Anti-doping crusade gives US horse racing final chance to clean up act

TThe past, present and possible future of the United States horse racing industry – which in many ways is still the largest in the world – were summarized in a few sentences earlier this year, a few weeks later, by trainer Jena Antonucci . she became the first woman to saddle the winner of the prestigious Belmont Stakes.

Asked for her thoughts on the recently created Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority (HISA), a federal-level body that oversees both racetrack safety and anti-doping measures, Antonucci didn’t hesitate. “It’s no secret that there are different opportunities at different levels,” Antonucci said.

“Different pharmaceuticals, several very smart chemists, people looking to gain an edge that you (HISA) have worked so hard to try to neutralize.

“That 8% (strike-rate) trainer, historically, where it looks like I can’t train a racehorse. Suddenly, wow, she wins more or he wins more. And it’s not that we’ve done anything different in our practice, it’s just that now we can move forward and know that what I do, I do damn well.”

After years – no, make that decades – of gradual decline, with occasional high-profile calamities accelerating the decline, the arrival of HISA less than twelve months ago may be the last great hope for American racing. After many years of preparation, the new authority at the federal level has finally replaced the state-by-state regulatory system, both for anti-doping measures and for track safety, that had frustrated decades of attempts to address endemic problems with medicines and welfare standards. .

A key problem with American racing, long recognized by many professionals and commentators, was that different jurisdictions were effectively forced to compete with each other to get horses to fill their cards, and they suffered a direct financial penalty – a decline of their all-important gambling handle – if they couldn’t. Tightening the rules, especially around the use of illegal drugs, was often seen as the best way to drive horses elsewhere.

HISA’s top-down regulation of safety and anti-doping has changed that dynamic, if not before. The doping scandal that engulfed American racing in the spring of 2020, when Class 1-winning trainers Jason Servis and Jorge Navarro were exposed as systematic fraudsters armed with synthetic and supposedly undetectable drugs, emerged on the heels of the traumatic winter/spring season hallway. Santa Anita in 2019, when racing at the track was finally suspended after 21 horses died at the track while racing or training within two months.

Just over four years later, however, the American racing industry can look forward to next weekend’s Breeders’ Cup meeting at Santa Anita in an altogether more positive frame of mind. HISA’s anti-doping powers only came into effect five months ago, but Lisa Lazarus, the CEO, believes things have already changed.

“I think there have been seismic changes in the industry since we launched the anti-doping strategy in May,” she says.

“There are two ways we have had a meaningful impact. One of these is that we have charged around 150 people with (anti-doping) violations, both after positive results came back from the laboratory, and also for possession of substances that they are not allowed to have on the circuit.

“But to some extent, the seriousness of the program, the extensive nature of the substances we test for and the harmonization between laboratories and very heavy penalties for cheating, I think has a prophylactic effect.

“People who cheat will always cheat, but they are a minority and I think a lot of people before we launched didn’t really want to cheat and maybe don’t always cheat, but just felt like they had to cheat. If everyone got a benefit, they should too.”

In the past, European trainers sending runners to the Breeders’ Cup have faced a similar dilemma over whether to use the anti-bleeding drug Lasix on race day. André Fabre, the only European trainer to win the Breeders’ Cup Classic on dirt, was one of the few who did not succumb.

The organization of the Breeders’ Cup has been unwavering in his support for HISA both before and after launch, and banned race day Lasix in the 14 races of the 2021 edition at Del Mar. Following HISA, it is now banned in all US stakes races and events for two-year-olds, and the long-term goal is to eliminate its use at all levels of the sport.

Whether or not Lasix was used as a “mask” by some trainers, Lazarus believes the “anyone-does-it-all” attitude is disappearing, and so are some of the near-miraculous strike rates. by some trainers in the past. Most racecourses had a barn, or barns, which were infamous for the regularity with which apparently exposed horses, often bought from claimants, would suddenly improve by a stone or more and achieve a string of victories.

“That (strike rate) is something that people cite as a benchmark, and we’re definitely seeing that leveling off,” she says. “It’s just early days, it’s only been five months, but I’m hearing and seeing to some extent that some of those outrageous strike rates are coming down and the people who play by the book are doing better.

“So I think after a year you will see a very big difference for a number of people compared to what it looked like before HISA.”

Recruits to HISA’s investigative team include Shaun Richards, one of the senior FBI agents on the Servis/Navarro case, who will lead a team that is expected to become as important, as will prove to be no more important than the test program.

However, the old way of doing things was so deeply ingrained in the American way of racing that there will inevitably be trainers who mourn its passing. Meanwhile, some tracks are also concerned about the potential costs associated with maintaining their racing and training surfaces.

HISA’s launch was delayed by legal challenges, while even with the new agency up and running, some in the industry are keen to return to what they have always seen as the status quo.

Louisiana Congressman Clay Higgins, with support from the National Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association (NHBPA), recently introduced legislation that would effectively bankrupt HISA by returning most of its responsibilities to individual states. The NHBPA is also a key player in a separate action claiming the new regime is unconstitutional.

“I’m not at all concerned about (Higgins’) legislation passing,” Lazarus said. “What does concern me is that there is a person or group of stakeholders who think a return to that same state system would be a good thing for racing.

“We have the privilege of racing horses in this country and if we want to respect that privilege we must keep moving forward and not backward.

“The Breeders’ Cup is a great opportunity to show our international colleagues how far we have come, and that we are very close to achieving the same kind of level playing field and clean sporting and integrity commitments as other countries.”