Hall of Fame Jockey Chris McCarron Testifies
January 28, 2020 – The Horseracing Integrity Act (HIA) is gaining momentum in Congress and is on-track to hit the House floor for a vote. The bill is supported by a majority of House Members (236) and much of the horse racing industry, including most major tracks, organizations like The Jockey Club, dozens of trainers and most of the breeding industry. The bill would create a private, independent national horse racing anti-doping authority to be led by the United States Anti-Doping Agency, the official anti-doping agency for the U.S. Olympic team. A new set of rules, testing procedures and penalties would replace the current patchwork of regulatory systems that govern horse racing’s 38 jurisdictions.
On Jan. 29, the House Energy and Commerce Committee held a major hearing that brought together horse racing industry heavy weights and representatives from two major animal welfare groups to advocate for the HIA’s passage.
Witnesses included Hall of Fame Jockey Chris McCarron who had 7,141 wins during his career, winning The Kentucky Derby twice and the Breeders’ Cup Classic five times. “There are far too many horses becoming injured,” McCarron testified. “Instead of giving the animal the rest it needs, a trainer can rely on his/her veterinarian to administer a medication to mask pain by reducing inflammation caused by an injury.” He added, “This bill directly addresses one of the leading causes of breakdowns.”
He was joined on the panel by William M. Lear Jr., the vice chairman of The Jockey Club and a trustee of Keenland, one of the nation’s most beloved horse racing venues. Lear spoke to the subcommittee about the industry’s flawed medication control system, saying, “we really have no system at all. We have a patchwork, and a poor patchwork, within all of the different states.” He went on to outline the national system of medication control that the bill would create and concluded by saying, “We have to do more to get the cheaters and abusers out of our sport. We have to do more to protect the athletes.”
Joe De Francis, the chairman of the Humane Society’s National Horse Racing Advisory Council and the former CEO of The Maryland Jockey Club, which operates Pimlico and Laurel racetracks. De Francis testified that, “the bar for effectively detecting and punishing [drug] cheaters is so low that it is difficult to fail. Frankly is it more of an IQ test than a drug test…each trainer knows what they’re being tested for and when they are being tested.”
The prospects for the Horseracing Integrity Act to become law are excellent. The bill clearly has momentum now that a majority of the House of Representatives have co-sponsored the bill, and it is quickly moving through the committee process. The House Energy and Commerce Committee hearing highlighted the case for the bill in clear terms. The committee has indicated that the text of a bill will be considered in a “mark-up” session and from there will move to the House floor, where it is expected to pass with strong support. To read more about the bill, visit the Coalition for Horse Racing Integrity. Consider signing the Coalition’s petition advocating for the HIA.
