Horse racing bill passes in Congress
Keeping an eye on the world of sports during the pandemic:
Abill to ban race-day doping of horses and set national medication and track-safety standards for the horse-racing industry is nearing the finish line. Lawmakers gave final approval to the bill late Monday as part of the massive legislation on spending and pandemic relief.
President Donald Trump is expected to sign the bill in the next few days.
Passage of the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act comes after a series of doping scandals and a rash of horse fatalities in recent years. More than two dozen people were charged last March in what authorities described as a widespread international scheme to drug horses to make them run faster.
The House approved the bill by voice vote in September, sending it to the Senate, where Majority Leader Mitch McConnell co-sponsored similar legislation. The measure was eventually folded into the larger spending package.
McConnell’s home state of Kentucky boasts some of the country’s top breeding farms and Churchill Downs, site of the Kentucky Derby, the first leg of the fabled Triple Crown.
The new law should “better protect every competitor and give each of them a fair shot at the winner’s circle,” McConnell said.
Rep. Paul Tonko, D-N.Y., co-sponsored the House bill with Rep. Andy Barr, R-Ky.
The new law puts “the well-being of our horses and jockeys front and center, delivering common-sense medication reforms and track safety standards that will restore public trust and confidence,’’ Tonko said.
The newly passed bill would empower an independent Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority to set uniform, national standards for medication, track safety and testing of horses for performance-enhancing drugs.