Lexington, KY – August 24, 2020 – The University of
Louisville Equine Industry Program will formally launch the ARCI Racing
Investigator Certificate Program online October 5-6, 2020. Registration
is now open at https://louisville.edu/business/payments/equine.
There is an $80 fee to defray university costs associated with offering the
program.
“The job of a racing investigator is a specialty involving knowledge not only of police procedures concerning interrogation and evidence gathering but also of horseracing, the backstretch, and the horses themselves,” said RCI Chair Tom Sage of Nebraska, a former longtime law enforcement officer and racing investigator and past-Chair of the Organization of Racing Investigators.
The initial program will last two days and be conducted online by the UofL Equine Industry Program. Additional programs may be conducted in person and the ARCI is committed to working with both the University of Louisville’s Equine Industry Program and the University of Arizona’s Racetrack Industry Program.
Those participating in the program will be deemed certified after passing an examination. The RCI encourages commissions and racetracks to phase in a requirement for a current Racing Investigator Certificate as a requirement for employment.
RCI President, Ed Martin, who formerly served as the New York regulator responsible for some of racing’s most notable investigations – Breeders’ Cup Pick 6 Wagering Scandal, the NYRA Mutuel Department fraud conspiracy, OTB mismanagement, Yonkers Raceway drug search lockdown - noted that “proactive investigators will develop intelligence networks and not be hesitant to dig deep into any situation where things do not seem as they should.”
The curricula for the program will focus on basic horsemanship skills, safety procedures in the barn or paddock areas, racing terminology, overview of officials and their duties, creating the condition book and drawing for the race as well as what is involved in preparing a horse for a racing career. Equine care and medications, vet records, investigatory tools and techniques, interactions with other enforcement entities, evidence gathering, and ways cheaters attempt to avoid detection will also be addressed.
About ARCI
The
RCI (ARCI) is the umbrella organization of the official governing rule making
bodies for professional horse and greyhound racing. The bulk of its
members are located throughout North America and parts of the Caribbean
although its standards are relied upon worldwide in making regulatory policy.
For
85 years, the ARCI has set international standards for racing regulation, medication
policy, drug testing laboratories, totalizator systems, racetrack operation and
security, as well as off-track wagering entities. ARCI’s regulatory authority
members are the only independent entities recognized to license, enforce, and
adjudicate matters pertaining to racing.
There is no educational opportunity quite
like the Equine Industry Program offered by the University of Louisville’s
College of Business. For any young person aspiring to a career in the horse
business, no other college degree is as useful. UofL’s equine majors take the
entire business core, as well as 27 hours of specialized courses in the
business of horses. UofL is located in the heart of horse country, so that
instruction in the classroom is supplemented with field trips, prominent guest
lecturers, and internships.
Individuals who have already completed a baccalaureate degree (BS or BA) may earn a one-year postgraduate Certificate in Equine Business. High academic standards and a unique program have attracted a faculty interested in the education and careers of students, and in the application of sound management to the equine industry.
As a participant in the conception of the original stewards’ program, the University of Louisville’s
Equine Industry Program has been
conducting schools and testing stewards since 1989 and judges since 1995.
