Judge Reverses HISA's Ruling For Voided Claim On Dead Horse

Owner/trainer Derrick Parram has prevailed in his legal battle against the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority, and will no longer be forced to return the claim money for a horse which died outside his care. Ultimately, the decision was made because of the gap between implementation of HISA's racetrack safety program and anti-doping and medication rules.

However, HISA is currently pursing changes to the void claim rule, which were posted to the FTC's federal register for public comment on April 8, 2024. One of the major changes is that a claimant will not have the option to void a claim for a positive test if the claimant chooses to race the horse prior to the return of the test results.

The FTC must approve or disapprove the proposed modification on or before June 7, 2024. If approved, the proposed rule modification would be effective on July 8, 2024.

More information on the proposed rule change is available here: https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2024/04/08/2024-06911/horseracing-integrity-and-safety-authority-racetrack-safety-rule-modification

In Parram's case, the Federal Trade Commission's Administrative Law Judge Michael Chappel issued a ruling dated May 1, 2024, which reversed the HISA decision voiding a $12,500 claim on the horse Girls Love Me.

Parram, a 65-year-old native of Jamaica, was the trainer and owner of record for Girls Love Me, who ran second in a starter optional claiming race at Laurel Park on Dec. 9, 2022. The gelding was claimed out of that race for $12,500 by owners Louis J. Ulman and Walter Vieser II and trainer Dale Capuano. Ulman is a lawyer and former chair of the Maryland Racing Commission.

Girls Love Me ran for his new connections on Dec. 31, 2022, weakening to finish fifth as the favorite.

On Jan. 8, Parram was notified that Girls Love Me tested positive for dexamethasone and trichlormethiazide, the first positive tests of the trainer's career. Parram was notified via public address system that he would need to report to the stewards for a hearing that day. Parram waived his right to split sample testing at that time; Girls Love Me was disqualified and the purse money ordered returned. 

According to testimony given during a hearing on March 1, 2024, Girls Love Me was injured in the Dec. 31 race and subsequently underwent knee surgery. Ultimately, Girls Love Me was euthanized on Jan. 29, 2023, due to complications of post-surgery colic.

Two days after the gelding was euthanized, owners Ulman and Vieser contacted the Maryland stewards to protest the claim, based on the positive test results.

Maryland stewards held a hearing on Feb. 4, 2023, and – based on HISA rules – decided to void the claim of Girls Love Me and ordering Parram to return the $12,500 claim price.

However, the HISA rules were only partially in effect at the time of the race on Dec. 9, 2022. Only the Racetrack Safety Regulations were active, launched on July 1, 2022, not the Anti-Doping and Medication Control rules, which went into effect on May 23, 2023.

The HISA Voided Claim rule is part of the Racetrack Safety Regulations. It states that claimed horses will go to the test barn. Claims will be voided if the horse dies, is euthanized, or is vanned off the track, if the regulatory veterinarian determines the horse to have bled, be “physically distressed, medically compromised, unsound, or lame” within one hour of the race, or if the horse tests positive for a prohibited substance.

However, "prohibited substance" is not clearly defined within the scope of the Racetrack Safety Regulations. 

Rebecca Price, attorney for HISA, argued during the March hearing that the Maryland Racing Commission medication rules served as a "stopgap measure" for the voided claim rule's "prohibited substance" stipulation, and that the claim was appropriately voided since both dexamethasone and trichlormethiazide could be found on the MRC's list of substances that should not be found in a horse on race day.

The ALJ disagreed.

"To void a claim under HISA Rule 2262(c)(5), it must be demonstrated that the horse had 'a positive test for a Prohibited Substance.'

"The Authority ignored the plain language of HISA Rule 2262(c)(5) and instead essentially incorporated, or borrowed, Maryland prohibited substance regulations. The Authority has failed to demonstrate a proper legal basis for this result.

"It is true that an accurate reading of the plain text of HISA Rule 2262(c)(5) would bar the Authority from voiding a claim based on the presence of a Prohibited Substance until after the effective date of the ADMC Program. But this is a consequence of the plain language of the Rule itself, which was drafted by the Authority and approved by the FTC. 

"Indeed, the FTC was aware when adopting the Racetrack Safety rules that they did not include “other related rules such as an anti-doping and medications control enforcement rule” and rejected requests from commenters that the FTC defer adoption until it received all such rules from the Authority... A delay in final implementation of the ADMC Program, and therefore the gap in enforcement of HISA Rule 2262(c)(5), was thus 'baked into the Act.' The enforcement risk associated with this gap should fall on the Authority, not on the targets of the Authority’s enforcement powers."

The ALJ also noted that the outcome in this case was not inequitable. Girls Love Me was disqualified from his second-place finish on Dec. 9, 2022, and Parram returned the purse money, according to the relevant Maryland regulations. 

"It is undisputed that the death of Girls Love Me on Jan. 29, 2023, nearly two months after the Dec. 9, 2022 claiming race, was a consequence of an injury suffered as a result of Ulman and Vieser having entered Girls Love Me in a race on Dec. 31, 2022. It is also noted that Ulman and Vieser did not take any steps to void the claim until after the horse’s death."