Supreme Court sends horseracing authority’s constitutionality cases back to lower courts

The Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority (HISA) welcomed the Supreme Court’s recent rulings on three cases regarding the program’s constitutionality.

The June 30 ruling comes nearly five years after Congress created the independent, nongovernmental authority by passing the bipartisan Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act in 2020, which tasked the entity to create and enforce uniform standards for horse racing safety and health in the U.S.

Overseen by the Federal Trade Commission, HISA comprises two programs: the Racetrack Safety Program, effective since June 2022, and the Anti-Doping and Medication Control (ADMC) program as of May 2023.

The authority reported record-low racing-related fatalities that are notably lower than at non-HISA tracks, according to its 2024 Annual Metrics Report released earlier this year, in addition to other metrics.

Supreme Court ruling

HISA rules are currently in effect at 41 racetracks among 19 state racing commissions under its governance. A handful of lawsuits, however, have challenged HISA’s authority and sought to prevent its programs’ implementation.

The Supreme Court set aside the judgments from the U. S. Court of Appeals for the 5th, 6th, and 8th Circuits, and directed them to revisit their respective rulings under the new precedent set in Federal Communications Commission (FCC) v. Consumers’ Research. In that court case, regarding the constitutional limits of delegating federal authority to private entities, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of the FCC.

The 6th and 8th Circuit Courts had ruled in favor of HISA’s authority to provide national, uniform safety and integrity oversight for Thoroughbred racing, but the 5th Circuit Court had found HISA’s enforcement powers unconstitutional.

As the Supreme Court’s orders essentially preserve the status quo and keep the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act intact, HISA said it will continue operating as normal as legal proceedings continue.

The sole adverse decision from the Fifth Circuit (which the Supreme Court had previously paused) is now off the books, and the opinions of the federal district courts—all of which upheld the Act’s constitutionality in full—remain valid and operative,” HISA said in its statement.

Further, in FCC v. Consumers’ Research, the Supreme Court rejected a constitutional challenge under the private nondelegation doctrine, which restricts Congress’ ability to delegate its legislative powers to private entities.

Meanwhile, the National Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association (NHBPA), which brought the case against HISA in the 5th Circuit Court, also celebrated the Supreme Court’s decision sending it back to the appellate courts.

“This action represents a renewed opportunity for the Fifth Circuit to address the fundamental constitutional issues raised by horsemen nationwide—and do so in a manner consistent with the highest Court’s recent guidance and precedent,” the association said in a statement.

The NHBPA noted the 5th Circuit Court had twice before declared the HISA Act unconstitutional: in 2022, that the act illegally delegated legislative power to a private corporation, then prompting Congress to tweak the law, and again in 2024, declaring the act unconstitutionally delegated governmental enforcement powers to a private corporation.

Expressing confidence that the appeals court will find the act unconstitutional for a third time, NHBPA CEO Eric Hamelback in the statement said, “Our well-founded arguments regarding HISA remain unchanged—it is a deeply flawed, unconstitutionally delegates governmental authority to a private corporation and places unfair burdens on horsemen.”

Racetrack fatalities, training data

The high court’s move, which likely pushes out the years-long litigation process for another few years, comes as the authority reported a meaningful year-over-year decline in racing fatalities in its 2024 Annual Metrics Report.

At the 47 racetracks that were subject to HISA rules across 19 states in 2024, the aggregate racing-related fatality rate was 0.90 per 1,000 starts, meaning 99.91% of starts did not result in a fatality. That figure is almost half of the rate 1.76 per 1,000 starts at non-HISA tracks, the report said.

HISA CEO Lisa Lazarus noted in the report that this marks a 27% decrease from the rate of 1.23 per 1,000 starts that HISA reported last year, and a 35% decrease compared to the rate of 1.39 per 1,000 starts reported by The Jockey Club’s Equine Injury Database (EID) in 2021—the last full year prior to the launch of HISA’s Racetrack Safety Program.

The 2024 statistic also represents a 55% decrease from a rate of 2.00 per 1,000 starts in 2009, when the EID began reporting fatalities and accounts for all tracks running Thoroughbred races.

In addition, for the first time, HISA published nationwide data on training-related fatalities—defined as horses that die or are euthanized within 72 hours as a direct result of injuries sustained during training.

For 2024, HISA racetracks reported a total of 181 training-related deaths among 46,107 unique covered active horses, marking 0.50 training-related deaths per 1,000 workouts in a conservative estimate as it accounts all training activities.

In the 17-page report, HISA further breaks down training-related fatalities by state and racetrack for 2024 on an aggregate basis.

While it is too early to draw statistical trends from the initial training data, the report says the transparency lays the groundwork for identifying risk factors and developing safety protocols. HISA plans to release training-related data on a quarterly basis going forward.

“We share this data publicly to promote our commitment to transparency and knowledge-sharing, and because a top priority for HISA in 2025 is to propose rules and guidance to minimize safety risks associated with training activities,” Lazarus wrote.

HISA, which requires attending veterinarians to submit records to its online portal within 24 hours of treating or examining a covered horse, also received about 5,500 veterinary treatment records on average daily in 2024.

As of March 31, HISA had 77,568 registered horses and, since the inception of its Racetrack Safety Program, approximately 3.6 million veterinary treatment records have been uploaded to the portal.

Horseracing integrity, welfare update

HISA in 2022 partnered with anti-doping industry leader Drug Free Sport International (DFSI) to act as the independent administrator of its ADMC program, establishing the Horseracing Integrity and Welfare Unit (HIWU) as the enforcer.

According to a 2024 report from HIWU, over 500 sample collection personnel (SCP) conducted testing at tracks nationwide. HIWU also expanded SCP resources and testing plans to support collecting triple the number of hair samples analyzed for detecting banned substances.

By the numbers, there were a total of 76,534 sample collection sessions (SCS) and 26,585 unique covered horses tested in 2024. The report further breaks down the data by state, event, and racetrack.

The average time it took to report post-race test results was 6.8 business days in 2024, which marked the first full year of enforcement.

There were 364 adverse analytical findings, or 0.48% of all SCS in 2024, meaning a prohibited substance or its markers were detected in laboratory results.

“This year, HISA made significant progress in furtherance of its mandate across the areas of racetrack safety, technological innovation, uniform medication control and equine welfare,” Lazarus said in the report.