On
Monday, the University of Louisville Equine Industry program commenced the ARCI
Racing Investigator Certificate Program online. The program, the first of its
kind, will be conducted over the course of two days and will conclude on
Tuesday, October 6, 2020.
The
program, an initiative of the Association of Racing Commissioners
International, holds tremendous value to not only current investigators but to
those who hope to hold the position in the future. The content was produced
through the efforts of the late John Wayne who was considered to be one of the
foremost authorities on racing regulation in the U.S. Wayne was employed by 20
racetracks over 15 years as an investigator with the Thoroughbred Racing
Protective Bureau (TRPB) and spent almost a decade in management at Atlantic
City Race Course in New Jersey and the 21 years as the executive director of
the Delaware Thoroughbred Racing Commission.
He
was a board member of the Association of Racing Commissioner’s International,
which honored him in 2003 with the Len Foote Award and the former chairman and
a driving force with the Organization of Racing Investigators (ORI).
"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 ORI.
Although this program will be
initially conducted online, the ARCI is committed to working with the
University of Louisville’s Equine Industry Program and the University of
Arizona’s Racetrack Industry Program to hold future programs in person.
The participants in the program
will receive certification upon successfully passing an examination on the
material presented. The RCI suggests commissions and racetracks include a
requirement for the present Racing Investigator Certificate as essential for
employment.
The content for the program will
concentrate on basic horsemanship skills, safety procedures in the barn or
paddock areas, racing terminology, overview of officials and their duties,
constructing a condition book and drawing for races, as well as what is
included in preparing a horse to race. Equine care and medications, veterinary
records, investigatory tools and techniques are also reviewed. In addition,
their will be extensive coverage of interactions with other enforcement
entities, evidence gathering and methods those attempting to avoid detection
when violating medication testing procedures. The program will also focus on
the sensitivity of medication testing and the process of how results are
obtained and determined.
RCI President, Ed Martin, who previously
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."
"There is a tremendous
amount of expertise and experience that is required to do this job
properly," he said, noting the work of the NY Gaming Commission in its
effective records audit investigation.
Initially expected to include
30-35 participants, the program already has exceeded expectations with more
than three times the number of registrations than anticipated.
"The
University of Louisville is excited for its collaborative work with the ARCI to
bring this certification program to fruition," said Sean Beirne, Director
of the UofL Equine Industry Program. "It is an important aspect of our
mission to educate the professionals in the horse racing industry, to build on
their knowledge, and provide resources to enhance and develop the methodology
to create standards for the execution of their duties.”
