ITM Telegraph — PTF on the Gramm Case: The Punishment and the Crime, Plus Friday’s Tour Feeder | Wednesday, August 19, 2026

In The Money Telegraph

Wednesday, August 19, 2026 · By ITM Staff

PTF on the Gramm Case: The Punishment and the Crime

Disclosure, in PTF’s words: Marshall Gramm is a good friend, a regular ITM contributor, and Ten Strike Racing was the first commercial sponsor the company ever had. He is not a neutral party and doesn’t pretend to be — but he has tried to report the story the way he would about a stranger, including the parts that make Gramm look bad.

PTF has published a long, careful piece on the HISA case against Marshall Gramm, and it’s built around a distinction worth sitting with. The facts Gramm concedes are damning enough: over roughly four weeks this spring he used his HISA owner login to pull veterinary records for horses he had no connection to, built past performances that included treatment-level detail, and claimed and bet during that same window. PTF doesn’t soften it — he calls the claimed horses the real offense, an unfair edge over everyone else playing the claiming game, and writes that Gramm “did stupid things, the optics are terrible,” and the industry’s anger is legitimate.

And yet, PTF argues, HISA’s response has been disproportionate. The organization is seeking sanctions up to a lifetime ban, restitution, and referrals to the FBI, state commissions, and wagering platforms — over purse money HISA itself pegs at roughly $80,000 to $90,000, and after a settlement for a four-year penalty had nearly been agreed. The heart of PTF’s critique is the gap between a data-handling violation, which Gramm admits, and HISA’s characterization that he concealed his identity and evaded the portal’s security — a hacking framing Gramm flatly denies, saying he used his own account and credentials and bypassed no safeguards. Those two accounts can’t both be right, and PTF makes the case that HISA, which told the industry in June that the leaked data hadn’t come from its portal at all, hasn’t yet shown the proof for the more serious version. His larger question is one every bettor might ask: if this veterinary information is valuable enough that obtaining it warrants a lifetime ban, why can’t the paying public see it in the first place?

It’s reported and sourced — on-the-record voices from an equine attorney, owners, a software developer, and HISA itself — and it resists easy answers on a story the whole sport is arguing about. Hearings are set for September. Read the full piece →

One development after the piece posted: on Tuesday, The Jockey Club said it will take steps to remove Gramm as a member, with its stewards condemning his actions and noting that his membership provided no special access and that the Jockey Club’s own systems were not breached.

Friday’s Tour Feeder: A $20 Shot at the BCBC

Looking ahead to Friday: the ITM Horseplayers Tour has a $20 Pick & Pray feeder into Saturday’s Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge qualifier, with all proceeds benefiting Breeders’ Cup Charities. It’s a simple format — $2 win/place on a single horse per race — and the value is real: one BCBC-qualifier seat awarded for every 10 entries, and the top four finishers also punch through to the ITM Tour Playoffs. Up to three entries per account. Enter on HorsePlayers →

Walk the Shed: Kenny McPeek on Admiralty

JK is back on the shedrow, this week with Kenny McPeek. They talk about Admiralty, the Keeneland Sales grad who won an impressive debut at Saratoga, and McPeek’s long history of unearthing runners at that sale — Curlin and the $35,000 Swiss Skydiver among them. There’s plenty beyond the racing, too, from New Orleans food to the story behind Kenny McPeek Day. Watch below.

More all week at inthemoneypodcast.com and on the ITM YouTube channel, with premium coverage on ITM Plus.