HISA boss says suspensions are not meant to presume guilt
Still smarting after a trainer was forced to sit out three weeks only to have his provisional suspension erased, CEO Lisa Lazarus insisted Thursday that the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority was not trying to make anyone look guilty of medication violations without due process.
“I think the key is the provisional suspensions are not in place as a finding of guilt,” Lazarus said in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., during the 71st annual Jockey Club roundtable on matters pertaining to racing. “There’s always the presumption of innocence, but it’s about sort of risk aversion.”
Lazarus said the anti-medication and doping program that is enforced by the Horseracing Integrity & Welfare Unit is meant to identify serious cheaters but also make sure all horsemen are staying within the limits on the legal use of drugs.
“The public thinks that if a trainer has a medication overage that ‘we’re doping, we’re a cheater,’ ” Lazarus said. “They don’t understand the difference between true, doping substances and medications that are allowed in racing but just not on race day.”
Jena Antonucci, who won the Belmont Stakes two months ago with Arcangelo and also was part of Thursday’s panel discussion, went one step further.
“People may not understand what provisional suspensions mean,” Antonucci said. “I think media gets excited about putting a headline out.”
Antonucci said trainers could be flagged for something as simple has having a barn visitor touch a horse after having been in contact with a banned or controlled substance.
“Now we are at risk,” she said. “So we become a headline, because that’s what sells is people having clickbait. Now you worry about your reputation.”
“Our intention is not to catch somebody who made a silly mistake,” Lazarus said.
It appears it was not even that for Canterbury Park-based trainer Mac Robertson. He was provisionally suspended early last month after a gelding from his barn tested positive for altrenogest, a medication that is illegal for male horses. The other half of the split sample, though, came back negative, and the case against Robertson was thrown out.
In the wake of the Robertson case, HISA said late last week it would not hand down any more provisional suspensions unless both splits of a sample came back positive.
“Our goals aren’t to catch those that are just making unintentional errors,” HIWU executive director Ben Mosier said during the panel discussion. He went on to ask, “How do we reach everyone to make sure you’re not making unintentional errors? We need input in order to achieve that.”
Ron Moquett, another trainer on Thursday’s panel moderated by Jockey Club president and COO Jim Gagliano, said he understood both sides of the enforcement debate.
“Before HISA, I believe that we were always one of the most regulated sports in the world,” Moquett said. Later he added, “We know that we’ve got some people at every level that are looking to weed out the very, very, very small percentage of those that may risk an animal or try to gain a competitive edge.”
On the other hand, Moquett said rules can go too far.
“What I want out of this is I want horsemanship to not be an afterthought,” he said. “I want horsemanship to be applauded, not replaced with regulation. I want to continue to see the sport that I love and sacrificed my life for to grow and to keep the horse first.”
While allowing more room for the appeal of human sanctions, Lazarus said HISA will continue to err on the side of caution with horses who are found to be over the line on medication standards.
“If there’s a serious substance that’s in a horse, the philosophy of the program is that we’re there to protect the 99 percent of trainers that are competing cleanly,” she said. “We want to make sure they get a fair race, and we’re there to protect the industry as a whole. The risk is too high to allow those horses to continue to race during this period.”