Q&A with Usada's Dr. Tessa Muir
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TUESDAY, AUGUST 31, 2021 Q&A WITH USADA'S OSCAR PERFORMANCE YEARLINGS EXHIBIT SIRE=S BEST QUALITIES by Katie Ritz DR. TESSA MUIR With the Keeneland September Yearling Sale fast approaching, Gray Lyster of Ashview Farm is looking forward to showcasing his colt by Oscar Performance (Kitten=s Joy--Devine Actress, by Theatrical {Ire}). Bred by Colts Neck Stables, the bay catalogued as hip 892 is a half-brother to the talented MGSW Venetian Harbor (Munnings). The sibling duo is out of the stakes-placed mare Sounds of the City (Street Cry {Ire}), who hails from the family of champion sprinter Safely Kept (Horatius). AHe=s actually the fifth generation of the family that we=ve raised here at Ashview,@ Lyster said. AHe=s a really nice medium size and an unbelievable mover. You can see the Oscar Performance in him, but you can also see the mare and the half- sister, Venetian Harbor. They all kind of come together. He looks really racey and his walk is smooth and powerful at the same time.@ Cont. p8 Sarah Andrew by Dan Ross Last month, the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) announced that, in Dr. Tessa Muir, it had plucked from foreign shores a new hire to head its equine program at a time when the agency plays an integral role in implementing the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act (HISA), overhauling the industry's governing status quo. Before Muir joined the USADA staff roster, she had hopscotched her way up the industry ladder, from exercise rider to private veterinarian to head of the British Horseracing Authority (BHA)'s anti-doping program between 2013 and 2019. Her last position was as a regulatory veterinarian in Australia, for Racing Victoria. Currently in the process of earning a master's degree in sports law, Muir faces an even tougher task in bringing to life the Click here for our visit with champion Oscar Performance enforcement arm of racing's new regulatory framework. That's and a few of his yearlings at Mill Ridge Farm. | Katie Ritz because there's much to do within a worryingly short amount of time. Though the official implementation of HISA is set for July 1 next year, a baseline set of uniform rules--medication standards, IN TDN EUROPE TODAY laboratory testing accreditation rules, and racetrack safety AUGUST SALE ENTERS ROUND TWO accreditation standards--need to be squared away by the end of The two-day Tattersalls August Sale begins on Tuesday and the year in order to meet tight administrative deadlines. Kelsey Riley has the preview. Cont. p3 Click or tap here to go straight to TDN Europe. 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For her part, Muir tipped her hat during the Round Table to the Aenormity of the task@ ahead of her, saying that AUSADA and myself personally are absolutely committed to our role in the inception of HISA, whether that ultimately sees USADA running the program, or contributing its expertise to the development of harmonizing rules and best practices in anti-doping.@ The Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority--the broad non-profit umbrella established by the law and commonly referred to as just the AAuthority@--is expected to unveil important program specifics at an unspecified date this fall. To try to elicit some details before then, the TDN this week sat down with Muir. The following has been edited for brevity and clarity. DR: What's your initial takeaway from these first few weeks on the job? TM: I actually started with USADA in April, so, I've been working with them for a while. The first month here [in the U.S.] has been a little bit of a whirlwind getting settled into a new country. I've been really excited and encouraged by the engagement we've had with the people we've spoken to. Of course, we've started working with the Authority and their anti-doping and medication control committee, and then I spent a week in Saratoga leading up to the Round Table, spending time with their state commission vets and the racetrack vets. We've had our head down working really hard to deliver on some of the other things we need to. There are some challenges that are not unsurmountable if everyone works together and collaborates. DR: Okay, so when it comes to HISA, given how we don't yet know who will run the enforcement arm of the law, what can you tell industry stakeholders looking at the ticking clock and worrying about the current lack of available specifics? TM: As I've alluded to, we've got our heads down working really hard with the Authority to develop a set of rules. As you'll have heard, with what the chairman of the Authority [Charles Scheeler] said, the intention is that they'll be ready for socialization to the industry this fall. Cont. p4 TDN HEADLINE NEWS • PAGE 4 OF 12 • THETDN.COM TUESDAY • AUGUST 31, 2021 HISA passing is the first component of it. The development of DR: When it comes to HISA's approach to the public reporting these rules and regulations is the second part. Then [comes] the of testing, what can we expect? Will there be greater specifics for USADA and USADA becoming the enforcement transparency concerning all horses who are tested and not just agency. I think we're all keen to get there ASAP. Of course, the the positives, for example? How will you approach the rules go into effect on the first of July next year. But as you and reporting of out-of-competition testing? the industry can appreciate, there are a number of things to TM: There's a need for transparency in competition--for race work through given the expanse of the program for it all to day and in the out-of-competition component. If you look at come together. USADA's history, they've been huge advocates for transparency and for sharing testing data. If you look on their website, you can search for an individual athlete and see how many times they've been tested in a year or in a quarter, which I think is a really positive thing. On the equine side, we definitely want to publish testing data. I think there's a balance--you want to publish and be transparent to the point it doesn't compromise the integrity of the independent testing program you've got in place. DR: Are you able though to talk about what you think may be made public? TM: It's probably a little too early to delve into specifics. There are things we've discussed with the Authority. If you take USADA's example of what there is with human sports, you can search any individual athlete by name, and you can see how Coady many times they've been tested within that breakdown. DR: How well placed is USADA to manage what would appear You can also look to other racing jurisdictions where they a significant increase in testing volume, even if it's just in an already publish some of this data, such as in Racing Victoria. oversight role? Does it have the necessary personnel? After the race day, they publish a report on what horses got TM: The intent is not to totally reinvent the wheel. There are tested, pre-race and post-race. good practices in place that can be leveraged. We will look to Without saying we've landed on a specific final picture of what utilize existing infrastructure--for example, in testing barns it might look like, I think that gives you a nice example of where where it's possible.