[INSPRATIONAL MUSIC STING] - We're now joined by Lisa Lazarus, who's CEO of the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority, otherwise known as HISA.

Lisa, good to see you.

- Good to see you, too.

- Talk about HISA and why it's more important now than ever.

Was established how many years ago?

- It was established actually at the end of 2020, signed into law, the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act, but the organization itself didn't come to fruition until early 2022.

- So important because?

- It's important because for decades, horseracing has been regulated on a state by state basis.

So the rules for horseracing in New York and New Jersey were different than Kentucky and different than California.

There were a number of horse welfare issues.

There were some horse fatalities, and Congress realized they really needed to step in and make sure that there would be a national governing body with uniform rules to make sure that horseracing was as safe as it possibly could be.

And also you could trust the product, that it had integrity.

- So as, as for those of us who are interested in horseracing, mostly because we're interested in betting, I include myself, so we're getting ready for the Triple Crown.

- Yeah.

- And there are these fatalities with horses leading up to very high profile races.

To what degree, Lisa, does that help you?

It's horrible that these horses died, it's tragic, but to what degree does that help you and your colleagues do the work you're doing?

Because it makes it clear that there's a serious problem.

- So, you know, as you mentioned last year, there were a number of horse fatalities, particularly during leading up to the Kentucky Derby, and even on the undercard at the Derby.

That was really like an existential moment for the industry because, you know, racing's highest profile moment of the year is the Kentucky Derby.

And we had a lot of public eyes on us and we, you know, we went through a difficult time as an industry.

And so yes, you're right.

That sort of made it clear and shined a spotlight on HISA that we really had to step in and do our work.

And I'm pleased to say that after like a lot of really hard work and new programs and new rules, we went, we had an entirely safe Triple Crown this past year.

So, you know, you had the Derby, the Preakness, and the Belmont all without any equine fatalities.

And we just released some new metrics a couple weeks ago showing that fatalities have declined substantially.

- So along those lines, there are some very high profile trainers who've won some big races, who have been fined, who've been suspended.

To what degree, Lisa, are most trainers receptive, responsive, and doing the right thing as it relates to what you and your colleagues are attempting to do to make it safer in the horseracing industry for the horses?

- So I would say that really the vast, vast majority of trainers, first of all, love their horses, live for their horses.

Often say they treat their horses better than they treat their children, which in many cases is true.

They've dedicated their lives, you know, essentially to taking care of horses, et cetera.

I think before HISA was in place, there were a number of states that really weren't doing a good job regulating the sport.

And so, there was almost potentially a pressure on some trainers to feel like they had to do something to get an edge or to stay relevant, to be competitive.

And I think one of the things that HISA does is really creates an even playing field because we have a very rigorous, you know, anti-doping program, for example.

We have no tolerance for using any kind of horse that shouldn't be there.

And you know, our trainers and our horsemen are aware of that and they follow the rules for the most part.

And I think that's one of the reasons why racing has become increasingly safer.

- Talk about the anti-doping part of this, because, you know, there are other professional sports that have anti-doping programs and athletes and those involved with those athletes have been pretty good in certain cases, we wanna believe isolated, but who the heck really knows, in getting around those safeguards.

What specifically does the anti-doping program of HISA say, A and B, is it difficult to get around those rules, those policies?

- Yeah, I really believe it is.

And they're actually more rigorous than the human anti-doping program.

So what's really interesting about the equine or the horse anti-doping program is you have sort of two categories of substances.

You have the things that are banned in humans, like, you know, growth hormone, anabolic steroids, any sort of bronchodilator, things that we all kind of know should never be in an athlete and they're universally banned.

But in horseracing, you also have a whole other area called controlled medications, which are more things like Advil and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatories that actually humans can use without any limitation.

But we regulate in horses because horses can't make free choice.

And we also need to be able to see if a horse has an injury, we don't want it masked by an ibuprofen or an anti-inflammatory.

So, those substances they can use outside of race day, but not within 48 hours of a race.

And so, we test for both categories.

The sanctions for the medications are a lot more lenient because those are really negligence violations than they are for the banned stuff.

But we do regulate that, which is quite different from humans.

- How, by way of background, you're a lawyer by training?

- I am, yeah.

- You were and are a lawyer by training.

Did a very important work, legal work in the NFL, correct?

- Yes, I did, yeah, 10 years.

- How did they find you at HISA?

So, the law gets created in December, 2020.

- Correct.

- And you're where in the equation, how do they get you?

- So, when I left the NFL, I actually went, I was living in Switzerland at the time, and I went to work for the International Equestrian Federation, which is all of the Olympic sports, and it's essentially the governing body internationally for all of the countries.

And so show jumping, dressage, eventing.

And so, I did that for about six years.

And then after that I was actually in private practice, so attending athletes in different kinds of disputes, many of which were sort of anti-doping related.

And so I had the, a lot of relevant technical expertise around equine anti-doping programs and horse welfare issues.

And I also had a sports regulatory background.

That's how they found me.

- So Lisa, you mentioned the international background.

- Yeah.

- How does the United States and the way we're currently regulating the horseracing industry and protecting horses compare to most other countries that are actively engaged in horseracing?

- So that's like a phenomenal question, and it's a really relevant question.

I would say up until the last couple of years, we were really behind our international peers in terms of horse welfare.

You know, in horseracing you tend to measure fatalities by thousand starts.

A start is every time a horse enters the starting gate.

So you tend to measure it by starts.

And we were, you know, the international world is for the most part, Japan, Hong Kong, UK, Ireland, France, they're around one or under one for a thousand starts.

We were more like around one and a half, but we just released, as I said, some really good numbers that have us at 0.8.

So we're finally kind of getting in line with our international peers when it comes to equine fatalities.

And also, when it comes to anti-doping, because the industry had been so fragmented before on this state by state basis, we didn't have uniform rules.

So, it's really difficult to regulate an industry in a serious way if you don't have consistency across borders, because trainers run their horses in different states.

They don't stay in one state anymore.

- Got a little bit less than a minute left.

For those of us who enjoy horseracing, for those who say, "Listen, I can't believe what they're doing to the horses."

Give us, give people a sense as to why it makes sense and it's okay if you wanna watch or engage or bet on horseracing that it's safe, much safer for the horses than ever before.

I'm not gonna do an advertisement for horseracing, but you know this in a way that nobody else does.

- No, it genuinely is.

And there are an incredible number of people that work for me and work for similar organizations that are on the front lines, that are there for the horse and to protect the horse.

And the industry has really come together around this.

And we do it in three ways.

One is we make sure that every horse from a veterinary standpoint and medical standpoint doesn't get to the starting gate unless they pass a number of different fitness tests, wellness checks, et cetera.

We also make sure there's nothing in a horse that shouldn't be in its system, which is our anti-doping program.

And the third thing is we regulate the surfaces that they run on.

You know, it's really important that they have a good, consistent surface, and that's another component of keeping them safe.

So, we are really working very hard to do that.

I think we're succeeding and because of that then we can all enjoy the sport.

- Lisa Lazarus, who's the Chief Executive Officer of the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority, otherwise known as HISA.

Lisa, thank you so much, we appreciate it.

- Thank you for having me.

- You got it, I'm Steve Adubato.

We thank you so much for watching.

We'll see you next time.

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