Month: October 2021

Stronach Group Warns About Buzzer Use in Training and Racing

September was a busy month for buzzers.

On Sept. 15, the Monmouth Park board of stewards suspended jockey Tomas Mejia for 10 years and fined him $5,000 for possessing an electrical device–commonly referred to as a “buzzer”–during a race run there Sept. 3.

That same day at Indiana Grand, leading Quarter Horse jockey, Sammy Mendez, was “summarily suspended for actions not in the best interest of racing,” and is awaiting a full hearing before the track's board of stewards. According to the Paulick Report, the suspension is connected to use of an illegal electrical device.

Citing these two cases, The Stronach Group–under its 1/ST moniker–circulated at the end of September a memo among the company's racing offices and veterinarians warning that such devices are “illegal and will not be tolerated” in racing, training or on site at any TSG facility.

“Any exercise rider, jockey or horsemen who is found to be using any type of electrical device on a horse will receive a ban from all 1/ST Racing and Training facilities and be escorted off the premises immediately,” wrote Aidan Butler, the company's chief operating officer.

The memo was subsequently circulated among California horsemen.

Butler explained in the memo that it came about after consultation with the Maryland Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association, the Thoroughbred Owners of California, the California Thoroughbred Trainers, and the Florida Horsemen's Benevolent Protection Association.

“I am asking each of you and your track employees (e.g., outriders, etc.) to be vigilant during training and racing in watching for these devices. If anyone observes horses that are acting unusually such as tail flagging among other behaviors, please follow up with the exercise rider/jockey immediately,” wrote Butler, in the memo. “Enough is enough.”

Stronach Group-owned training and racing facilities include in California Santa Anita, Golden Gate Fields and San Luis Rey Downs. In Florida: Gulfstream Park, Gulfstream Park West and Palm Meadows Training Center. And in Maryland: Laurel Park, Pimlico, Rosecroft Raceway and the Bowie Training Center.

The California Horse Racing Board (CHRB) already prohibits use of electrical devices like buzzers–used to shock horses into going faster–during “recognized” meetings within the state.

Part of the rule for “possession of contraband” states: “No person shall have in his possession on the premises during any recognized meeting any electrical stimulating or shocking device commonly known as a battery, or any mechanical stimulating device, or any other appliance, which might affect the speed or actions of a horse.”

According to CHRB spokesperson Mike Marten, in roughly 40 years no jockey in California has been found guilty of actually using an electronic device in a race. Rather, relevant cases have related to possession–or suspected possession–of such a device.

On Wednesday, the TDN asked the CHRB for any recent rulings against license holders believed to have contravened that rule.

“To the best of our knowledge,” the following is accurate, said Marten, who explained that it isn't a comprehensive overview of such cases due to the time given to compile the list and the accuracy of agency records.

The agency's database shows that jockey Carlos Bautista was suspended for one year–between July of 2007 and July of 2008–having been suspected of possessing an electronic device at Fairplex Park in September of 2006.

Pony person Jose Barajas was summarily suspended having failed to appear before the board of stewards at Golden Gate Fields in November of 2012, having been suspected of possessing electronic “contraband.”

In 2018, jockey/valet Pablo Fernandez-Macias was summarily suspended–and his case referred to the CHRB–having failed to appear before the board of stewards at the Los Angeles County Fair Meet at Los Alamitos, again for alleged “possession of contraband.”

On or around Mar. 1 of last year, jockey Cesar Franco was summarily suspended after a buzzer was found in his car at Los Alamitos.

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Legendary Handicapper, Turf Writer Steve Crist Joins Writers’ Room

Revolutionary handicapper and racing writer Steve Crist has been out of a public eye after retiring five years ago, but still has as much passion and enthusiasm for racing as he's ever had, and Wednesday morning, he joined the TDN Writers' Room presented by Keeneland for an expansive discussion on a variety of industry issues. Calling in via Zoom as the Green Group Guest of the Week, Crist discussed his increasing involvement in the game from an ownership standpoint, racing's progress on detecting and punishing cheaters, the Bob Baffert saga of 2021 and much more.

Asked for his reaction to the FBI indictments of Jason Servis and Jorge Navarro and the potential enactment of the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act, Crist said, “The Servis/Navarro stuff, I think every horseplayer knew that these guys were cheating. This was not exactly something you were shocked to learn; you knew what these guys were doing, with the routine form reversals and the accompanying floods of money on their horses. I'm delighted that racing finally went after actual cheaters, instead of continuing to dither about Lasix and accusing every prominent trainer who wins at 25% of cheating. These are two different things, and I hate to see racing having wasted so much time on issues like Lasix instead of going after real cheaters.”

Crist mainly spent his career as a horseplayer and writer, but now owns a handful of horses, and spoke about how that's changed his perspective on the game.

“I've got to say, it's been more fun than I expected,” he said. “It really is. There's a different kind of enjoyment and a different kind of rooting that goes on when it's your horses, I've thoroughly enjoyed that part of it. But I've also had my eyes even more opened to the fact that it's so difficult for people to stay in this game now. Unless you're a plutocrat or a super trainer, this industry had become very, very hard to make a living in. Our trainer, Phil Gleaves, retired at the end of the Saratoga meeting, in part because it's just so hard to make a go of it as a small stable these days. Hiring help, dealing with workman's comp, and all these other issues have made it really hard for smaller trainers to stay in business. That's not a healthy thing long term for the game. And I don't think we want to end up with 10 super stables and no small outfits in American racing. That's not going to be good.”

Elsewhere on the show, which is also sponsored by West Point Thoroughbreds, Legacy Bloodstock and Woodford Thoroughbreds, Joe Bianca and Bill Finley broke down the ramifications of Bob Baffert's loss in court Tuesday, reacted to the strong handle numbers thus far for 2021 and applauded Gulfstream for its suspensions of trainers for clenbuterol use. Click here to watch the podcast; click here for the audio-only version of find it on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

The post Legendary Handicapper, Turf Writer Steve Crist Joins Writers’ Room appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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Jordan Fishman Enters Guilty Plea To Drug Adulteration And Misbranding In Federal Case

In a hearing before U.S. District Judge Mary Kay Vyskocil on Oct. 6, Jordan Fishman changed his plea from “not guilty” to “guilty” to one count of drug adulteration and misbranding in the March 2020 federal case that saw over two dozen trainers, veterinarians and others charged in connection with a racehorse doping ring.

Fishman, 63, said he is of no relation to veterinarian Dr. Seth Fishman, who is also under indictment and with whom he had a working relationship. Jordan Fishman said he has a PhD in carcinogenesis and toxicology.

According to his testimony on Oct. 6, Fishman said from 2017 to March 2020 he formulated misbranded and adulterated drugs per Seth Fishman's instructions. Seth Fishman provided the materials and the instructions, he said, and Jordan Fishman followed the instructions to compound what he said were vitamins, amino acids, nutraceuticals, steroids and anti-inflammatory drugs. Jordan Fishman admitted he shipped the finished products to Seth Fishman's base in Florida and sometimes overseas, although he did not specify where. (Seth Fishman is known to have business contacts in the United Arab Emirates, according to documents filed in court.) These products, he said, were sent to Seth Fishman in unlabeled containers as he said Seth preferred to handle the labelling himself.

Jordan Fishman said the products were distributed by Seth Fishman through his company called Equestology. He said he did not know initially that the products he made were specifically destined for Thoroughbred racehorses, although he did know that Seth Fishman's business involved racehorses.

Prosecutors revealed that had the case gone to trial, they would have presented wiretap evidence from Seth Fishman's phone, evidence from a Dropbox account used to store documents related to Equestology, as well as emails exchanged between the two men which acknowledged investigative interest in their activities from the Food and Drug Administration.

Jordan Fishman was based in Massachusetts, where he was president and majority shareholder in Twenty First Century Biochemicals. The company specialized in the production of customized “peptides and amino acids” according to documents filed in a civil suit by Seth Fishman against Jordan Fishman and Twenty First Century Biochemicals. In that suit, which was filed two months after the federal indictments, Seth Fishman accused Jordan Fishman of falsely inflating the value of stock in Twenty First Century, and of failing to repay loans or complete pre-paid work. That suit, filed in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, indicated that Seth Fishman had paid at least $1.25 million to Jordan Fishman's company since the start of their partnership in 2011. That case settled out of court in January 2021.

Jordan Fishman will face sentencing in February 2022. Per statute, the maximum prison sentence he may face is three years with up to one year of supervised release. Financial penalties by statute could include a fine of $10,000, twice the financial gain to Fishman or twice the cost to victims, whichever amount is greatest. Attorneys indicated that they have an agreement in place with Fishman that they will seek no more than 12 to 18 months in federal prison and a fine between $5,500 and $55,000, although that agreement does not bind the judge to confine her sentencing to those terms.

The post Jordan Fishman Enters Guilty Plea To Drug Adulteration And Misbranding In Federal Case appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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