Columbus, OH — The U.S. Trotting Association in conjunction with Hambletonian Society President John Campbell announced Tuesday (Sept. 24) that the USTA will assume an organizational role with five existing committees that were created to make harness racing-specific rule recommendations to the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority (HISA) should that body survive its constitutional challenges and if it assumes a position as the governing body of harness racing.
“The collaborative nature of the committees is what really appeals to me,” said USTA Chief Executive Officer Mike Tanner. “Regardless of where we stand regarding HISA and whether it survives its court challenges or not, I think that only good can come from collectively developing rules and protocols that will make harness racing better.”
During the fall of 2023, Campbell assembled those five advisory committees — Veterinary, Shoeing, Track, Driver, and Trainer. Several USTA directors were named as committee members.
“I think as long as HISA continues and is not struck down, eventually the other breeds — Quarter Horse and Standardbreds — will be incorporated under HISA,” said Campbell while explaining the need for the committees. “If you look at the track and safety regulations for the Thoroughbreds now, they won’t work for us and they wouldn’t have any place in Standardbred racing.
“We’ve had excellent input and I have the utmost confidence that the committees will make the best decisions for racing moving forward,” added Campbell. “We want them to come up with Standardbred-centric recommendations that work for our industry moving forward.”
In July at the annual Hall of Fame inductions in Goshen, N.Y., Campbell met with USTA President Russell Williams and Tanner to discuss the organization’s involvement with the committees and initiative. Campbell suggested that the USTA might want to assume an organizational role in the committees’ continued operations.
President Williams agreed, provided that all recommendations generated by the committees would be submitted as rule change proposals that could be voted upon by the USTA’s full Board of Directors.
“We look forward to working with the members of each committee and sending their recommendations to the USTA’s Board of Directors for its review,” said Tanner.
Also, while the members already assigned to committees will remain in place, the USTA, at its discretion, may expand those groups by extending invitations to additional industry stakeholders and USTA staff liaisons.
With the recent decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit to deny a request for a rarely granted “en banc” procedure filed by the HISA Authority and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), it has become more likely that the case of HISA’s constitutionality will ultimately be heard by the Supreme Court, which would probably further delay any potential oversight of harness racing by HISA.
Campbell considers that an important advantage in the timing of this collaboration.
“By being far ahead of the curve for when HISA might impact harness racing, we have time to do this properly,” said the Hambletonian Society president.
At the present time, the five advisory committees are composed as follows:
Veterinary: Dr. John Mossbarger (chair), Dr. Steve Bokman, Dr. Patty Hogan, Dr. Celeste Kunz, Dr. Rick Mathers, Steve McCoy Dr. Karl Nagle, Dr. Kerry Peterson, Dr. Jen Stowe
Shoeing: Ernie Gaskin (chair), John Butenschoen, Ian McKinley, Marcus Melander, Steve Stanley, Conny Svensson
Track: Jim Simpson (chair), Dan Coon, Kim Crawford, Ryan Naporiello, Ray Schnittker, Jason Settlemoir, Jimmy Takter
Driver: Anthony Perretti (chair), Chris Antonacci, Corey Callahan, Rick Moore, Chris Page, Steve O’Toole, Scott Zeron
Trainer: Linda Toscano (chair), Brian Brown, Ron Burke, Tom Fanning, Paul Kelley, Joe Putnam, Chris Ryder