Foreman: HISA Provides Critical Returns on Safety, Labs

As the independent ombudsman of the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority, Alan Foreman hears plenty of criticism—and some compliments—about the independent enforcement agency that launched fully in May 2023 to oversee racing's anti-doping efforts, its controlled medication policies, and work to ensure safety. HISA now oversees the majority of United States racing jurisdictions on these matters. Speaking Aug. 10 at the Racing and Gaming Conference in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., Foreman acknowledged HISA and its enforcement arm, the Horseracing Integrity & Welfare Unit, have had some issues but he asked critics to recall where the sport was under the state-to-state regulation in the winter-spring of 2018-19 when Santa Anita Park experienced dozens of catastrophic breakdowns. "It was the lead story on every national newscast in this country," Foreman said, noting that the public saw this as a problem for racing overall, not just for California. He said racing throughout the country, not just California, had to defend itself. "The story wasn't whether Maryland had a good (safety) rate or West Virginia had a bad rate; with these horses (in California) dying on a daily basis. "We also had a drugging scandal with (Jason) Servis and (Jorge) Navarro. It consumed this industry to the point where there was near panic, and that's why we have federal legislation. You should never forget that, because in very many of our state legislatures across the country, this industry had to defend itself about its safety record and about doping." Foreman, who recently retired from his role as chairman and CEO of the Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association, noted that when racing again made some national news earlier this month with changes to the Triple Crown; many of the stories noted the doping scandal and breakdowns. The sport remains on a short leash with the public. "You can never get away from that. You can only do better," Foreman said, noting that when such problems are brought up that the public has more trust in HISA than the state-to-state process. "They can tell the story. They can tell the better story. They are listened to and they have credibility. We can't do it ourselves." Ed Martin, CEO of the Association of Racing Commissioners International, said HISA is doing a similar job to the states in finding violations of banned substance rules and positives for controlled substances but said the added costs are weighing on the industry. He believes HISA can accomplish the same mission for less, but said he wasn't sure for what percentage less because of the organization's lack of transparency. Foreman has had his own concerns with HISA. He said HISA and HIWU initially could have done better with understanding the potential for contamination from commonly used, prescribed drugs for humans. He believes Drug Free Sport International, which was hired to build what would become HIWU, experienced growing pains when it initially launched as it moved from human testing to testing of horses. Foreman said he also understands critics who suggest that HISA/HIWU should find some cost savings as they move forward. But Foreman wanted to note that important strides have been made. Beyond the trust the public affords HISA, Foreman highlighted three other areas where he thinks HISA has helped deliver positive change for racing. Those include uniformity in the medication rules from state to state, making things easy for horsemen, and the public, to understand. He noted that HISA puts all the information on adverse drug findings in one spot, allowing for transparency and the quick identification of emerging threats. Foreman said the other big stride is in uniformity of the laboratories used to conduct HISA/HIWU's testing. Foreman recalled that about 10 years ago, there were 17 laboratories conducting drug tests for U.S. racing with "a total lack of uniformity and no accreditation. "We now have not only probably the best accreditation program for laboratories in the world, but we now have three to four laboratories that are conducting all of the testing for Thoroughbred racing in the United States."