Federally mandated race-day and out-of-competition sample collection plus chain-of-custody documentation at Fayette-resident HISA-jurisdiction racetracks generates recurring per-event vendor work tied to a fixed regulatory schedule.

The work itself sits in four buckets. Race-day sample collection draws urine and blood from horses selected under the HISA Rule 6000-series sampling protocol — winner of each race, claimed horses, stakes participants, and randomly selected horses. Out-of-competition collection runs on a HIWU-dispatched variable schedule at training facilities and racing-stable barns. Chain-of-custody documentation goes through the HIWU portal: collector identity, horse identity, time of collection, seal numbers, and accredited-courier handoff under WADA-style integrity standards. The accredited-courier handoff routes samples from the track to HIWU-contracted laboratories.

The Fayette HISA-jurisdiction surface centers on two named facilities. Keeneland Race Course at 4201 Versailles Road runs the Spring meet at roughly 16 race days in April and the Fall meet at roughly 17 race days in October — about 33 combined race days a year, subject to KHRC race-date allocation. A typical 10-race card generates 10 to 25 collection events a day before stewards' rulings and stakes-day intensification. The Red Mile at 1200 Red Mile Road runs a standardbred meet from September through early November under USTA governance, plus thoroughbred-meet days under separate KHRC allocation in some years. Whether The Red Mile's standardbred-meet portion sits inside HISA's published Covered Horseraces definition is a verification step against hisaus.org.

Day-trip adjacency adds race-day work outside Fayette. Turfway Park sits in Boone County about 75 miles away, Churchill Downs in Jefferson County about 75 miles away, and Ellis Park in Henderson County about 210 miles away. Horseshoe Indianapolis and the Ohio circuit (Thistledown and Belterra) sit within day-trip range. A Fayette-based collector team picks up additional race-day work where HIWU dispatching permits.

Out-of-competition surface. The Fayette and Inner-Bluegrass training-barn population — some in Fayette, many in Woodford, Bourbon, or Jessamine — hosts the HIWU out-of-competition footprint. Volume is variable and not calendar-locked. The operator verifies actual volume against HIWU race-day sampling reports for the Keeneland Spring and Fall 2024 and 2025 meets before committing to a revenue plan.

Accredited-laboratory roster. HIWU contracts equine-doping testing to a national lab panel. Historically named labs include UC Davis (the Kenneth L. Maddy Equine Analytical Pharmacology Laboratory), Industrial Laboratories in Colorado, the New York Drug Testing and Research Program at Morrisville State College, and the Pennsylvania Equine Toxicology and Research Center. The UK Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory was the Kentucky state-level racing-lab anchor under the pre-HISA KHRC regime; whether UKVDL retains HIWU-laboratory designation under the federal regime is a verification step against the HIWU contracted-lab list.

The work is recurring, federally floored under HISA's nationwide scope, and procedural. The collector's role is execution and documentation. No characterization of named horses, named trainers, named jockeys, named veterinarians, or named adjudication outcomes. Anti-Doping and Medication Control adjudications and KHRC licensure actions are part of the public regulatory record but this writeup does not characterize any party to any adjudication.

Revenue stack: per-sample-event fees, courier-mileage and chain-of-custody documentation premiums, and recurring meet contracts plus out-of-competition retainers. HIWU contracts independent sample collectors on a per-event basis with rate structures to be confirmed against the HIWU published contractor-empanelment-fee schedule. Industry-typical anti-doping sample-collection contractor rates across professional sports and Olympic-movement anti-doping work tend to fall in the $50-$200 per-collection range with travel and certification add-ons; the HIWU-specific rate must source to the HIWU published schedule.

Per-day stacking: a two-collector team running a 10-race Keeneland race-day card with ~15-20 collection events earns a meaningful per-day revenue stack; across the ~33 combined Spring + Fall race days plus stakes-day intensification the per-event revenue compounds. Courier mileage and chain-of-custody documentation premiums for sealed-sample handling add a fixed-per-shipment component; Lexington-to-out-of-state-lab shipping uses accredited courier and air-freight channels (FedEx Custom Critical, dedicated medical-courier services, or HIWU-contracted carriers — verify current HIWU shipping contractor in source-verification).

Multi-meet plus out-of-competition revenue band: $200K-$500K at the multi-racetrack plus multi-training-stable account level once Keeneland + The Red Mile + selected out-of-state-meet-day work plus a small out-of-competition retainer book are stacked. Single-racetrack-only revenue is materially thinner at $80K-$200K. Owner take-home plausibility: $80K-$160K at the upper revenue end after payroll for 1-3 trained sample-collection technicians, vehicle operating costs, insurance baseline, HIWU-portal fees, and overhead. Sensitivity: a 20% reduction in race-day sampling volume (calendar contraction, HIWU rule change, or scope narrowing) compresses owner take-home toward the $50K-$100K range.

Capital deployment: two-to-three couriered vehicles (HIWU may require dedicated chain-of-custody-clean transport for sample movement from collection to courier handoff) $60K-$120K; sample-handling equipment, chain-of-custody supplies, sealed-sample storage, certified-scale equipment, refrigeration $20K-$40K; HIWU-portal electronic-record and laboratory-information-management-system access plus paper chain-of-custody documentation supply plus records-retention infrastructure $15K-$30K; workers' compensation insurance + general liability + professional liability rider + automobile fleet coverage $20K-$40K annual baseline; sample-collection-personnel training and HIWU certification fees per team member $5K-$15K per collector; working-capital float for receivables (HIWU contractor payment cycle to be confirmed) $30K-$80K.

Total capital tier: $150K-$500K. Non-PE and non-acquisition. Single founder plus 1-3 trained sample-collection technicians. The candidate is a startup-build lane rather than an acquisition lane — HIWU contractor empanelment is the regulatory gate and the credential stack is the founder's primary asset. The lane does not absorb private-equity capital because the revenue ceiling and the per-collector-throughput ceiling cap the scale below institutional-capital-attractor thresholds.

• Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority (HISA)

  Federal self-regulatory authority

  Institution

  Created by the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act of 2020. Nine-member board with FTC oversight expanded by 2022 amendments. Rule library and Authority leadership roster at hisaus.org.
• Horseracing Integrity & Welfare Unit (HIWU)

  Anti-Doping and Medication Control enforcement contractor

  Out-of-county

  Subsidiary of Drug Free Sport International. Contracts independent sample collectors, operates the chain-of-custody portal, and runs the results-management workflow. Contractor-empanelment procedure at hiwu.org.
• Keeneland Association (4201 Versailles Road)

  Thoroughbred racetrack

  Institution

  Spring and Fall meets total roughly 33 race days a year. The Director of Operations and Director of Racing are the racetrack-side coordination contacts for HISA and HIWU on-track logistics.
• The Red Mile (1200 Red Mile Road)

  Standardbred and thoroughbred racetrack

  Institution

  Harness meet runs September through November under USTA governance. HISA preemption scope at the standardbred-meet portion remains a verification step against the HISA Covered Horseraces definition.
• Kentucky Horse Racing Commission (KHRC)

  State racing regulator

  Institution

  KRS Chapter 230 statutory authority. Licenses trainers, jockeys, owners, and veterinarians. Retains jurisdiction where HISA does not preempt.
• Racing Medication and Testing Consortium (RMTC)

  Scientific medication-control standards body

  Out-of-county

  Standards-input channel for the pre-HISA regime. Current role under HISA is advisory standards-input.
• UC Davis Maddy Lab, Industrial Laboratories (Colorado), New York Drug Testing and Research Program at Morrisville State, and Pennsylvania Equine Toxicology and Research Center

  Accredited laboratory panel (historical)

  Out-of-county

  Historically named equine-doping testing labs. The current HIWU contracted-lab roster needs confirmation against the published list.
• UK Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory

  Kentucky state-level racing lab (historical)

  Institution

  Historical KHRC state-level lab anchor under the pre-HISA regime. HIWU-designation status under the federal regime needs confirmation.
• Drug Free Sport International

  HIWU parent organization

  Out-of-county

  Kansas City-headquartered anti-doping organization; HIWU is the operating subsidiary.

Primary lane — operator-founder with WADA-style sample-collection credentialing fluency. The founder personally must pass HIWU certification, complete sample-collection-personnel training, and maintain chain-of-custody documentation discipline at the standard required by HIWU and by ADMC adjudication-quality requirements. The lane is service-procedural and credential-gated; market entry is through the HIWU contractor-empanelment portal at hiwu.org.

Secondary lane — a returning-home anti-doping or clinical-trial professional. A Fayette-native former US Anti-Doping Agency contractor, Drug Free Sport collector, NCAA drug-testing contractor, or clinical-trial sample-collection professional with WADA-style chain-of-custody discipline is the strongest cross-credential fit. Equine-industry familiarity (Keeneland-side procurement, KHRC trainer-licensure familiarity) is added value but not the central credential.

Tertiary lane — an existing equine-or-Olympic-anti-doping contractor adding the HISA jurisdiction. A contractor already operating in the WADA-NADO anti-doping surface expanding into HISA's federal equine jurisdiction; bonding, workers' comp, and chain-of-custody software are already in place; the lane addition is HIWU empanelment plus equine-handler training plus Lexington-resident operations.

Strict procedural discipline. The collector's role is procedural execution and documentation, not commentary. NEVER characterize specific individuals, named horses, named trainers, named jockeys, named veterinarians, or named adjudication outcomes. Operational practice must reinforce this discipline at the technician level. Sample-collection work places the contractor in proximity to high-profile racing participants whose adjudications and rulings generate industry press; the contractor's strict procedural role insulates against most defamation exposure but does not insulate against being subpoenaed in adjudication proceedings or civil litigation.

Constitutional-litigation context. HISA has faced multi-circuit constitutional challenges under the private non-delegation doctrine — the 5th Circuit in National Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association v. Black and State of Texas v. Black held portions of HISA's structure unconstitutional; post-2022-amendment proceedings continued through 2023-2024; the 6th Circuit in Oklahoma v. United States and related cases upheld portions of HISA after the 2022 amendments expanded FTC oversight. Whether the Supreme Court grants certiorari to resolve the circuit split, and the outcome of any resolution, is a source-verification verification item against the SCOTUS docket. Referenced here as docket-fact only — no editorial characterization of any party's position.

Senior-reader editorial review gate. This candidate requires senior-reader editorial review before source-verification publication. The review must confirm sourcing strict to hisaus.org, hiwu.org, the federal-court docket, and KHRC published materials; absence of industry-press or advocacy-source citations; neutral procedural framing of regulation-driven volume tied to HISA-jurisdiction racetracks; no characterization of named trainers, veterinarians, jockeys, horses, or adjudication outcomes; and procedural accuracy of HISA + KHRC interaction framing to current 2026 jurisdictional scope.

• — Current HISA Authority leadership and HIWU leadership; the current HIWU contractor-empanelment-application procedure at hisaus.org and hiwu.org.
• — The current HIWU contracted-laboratory roster; UKVDL HIWU-designation status under the federal regime.
• — The HIWU contractor per-event fee schedule and payment cycle; HISA Rule 6000-series selection-set rules.
• — Keeneland Spring 2024 and 2025, Fall 2024 and 2025 published race-day counts and HIWU race-day sampling reports for those meets.
• — Whether The Red Mile's standardbred-meet portion sits inside HISA Covered Horseraces or outside under USTA governance; any 2026 thoroughbred-meet days at The Red Mile.
• — 2026 KHRC race-date allocation and the current Executive Director and Commission roster.
• — Constitutional-litigation status across the 5th Circuit (National Horsemen's BPA v. Black; State of Texas v. Black) and the 6th Circuit (Oklahoma v. United States and related); SCOTUS certiorari docket on HISA questions.
• — The HISA funding-mechanism status, any pending Congressional legislation, and the HIWU-HISA contract renewal cycle.
• — Specialty equine-industry workers' compensation and general liability carrier appetite for sample-collection-contractor risk class.
• — Accredited-courier and air-freight carrier identities for HIWU sample shipping from Kentucky collection to out-of-state laboratories.
• — HIWU certification and training curriculum for sample-collection personnel — duration, fee, and recertification cycle.

Tonight, this week, this month — in that order. Each step produces a yes/no or a number, not a deeper understanding.