Arci: Report raises questions when Hisa is worth the costs

An independent assessment of the programs for the horse racing and safety agency (HISA) raises questions whether the results justify the costs of almost $ 230 million that will be spent on the authority by the end of 2025.

In the nineteen states that have been regulated by HISA since 2022, the “horse fatalism or the safe” percentage remains largely unchanged, except for small variations, fewer anti -doping tests are performed, no new doping agents who are detected and $ 165 million in new reimbursements are assessed.

Neither the Federal Trade Commission, General Accounting Office or a Congressional Panel has carried out an overview of how HISA programs actually work. This assessment is the only one that currently exists. It is based on publicly available data and limited in the sense that HISA claims that they are not subject to open meetings or public register requests that are consistent with the Federal Advisory Committee Act.

“The supervision of this entity was virtually non-existent,” said Arci President Ed Martin, who indicated that the need for an evaluation became clear after a closed door discussion of the American Horse Council racing committee last summer. As a result of that discussion and a request from some supervisors, the Arci started an assessment. (Note – The Arci has independently assessed regulations performance for the Ministry of Agriculture in Ontario and on behalf of various state officials and legislative panels in the United States.)

The assessment looked at anti -doping results and fatalities in the nineteen American states where Hisa works to explore the degree of other programmatic improvements than uniform rules.

The review found the following:

• The fatal number of horses remains extremely low and largely unchanged. The vast majority of thoroughbredstarters continue to run safely. In 2022 the percentage “Ran Safe” was 99.87%. At the end of 2024, the rate was 99.90% that represents a small variation of 0.03%. It was 99.89%in mid -2025.
• Anti-doping tests have decreased faster than the decrease in thoroughbred races.
• 2024 Post-race blood and urine-anti-doping tests were 46% less than 2022.
• There has been a dramatic and inexplicable increase in testing on TCO2, which was 31% of all race -related HISA/HIWU tests in 2024 and was good for only 4% of the adverse analytical findings of Hiwu. TCO2 tests, which are less expensive, are less valuable in finding doping substances.
• No new fabrics have been detected that had not previously been found by the state -based programs. The “clear rate” – the percentage of tested samples where no illegal material was found – remains consistent with the earlier program.
• There are now uniform rules in Al Hisa thoroughbred areas of law, although the authority has admitted that uniform compliance has not been achieved with regard to submissions of veterinarians and location reporting on some tracks.
• HISA has used an advanced AI system to identify “in danger” horses. Due to the lack of transparency, there is no way to independently assess whether the system works as intended or the extent to which “in danger” horses are allowed by HISA.
• The $ 165 million in new assessments in the thoroughbred industry is limited on the basis of $ 56 million in direct and indirect help from the jurisdictions of the State Racing Commission.

“The question for the thoroughbred industry is the extent to which everyone is satisfied with these results given the costs,” said Arci President Ed Martin. “If people are not satisfied, HISA must be determined or replaced, which requires changes to the original status.”

The original act did not go through the normal conference overview (ie “regular order”) before it was added to a “must pass” Covid Relief Bill at the end of 2020. Martin, a former employee of the US Senate, indicated that when that happens, there is normally a “technical correction” process to discuss all affected parties to discuss how things work and approve the things that have been finished, is a well -suitable suitable suitable statutes.

“That did not happen and suggestions to do this were unfortunately resisted by HISA. So today we have endless lawsuits, an industry that is still divided, raised costs, fewer drug tests and essential the same” ran safe “percentage as previously and an entity that has not been subject to the normal”, supervision, supervision.

The Arci has not chosen a party in one of the court challenges for the law. It has and continues to encourage its members in those jurisdictions where Hisa is in force to work with hisa and hiwu in a professional and cooperative way to achieve the common goals of safe racing and honest sport.

The full assessment document is available on the Arci website.

This press release has not been edited by Bloodwerse. If there are any questions, contact the organization that produced the release.