Churchill Downs, NYRA file suit against HISA

Churchill Downs Inc. and the N.Y. Racing Association have filed a joint complaint against the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority Inc. which “could put the start of the 2025 racing season at Louisville’s Churchill Downs and Henderson, Kentucky-based Ellis Park in jeopardy.” HISA has threatened to “shut down live racing at any tracks run by CDI or NYRA” if the two organizations do not "pay the 'millions of dollars' owed in back fees." At the heart of the complaint, filed Dec. 4 in the U.S. District Court’s Western District of Kentucky in Louisville, is a “discrepancy over how HISA collects fees for races.” The plaintiffs claim that in order to follow the guidelines that were established by the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority Act, the organization is to collect them based on “racing-start-based methodologies” instead of practicing a “purse-based assessment methodology,” which it claims has "violated the act after being 'unlawfully approved' by the Federal Trade Commission two years ago." The complaint lists that CDI has been ordered to pay a little more than $1.9M in “back fees within 20 days of a notice that was sent out Nov. 13." On Dec. 5, HISA stated that CDI and NYRA are the “only two racing organizations that have not remitted their share of fees” (LOUISVILLE BUSINESS FIRST, 12/9).