’s vast data sources to analyze the factors contributing to equine injuries and inform potential interventions to reduce them moving forward.
• Developing user-friendly technology, HISA’s new MedEnt app (more information below), to ease administrative burdens on veterinarians and other racing stakeholders.
• Implementing HISA’s strategic response to reduce equine fatalities, which is laid out in full here. Next steps include the robust data analysis efforts described above; working with the new All-Weather Surfaces Committee toward the study and ultimate introduction of more all-weather surface options in Thoroughbred racing; and improved veterinary screening and diagnostic procedures.
• Exploring additional funding mechanisms – both governmental and private – to reduce the financial burden of regulation on the industry.
• Ongoing education for horsemen, stewards and racetrack personnel to ensure everyone understands HISA’s rules.

Photo Credit: Race Track Industry Program/James S. Wood

I am enormously grateful to everyone working tirelessly at HISA and HIWU to build upon our progress to date, and to the many racing participants nationwide who have provided feedback and support. Together, I am confident we can achieve our shared objectives: a safe, clean and fair sport, and one that grows and prospers free from the shadow of controversy.

I wish all of you a happy holiday season and look forward to seeing you at the races in 2024.

Yours in racing,
Lisa

HISA to Provide Pro Bono Legal Assistance to Eligible Covered Persons

HISA has established a new program to provide pro bono legal representation to eligible Covered Persons who fall below a certain income threshold and are alleged to have violated HISA’s ADMC Program. This program will match Covered Persons who are financially unable to secure legal representation with volunteer attorneys who have agreed to provide legal services without any expectation of compensation.

If HIWU has alleged that a Covered Person committed an ADMC rule violation, and the Covered Person has an annual household adjusted gross income of $75,000 or less and no significant liquid assets, the Covered Person will be eligible for free legal services from a volunteer attorney.

The application for assistance under the program is available here and more information about the program can be found here. Additional information about all Covered Persons’ rights under HISA’s ADMC Program can be found here. Covered Persons who need additional assistance or have questions about the pro bono program or the adjudication process more broadly should contact HISA and HIWU ombudsman Alan Foreman at alan@foremanlaw.net.

HISA Launches MedEnt App to Streamline Equine Treatment Report Entry

HISA has launched MedEnt – a new app designed to provide veterinarians with a streamlined process for entering treatments into the HISA portal on mobile devices. HISA is committed to lessening the administrative burdens on veterinarians while leveraging technology to advance equine wellbeing.

Veterinarians can use the app on their smartphones or tablets to seamlessly access the list of horses under their care, add treatment reports and update protocols – thus reducing the amount of time they spend on data entry. While the use of the new app is not mandatory, HISA’s goal is to provide user-friendly technology for veterinarians across the country. Key features of the app include:

• The ability to create treatment reports and add information such as time, date and supporting photos, videos or documents, for any horse, including those not on the user’s horses list.
• The ability to configure treatment protocols to speed up record entry.
• A convenient widget containing information about the user’s horses and recent treatment reports.
• The option to use the app online or offline; data captured while offline automatically syncs when reconnected to the internet.

The mobile app is available on the App Store and Google Play. Users can also access the tutorial video or PDF guide to learn more about the app and how to use it.

HISA and Oaklawn Launch Pilot Program to Test Designated Intra-Articular Injection Treatment Area

HISA and Oaklawn Park launched a new pilot program under which a designated area is available for veterinarians to administer any intra-articular corticosteroid injections at the racetrack during Oaklawn’s 2023-2024 race season.

As HISA laid out in its strategic response to recent clusters of equine fatalities, many stakeholders, including a significant number of individuals calling into HIWU’s confidential tip line, have questioned whether Covered Persons are properly and accurately reporting intra-articular corticosteroid injections. To address this issue and ensure injections are administered in compliance with HISA’s ADMC regulations, HISA proposed two possible solutions: (1) a designated area at the racetrack for all intra-articular injections to be administered; or (2) the requirement of a short video of the veterinarian performing the intra-articular injection to be uploaded with the injection report.

Oaklawn volunteered to test the first of these potential solutions during their current race meet. The pilot program at Oaklawn will be used to determine the feasibility and value of this approach, as well as to identify challenges that would need to be resolved for it to be successful nationally.

Four New Members Join HISA Horsemen’s Advisory Group

Thoroughbred trainers Dale Romans, John Sadler, Shug McGaughey and racing and bloodstock manager Gavin Murphy have joined HISA’s Horsemen’s Advisory Group, the body of racing industry participants formed by HISA last year to provide formal feedback to HISA’s executive team and Standing Committees on the implementation and evolution of its Racetrack Safety and ADMC regulations. They have replaced outgoing Horsemen’s Advisory Group members Rick Gold, Rick Schosberg, Donnie Von Hemel, and the late Frank Jones.

More information about each member of the Horsemen’s Advisory Group can be found here.

HISA Hosts Second Town Hall Webinar on the ADMC Program 

On November 15, HISA held its second virtual Town Hall webinar to answer the industry’s questions on the ADMC Program. HISA CEO Lisa Lazarus, HIWU Executive Director Ben Mosier and HIWU Chief of Science Dr. Mary Scollay took questions on topics including the recently proposed changes to the ADMC rules, the Atypical Findings Policy and the origins of HISA’s partnership with Drug Free Sport International.

A video replay of the Town Hall is available here. Be sure to stay tuned for more details about HISA’s next Town Hall webinar to be held in January 2024.

HISA Attends AAEP Annual Convention

HISA was pleased to participate in this year’s AAEP Annual Convention, the largest meeting of equine veterinarians in the world, this month in San Diego. HISA Director of Equine Safety Dr. Jennifer Durenberger, HISA Racetrack Safety Committee members Dr. Susan Stover and Dr. Lisa Fortier, and HIWU Chief of Science Dr. Mary Scollay participated in a HISA/HIWU Q&A panel during the convention. HISA also hosted a booth where convention attendees could meet members of the HISA Help Team and learn about the options for reporting veterinary treatments and procedures, including HISA’s new MedEnt app. HISA looks forward to attending the 2024 AAEP Conference in Orlando, Florida next December.

Photo: HISA’s Field Support Tracy Gilman, Compliance Veterinarian Dr. Karen Hassan and Product Manager Michelle Lefkowitz.

AI-Enabled Tool to Help Identify Horses at Increased Risk of Injury Rolling out in 2024

HISA has partnered with Palantir Technologies, a leading provider of artificial intelligence systems, to create a data-enabled tool to assist industry stakeholders in identifying horses at risk of injury before they race.

The tool, which HISA expects to begin rolling out to industry stakeholders in early 2024, will generate a daily report for each racetrack, flagging any horses entered in that day’s races who may present risk factors for injury. HISA and Palantir’s tool reviews health information and historical entry data to determine whether each horse entered in a race is at increased risk for injury based on various factors. The process for evaluating these records for each horse entered in a race had previously taken veterinarians an average of five hours per race. This same review can now be accomplished in a matter of minutes.

This enables identification of at-risk horses with increased efficiency and accuracy, and with the benefit of machine learning applied to HISA’s vast veterinary database and other data sets. This new tool will help inform the hands-on pre-race inspections of each runner. This project is one of many innovative ways HISA is working with the world’s top technologists to leverage the data it collects for the continued advancement of equine safety.

HISA To Share Data Beginning in Q1 2024 

HISA’s formal data disclosure policy will take effect in 2024 and include the routine public release of data collected through its Racetrack Safety and ADMC Programs, as well as a process through which individuals may request additional records from HISA.

HISA’s initial release of information in the first quarter of 2024 will include data for all of calendar year 2023 concerning equine fatalities, registrations, fines assessed, track accreditation and riding crop violations. Beginning in 2024, HISA will also start regularly sharing meeting minutes for meetings of the HISA Board and its Standing Committees.

In addition to HISA’s regular reporting, beginning in January, individual requests for information may be submitted by contacting Mandy Minger, Director of Communications (mandy.minger@hisaus.org, 917-846-8804). HISA will respond to these requests on a case-by-case basis, taking into consideration whether there are privacy or confidentiality interests, ongoing investigations or pending litigation, or other circumstances that make public disclosure impractical or unfair to interested parties.

HIWU Update

From the desk of Ben Mosier, Executive Director, Horseracing Integrity & Welfare Unit:

This time last year, I was focused on establishing relationships across the industry and building the best team possible to administer the sport’s first national, uniform ADMC Program. A lot has changed.

On December 22, we will mark seven months of enforcement of HISA’s ADMC Program. As I reflect on 2023, I am enormously proud of my team and incredibly appreciative of the racing industry’s willingness to collaborate with us. From the racetracks, state racing commissions, industry organizations and laboratories, to the horsemen, veterinarians, stewards and test barn personnel, the implementation of the ADMC Program would not have been possible without the support of racing representatives. Every interaction and piece of feedback received was invaluable to the launch and ongoing administration of the ADMC Program. These conversations will continue to be extremely important in 2024 and beyond as we prepare the industry for changes to the ADMC rules to help make the ADMC Program the best and most fair that it can be. As was the case a year ago, education continues to be a top priority.

As part of our outreach efforts, members of the HIWU team have made stops across the country in the last few weeks to meet with industry stakeholders. In addition to HIWU’s attendance at the American Association of Equine Practitioners Annual Convention in San Diego, our operations, legal, science and investigations departments convened in Nashville for meetings regarding investigations training. Most recently, several staff attended and/or presented at the Global Symposium on Racing in Tucson. Having attended the Symposium for two years now, this event has proven to be a great opportunity to meet with many of our industry partners and engage in important dialogue about the ADMC Program.

As a reminder, HIWU’s efforts this year will be summarized in a comprehensive annual report that will be published in the first quarter of next year. Additionally, HIWU will release quarterly reports with testing statistics throughout 2024.

With the foundations in place, I am excited for the future of the ADMC Program and of Thoroughbred racing. Looking to the new year, we remain steadfast in our commitment to protecting the welfare of our athletes and promoting the integrity of the sport.

On behalf of HIWU, I wish you Happy Holidays and healthy New Year.

Thank you all again for all you do to ensure that we're moving forward together. 

Lisa Lazarus
CEO
HISA