Thoroughbred racing got a set of ground rules Wednesday, a series of sweeping safety and integrity reforms that will be monitored by former Wisconsin Gov. Tommy Thompson.

The initiatives call for a ban on steroids, uniform medication rules for each racing state, guidelines for injury reporting and prevention, improved safety rules and research and care for retired racehorses.

“I will be issuing a report card on a periodic basis,” Thompson said at a news conference introducing him as the independent counsel for the new Safety and Integrity Alliance. “Hopefully they’re going to get A’s, but if they don’t, if they get F’s, I’m going to report them.”

The alliance consists of 54 racetracks in 22 states and Canada, including Churchill Downs, Santa Anita and New York tracks Aqueduct, Belmont and Saratoga, as well as most major horsemen’s organizations.

Alex Waldrop, president of the National Thoroughbred Racing Association, which brought together the alliance, said the initiatives are the “broadest and most comprehensive safety and integrity reforms in the history of racing.”

The reforms come at a time when thoroughbred racing is under pressure to create safer conditions for horses and jockeys. Scrutiny grew after the death of Eight Belles at the end of the Kentucky Derby and the admission by trainer Rick Dutrow that his Derby and Preakness winner Big Brown raced on steroids, a practice that was legal at the time.

“Clearly, that tragic accident was a major precipitator for people to take a very hard look at this,” Waldrop said. “But, in reality, many of the reforms were set in motion years before that happened.”

The initiatives are not new, but there’s been a missing ingredient.

“Lots of good ideas and not enough action,” Waldrop said. “That’s the reason for the alliance _ to take the good ideas that are out and make sure they become a reality in this industry.”

With no regulatory or enforcement power, the NTRA will use a certification/accreditation approach to monitor compliance.

“The market will reward those tracks and those horsemen who step up and do the right thing by horses and by humans and that’s what this is intended to do,” Waldrop said. “Like education and health care, certification means something and lack of certification means you are lacking in some fundamental aspect of the business and you will lose business as a consequence.”

Thompson, also a former U.S. secretary of Health and Human Services from 2001-2005, was raised on a dairy farm in Wisconsin and has been around horses most of his life. His one connection to thoroughbred racing got him to the Kentucky Derby in 2006 _ he was a co-owner of Flashy Bull, who finished 14th behind Barbaro.

“I am here to do something very important, that I feel very passionate about and that is making thoroughbred racing the best that it can possibly be,” he said.

Robert Elliston, the NTRA’s executive chairman who operates Turfway Park in Florence, Ky., said the death of Eight Belles will have a lasting benefit because it “caused the fans to stand up and speak in a unified way and the industry responded in a unified way.

“And if we don’t implement these measures at our track, I don’t think fans are going to support our product,” he added. “These are absolutely morally the right things to do. With the independence the governor is providing, I think the fan base can be assured that those who are doing it are doing it right.”

The NTRA is a coalition of interests featuring leading tracks, owners, breeders, trainers and racing associations.

The announcements come a day after New York racing toughened its stance on steroids and joined Kentucky, Maryland and other states in setting strict limits on use of the drug. Horses running in the 2009 Triple Crown races _ the Derby, Preakness and Belmont Stakes _ will be tested for steroids. Also, there will be drug testing, including for steroids, at the Breeders’ Cup at Santa Anita on Oct. 24-25.