HISA accuses Rodriguez of mistreatment of 15 horses

The Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority issued a show-cause notice against trainer Rudy Rodriguez alleging mistreatment of at least 15 horses.

The notice alleges that since Nov. 22, 2024, Rodriguez was responsible for at least 15 horses who placed on a veterinarians' list but did not have a lameness evaluation or diagnostic work performed afterward, based on entries in the HISA portal.

The notice also alleges that he was responsible for at least four horses who suffered catastrophic musculoskeletal injuries since Dec. 13, 2024.

In the notice, HISA said it had "reasonable grounds to believe that your actions or inactions present an imminent danger to the health, safety or welfare of covered horses (and) riders arising from specific violations of the authority’s racetrack safety or accreditation rules."

The violation notice, available here, lists 14 horses as not being evaluated after being placed on the veterinarians list and one who was placed on the vet's list and died in her stall six days later. The notice said another horse died after a catastrophic injury during a race but did not cite a violation.

The notice was served on Nov. 21, and Rodriguez had three business days to request a provisional hearing. Rodriguez's attorney, Clark Brewster, said he has asked for more time to respond.

Rodriguez did not reply to requests for comment.

Brewster said that of the 16 horses, only one is still in Rodriguez's care.

"The other 15 have either been claimed away or have been at the farm, or one's been bred last year" he said. "I mean, this is information that I don't think they probably fully considered before they sent that list. One ran last night under another trainer in another venue."

Brewster said the claims are simply "'you didn't take good care of the horses' kind of thing. There's no specific claim. So I think in response to that issue, we'll be able to show very clearly how the vet's list works, what the regulatory vet directed, what was done in response to the regulatory vet's approval, the horse being returned to racing, those kinds of things."

Clark said it is up to regulatory veterinarians to determine and inform when horses should return to training. "The attending vet doesn't have that option," he said. "They may work together and collaborate, and during that period of time the attending vet may give medication. Then that that will be reported, the portal will have that.

"Here's the other complicating factor. They gave me till Monday to respond. Well, if you're not if you're not the attending vet because the horse has left the barn under the control of another trainer, you can't even get in the portal. So we couldn't get in the portal to even respond to their inquiry. We had to go to them and say, could you give the portal information back to us so we can report it back to you? Because we can't even get in."

Brewster said that although he attributed "all high motives and goodwill" to HISA, he wished the authority would have contacted Rodriguez before making the accusations.

"I don't know what (Rodriguez) could have done differently in nearly every one of these matters," he said.

He also said much of this can be attributed to the "labyrinth" of HISA rules.

"That's the nature of trying to communicate, be transparent, collaborative. …  I don't know what he could have done differently in nearly every one of these matters. Now, I will tell you, the labyrinth of rules, if you've read HISA, you can have genuine disputes about what is required here and there by people that are equally knowledgeable."

Brewster also said he's known Rodriguez for at least 20 years, "and he's an exquisite caretaker. … You never see anything come out of his barn that's not just well cared for."