Dr. Mary Scollay, one of the most accomplished and respected equine medical regulators in Thoroughbred racing, has retired from her full-time duties as chief of science for the Horseracing Integrity and Welfare Unit but will continue to serve as a consultant to the organization, HIWU announced on Tuesday.
Scollay, who previously served as a regulatory veterinarian, equine medical director, and top official of a private regulatory agency that consulted with HIWU, was officially brought on board in 2022 after serving in advisory positions at the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority during its formation in the early 2020s. HIWU is the enforcement arm for HISA’s Anti-Doping and Medication Control program.
Her retirement is part of a long-term plan that's had multiple setbacks due to lingering uncertainty over the ultimate staying power of HISA amid ongoing legal challenges, according to several officials.
“Dr. Scollay was integral to the creation of HIWU and the launch and enforcement of the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority’s Anti-Doping and Medication Control Program,” said Ben Mosier, the executive director of HIWU, in a release. “In the three-plus years since our first introduction at Turfway Park’s test barn, her contributions have been immeasurable. The entire HIWU team is thankful for Dr. Scollay’s service on behalf of the Thoroughbred industry, and we are grateful that we will continue to benefit from her expertise as a consultant.”
Scollay began her career as a regulatory veterinarian in Florida before landing in Kentucky more than two decades ago. She was eventually named the equine medical director of the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission and served in that position for 11 years before transitioning in 2019 to the Racing Medication and Testing Consortium, an industry-funded organization that directs scientific research toward improved testing methods for horse racing and establishing guidelines for the use of therapeutic medications.
While at the KHRC and the RMTC, Scollay was the lead manager of the Equine Industry Database, an effort launched by the U.S. racing industry in 2009 to identify risk factors for horses by systematically recording data surrounding fatalities. The EID has been cited as a major contributor to the decade-long reduction in fatality rates in U.S. racing.
Scollay had a relentless focus on science but often drew criticism from some veterinarians and horsemen over policies designed to tighten regulations on the use of therapeutic medications in racing, a topic that has long been controversial in racing. She often provided testimony in support of aggressive regulation of therapeutic medications during adjudications for positives, and she has publicly defended the policies of HISA and HIWU under persistent challenges from some horsemen’s organizations – often in contentious settings like industry conferences.
Scollay’s position will be filled by Dr. Michael Hardy, the current executive director of the RMTC, who was named “acting” chief of science for HIWU. Hardy will also continue in his role at RMTC for the time being, HIWU said in a release.
Hardy, a former regulatory veterinarian, took over the executive director position at the RMTC after Scollay was officially named HIWU’s chief of science. The RMTC has several overlapping responsibilities with HISA and HIWU, and the organization is expected to be eventually subsumed into HISA’s structure if the authority establishes itself on firmer footing.
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