HISA Denies Paco Lopez Stay

[Wandering Eyes]

Paco Lopez and his attorney Drew Mollica have been informed by the Horse Racing Safety and Integrity Authority that they will not grant Paco Lopez a stay of his six-month suspension for what HISA called a violation of the terms of his agreement stemming from a Dec. 4 incident involving the whip.

“We are in the process of evaluating all legal remedies including but not limited to an emergency application to a court of competent jurisdiction to seek not only injunctive relief, but sanctions for this unilateral unprecedented decision to breach the terms of our valid agreement,” said Mollica.

Lopez was issued a six-month suspension on September 23 by HISA, who said that “the suspension stems from Mr. Lopez's violation of the terms of his conditional reinstatement, related to a December 4, 2024 incident.” In that incident, Lopez struck his mount, National Law, on the head with his whip after the race had concluded. He was issued an indefinite suspension for that, which was later reduced to 50 days after agreeing to therapy and other conditions. The terms of the agreement are confidential.

Mollica had sought a stay of the six-month suspension while he appealed the decision.

When the suspension was announced, a HISA spokesperson explained, “Since Mr. Lopez returned from his suspension in January, 2025, he has been found by stewards to have committed 10 violations of HISA's riding crop rule, including eight violations in which the crop was raised with his wrist above his helmet when using the crop. The cumulative nature of the violations demonstrates a pattern of disregard for HISA's rules and presents risk of injury to Covered Horses.”

Mollica contended that none of those violations related to the National Law incident.

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