Is the Horse Racing Integrity and Safety Act (HISA) good for riders and, by extension, good for races? Representing HBPA National, attorney Peter Ecabert did not think so and he was invited to join TDN Writer’s room podcast presented by Keeneland to explain why.
Ecabert is one of two guests on this week’s podcast as Len Green, founder and president of Green Groupcame to share some tax advice and talk about his 2-year-old soon-to-be crowned champion magic wheel (Into Adversity).
When asked about the National HBPA’s objections to HISA, Ecabert had a long list, which included what he said was a lack of transparency.
“Transparency is extremely important to trust,” says Ecabert. “Without transparency, there can be no trust required for this type of entity.”
As for whether the HISA can be repaired to the satisfaction of the riders, he said, “Everything is fixable, but it will take a tremendous amount of effort to do that. This isn’t just a fix, for example, give the FTC a little more supervisory control. It must be more than that. You have to bring transparency and open the windows and doors and see what’s going on. Let’s see how the sausage is made.”
Ecabert agrees the sport needs to do better when it comes to catching cheaters and said the HBPA is fine with more aggressive measures to do so.
“I agree that there should be some sort of multi-jurisdictional investigative agency and that agency could be funded by the federal government,” he said. “That could have powers like what HISA has or the state racing commission has to step in and investigate. That’s how Navarro and Servis were caught, through private investigation, not through testing.”
He says riders need to do a better job of controlling their own and should speak up if they see someone doing something they shouldn’t.
“With riders, no one wants to be a screamer,” he said. “That has been frowned upon for many years. But maybe that’s where we need to go, that if you feel like someone is really doing something, there has to be someone you can go to and report them to without being affected. Then someone should be investigated and tested. Don’t do it because you were beaten in a race. That’s not the way it should be. But if you feel like you see something that shouldn’t happen, report it and let’s clean up whatever needs to be cleaned up. But again, we feel that overall, 99% of the riders are working hard, doing the right thing and following the rules.”
Elsewhere on the podcast, also sponsored by cooler, Pennsylvania Horse Breeders Association, XBTV and https://www.threechimneys.com/ Purebred West PointRandy Moss, Bill Finley and Zoe Cadman take a look back at GI Clark S. and the impressive win of Hoosier Philly (Into Mischief) in the GII Golden Rod S. And the team headed to the races this weekend, headed by the GI Cigar Mile H. at the Aqueduct and the GI Hollywood Derby at Del Mar.
