January, 2022 | Horse Racing Free Tips

Max Prison Sentence for Vet Rhein

Kristian Rhein, a suspended veterinarian formerly based at Belmont Park who was caught on a wiretap bragging that he sold “assloads” of SGF-1000 to racehorse trainers, was sentenced to three years imprisonment Wednesday after pleading guilty to one felony charge within the federal government's sprawling prosecution of an allegedly years-long conspiracy to dope racehorses.

Judge Mary Kay Vyskocil imposed the maximum-allowable prison term under federal sentencing guidelines Jan. 5 in United States District Court (Southern District of New York).

According to the court order filed in conjunction with his sentencing, Rhein is to report to a to-be-determined prison

Mar. 7. Vyskocil recommended that he serve his term in the medium-security Otisville, New York, facility about 60 miles north of his Long Island residence.

As part of his plea agreement, Rhein also must forfeit to the U.S. the criminally gained proceeds that are directly traceable to his offense, which he agreed totaled $1,021,800. He had previously been ordered to pay at least $671,800 of that amount before or on his sentencing date.

Rhein also must pay $729,716 in restitution to an undisclosed list of victims, the names of whom were filed under seal and thus inaccessible to the general public.

When Rhein spoke in open court back in August to change his plea to “guilty” on one count of drug adulteration and misbranding, he directly implicated five others, most notably co-defendant Jason Servis, the now-barred trainer who was his regular client and allegedly administered purportedly performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs) like SGF-1000 to practically every Thoroughbred under his control.

Rhein, 49, began his veterinary career in 2002 and soon specialized in racehorse treatment. He started a practice at Belmont Park in 2015. In 2017, he partnered to form a bloodstock services company, Empire Thoroughbreds.

Five of 27 defendants named in the original indictment have now been sentenced after pleading guilty to charges in the federal government's prosecution of an alleged “corrupt scheme” to manufacture, mislabel, rebrand, distribute, and administer PEDs to racehorses all across America and in international races. Trials for the remaining defendants, including Servis, are scheduled to commence in 2022, possibly as early as this month.

Scott Robinson, a former veterinarian, was the first to be sentenced in March 2021. In addition to his 18 months in prison, he had to forfeit $3.8 million in profits.

In June, Sarah Izhaki was sentenced to time already served plus three years of supervised release for selling misbranded versions of Epogen.

In September, Scott Mangini, a former pharmacist who had pled guilty to one felony count related to creating custom drugs for racehorses, got sentenced to 18 months in prison. As part of a plea agreement, prosecutors also demanded a forfeiture order from Mangini in the amount of $8.1 million.

In December, the barred trainer Jorge Navarro wept in court after Vyskocil handed down a maximum-allowable sentence of five years imprisonment. Navarro had pled guilty to one count of conspiring with others to administer non-FDA-approved, misbranded and adulterated drugs, including PEDs that Navarro believed would be untestable and undetectable.

Navarro has also been ordered to pay $25.8 million in restitution to the owners, trainers and jockeys he defeated from 2016 to when he was arrested in March 2020. That money–if Navarro ever has the resources to pay it–is to be deposited into an escrow fund that theoretically would get disbursed to racetracks to use in the form of compensatory purses.

Michael Kegley Jr., the former sales director for MediVet Equine, the Kentucky-based company that marketed and sold SGF-1000, will be the next guilty-pleading defendant to be sentenced by Vyskocil, on Jan. 6.

According to court document field by federal prosecutors, Rhein and Kegley worked in tandem to extoll “the performance-enhancing benefits of [SGF-1000] to racehorse trainers.” Like Rhein, Kegley's maximum possible sentence has been calculated to be three years in prison.

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Flavien Prat Talks Flightline, SoCal Dominance On Writers’ Room

Saturday at Santa Anita, Flavien Prat, the perennial leading rider in California, racked up six wins and didn't finish worse than second on any of the day's mounts. It was the third time in the past year that Prat has won a half-dozen races at the Arcadia oval; in the previous 30 years, it only happened twice altogether. With that backdrop, Prat joined the TDN Writers' Room presented by Keeneland Tuesday as the Green Group Guest of the Week to discuss his star turn since coming over from his native France, what it feels like to ride superstar Flightline (Tapit), whether he would consider a move to riding in New York and more.

“He's just a great, great animal,” Prat said of scintillating runaway GI Runhappy Malibu S. winner Flightline. “Really athletic, powerful, he has about everything you want in a runner. It seems like he has stamina as well. It's a pleasure to ride him. I try to enjoy every moment. You never know what the future could bring for him. The sky's the limit.”

Asked if it feels like he's going faster aboard Flightline than other horses, Prat said it's actually the opposite, “because it's like driving a car. When you're driving a good car and you're on the freeway going 80 miles an hour, it feels like you're going slow, right? With good horses, it's pretty much the same because it's so effortless.”

Elsewhere on the show, which is also sponsored by Coolmore, Hill 'n' Dale, Three Chimneys, Lane's End, West Point Thoroughbreds, XBTV, the Kentucky Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders, the Minnesota Thoroughbred Association and Legacy Bloodstock, the writers reacted to the news of USADA not reaching a deal with to handle drug policy and enforcement for the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act, bid a not so pleasant farewell to Jorge Navarro and debated where Flightline stacks up with the great talents of the past 50 years. Click here to watch the podcast; click here for the audio-only version or find it on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

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Letter to the Editor: Remembering Josephine Abercrombie

DR. E.C. 'PUG' HART

When Clifford [Barry]'s number flashed on my screen [Wednesday] I had a gut wrenching feeling because I knew why he was calling. We both lamented that Mrs. A was in a better place and how it was “time.” She was one of a kind, a true horse woman, a philanthropist and all the other superlatives people will be mentioning. But for those of us who were fortunate enough to really know Mrs. A, there has never been, and I doubt there ever will be another one like her. When I listened to Terence Collier talk of her accomplishments at the Pin Oak dispersal last fall, I thought of all the stories I would like to share about Mrs. A, but that would take days and some of them aren't exactly appropriate for this publication.

The first time I met Mrs. A, she and her entourage came to Ocala to buy a stallion that we owned. After a few volleys back and forth with offers, she turned and said “aren't you from Texas?” I replied, “yes, M'am” and she said, “let's go in your office and cut this deal.” In less than five minutes we came out and she bought her first stallion Caller I.D. from me and that was done on a handshake. We sold her another stallion and she had fun with it and then said she wanted a good horse if I ever saw one. A year later I called about a horse I was managing for my longtime owner Morton Rosenthal. She and Clifford flew to Florida and once again–on a handshake–she bought Maria's Mon.

But more enjoyable are the Josephine stories that she loved to share when we got together. Here are just a few:

The time she left her dear friend on the tarmac because he was five minutes late to the plane to go to a dog show. He was running towards the plane and she instructed her pilot to take off as she waved to him. Every time we got together after hearing that story, we made sure we were 15 minutes early to any meeting with Mrs. A.

Then there's the one she enjoyed telling a story about how she was a much better skier than her instructor, but she always followed him down the slopes because she enjoyed the view.

And the tales of her travels all over the world were fascinating to hear. She once offended someone at a dinner party in a foreign country and her father sent the plane to pick her up the next morning. But that was Mrs. A, she was truly a lady, but she did it her way as Frank Sinatra would say (but that's another Mrs. A story better told by her than me).

Then there were all the Thanksgiving dinners in Virginia, the birthday parties in Kentucky and Ocala and all the memories of our visits to Pin Oak.

When Maria's Mon died, we sent Mrs. A ,and Clifford each a champagne flute and I still have her letter thanking me and suggesting that every New Year's Eve we would make a toast to Maria's Mon. Just the other evening we got out the flutes, but this time we raised our glasses to Mrs. A, and to Maria's Mon.

She used to ask me to stop addressing her as Mrs. A ,and just call her Josephine and I would almost always respond, “yes, Mrs. A” and we would laugh.

The last time I walked her up those long winding stairs after a dinner outing, I wondered how many more times I would be in her company.

Susie and I will always be grateful to Mrs. A, and we'll get out those Moët & Chandon flutes again and toast a very special lady.

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Breast Cancer Claims Pioneering New York Horsewoman Suzie O’Cain

Suzie O'Cain, one of the most recognizable faces and unique personalities in the New York Thoroughbred industry, passed away Jan. 4 in Saratoga Springs after a battle with breast cancer.

A former member of the New York Thoroughbred Breeders Inc.'s Board of Directors for more than two decades and one of three Directors Emeriti at the time of her passing, O'Cain and her husband of 40 years, Dr. C. Lynwood “Doc” O'Cain, managed Highcliff Farm in Delanson for 23 years.

“When we were at Highcliff she basically co-managed everything with me,” Doc O'Cain said. “She did all office work, all the advertising, all the stallion promotion, the booking of stallions. She was a big part of the operation and its success.”

Born in Madison, Wis., and raised in Mississippi, Suzie O'Cain attended the University of Mississippi in Oxford and later graduated from Ohio State University in Columbus with a bachelor's degree in education.

“We met in Louisiana and were married in Louisiana,” Doc O'Cain said. “She showed Quarter Horses in Louisiana and knew nothing about Thoroughbreds at all. I did some Thoroughbred veterinary work in Louisiana and when we moved up here she got involved in Thoroughbreds.”

The O'Cains moved to the Northeast in 1985 when Doc O'Cain went to work at Everett and Gustave Schoenborn Sr.'s Schoenborn Brothers Farm in Coxsackie, which stood leading New York stallions Cormorant and Talc. He also worked at Gus Schoenborn Jr.'s Contemporary Stallions, which stood Ends Well, Double Negative and others.

The association with Highcliff started in 1989 and during their time with leading New York owner and breeder Carl Lizza, the O'Cains were heavily involved in his successful Flying Zee Stable breeding and racing programs. The couple continued their involvement in the Empire State's breeding and stallion programs after Lizza's death in July 2011 and managed and marketed stallions under the Saratoga Stallions banner.

Suzie O'Cain served the industry in many capacities, including as a member of the Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation's board of directors from 2003 until this past August. She also served as co-chairwoman of the NYTB's Political Action Committee and chairwoman of the NYTB's Media Committee.

O'Cain also founded Find A Cure Stable to campaign horses to benefit the Breast Cancer Research Foundation. She also hosted a show called “Suzie's Corner” that aired on the New York City OTB and Capital OTB networks where she interviewed prominent women in the Thoroughbred industry and was honored in 2003 at the governor's mansion in Albany during a Women's History Month reception to recognize Pioneering Women of the Capital Region.

“Suzie was a very unique person, a very smart person,” Doc O'Cain said. “And she had the personality to go with it. She could walk into a room and take it over.”

Plans for a memorial service and/or celebration of life, most likely in August at Saratoga Race Course, are pending. Donations can be made in Suzie's name to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation.

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