Education + Examinations + Experience = Accreditation
To become accredited, the applicant must:
#1 Attend the required educational component of the Racing Officials Accreditation Program as specified for type of accreditation
- Flat Racing
All persons must attend the 60-hour accreditation school - Harness Racing
All persons must attend the 60-hour accreditation school
- National Steeplechase Association
Attend a three day NSA accreditation school.
#2 Pass all required sections of the examination
Harness and Flat:
The five exam sections consist of:
- an oral exam
- a film analysis exam
- a written exam comprised of three sections
- medication and drug testing
- legal and regulatory issues in racing
- general rules and regulations.
A person failing any section of the examination may retake that section a maximum of two times. If the examination is not successfully passed after the requisite retakes, the individual must retake the portion of the school related to the failed exam. Only the failed examination will need to be retaken.
All retakes must be taken within one year of notification of final exam results.
Failure to do so, the individual must attend the portion of the school related to the failed exam(s) again prior to attempting the series of retakes again. (Effective January 1, 2017)
National Steeplechase Association
- All persons must attend 24 hour accreditation school.
- Pass all required exams: pre-school essay, oral/video (mock hearing), written (open book).
- The oral/video exam takes place during the school while the written exam is held 3-6 weeks after the school is concluded.
#3 Possess the required amount of experience in the racing industry
Applicants for racing official, steward and judge accreditation may participate in an accreditation course and complete examinations before or after acquiring the racing experience required for accreditation. Experience can be obtained through employment or shadowing of an official. Days credited for shadowing an official can only account for a maximum of 10% of the required days needed to achieve the base level (Accreditation Level III) status. Shadowing days cannot be used for Level II or I accreditation status. Click here to download Shadow Forms. All experience forms must be approved by a supervisor.
All experience will be reviewed by the education committee prior to accreditation
Experience must be accrued by the end of the 10th year of completing the accreditation school.
*Policy updated 7/6/2015 to take affect January 1, 2016 regarding experience accrual
*Policy updated 6/29/2016 to take affect January 1, 2017 regarding retakes within a year
*Policy updated 12/14/2017 to take affect January 1, 2018 regarding retake protocol