Supreme Court allows national horse racing safety rules to stay in effect, for now

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WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court is allowing national medication and anti-doping rules for horse racing to remain in effect while a court fight likely to wind up with the justices continues.

The court on Monday kept on hold a ruling by the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that found Congress gave too much power to the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority, the private entity that administers the rules.

Other appellate courts have rejected similar challenges and the justices are likely to step in to resolve the conflicting rulings.

The authority, backed by the Biden administration, Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky and others, sought an emergency order from the Supreme Court.

Texas, as well as racetracks in the state and in neighboring Louisiana, opposed the emergency appeal.

The anti-doping program, which took effect in the spring of 2023, is an attempt to centralize the drug testing of racehorses and manage the results and dole out uniform penalties to horses and trainers instead of the previous patchwork rules in the 38 racing states.

The program has led to a 50% drop in horse deaths at racetracks that are participating, lawyers for the authority told the court. Meanwhile, death rates have gone up at other tracks, they wrote in their legal filing.

Legislation to dismantle the new authority has been introduced in the House of Representatives but hasn’t gone anywhere.

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