Regulators who oversee New Mexico's horse racing industry are grappling with a significant enforcement backlog after adopting tougher sanctions and boosting testing for illicit drugs.
Racing Commission Director Vince Mares told members of the Legislative Finance Committee on Tuesday it could take until mid-2016 for the panel to clear its backlog of cases against owners and trainers accused of violating state racing and doping rules.
Mares says the bottleneck comes when cases are challenged in court, a process that can take a year.
Defendants often win the right to keep racing while the findings are appealed. Racing officials say that has created a perception that the state isn't doing anything to crack down on cheaters.
Commission and court data show there were 500 drug violations since 2012.
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