Industry pundits have been predicting the demise of horse racing betting for years. However, while the number of overall race days has been trending down, the arguably more important metrics of purse sizes and total betting handle are increasing.
Month: January 2022
‘Of Course, It’s Doping’: Fishman Trials Focuses On Wiretaps, FDA Expert
The jury in the federal horse-doping trial of Seth Fishman on Tuesday, Jan. 25, heard a portion of a Federal Bureau of Investigation wiretap in which the veterinarian discusses whether the drugs he sold to horse trainers involved doping.
On the call with Fishman was an unidentified individual who wants to know more about the drugs.
“But it's not doping, yeah?” that person asks, according to a transcript of the April 5, 2019, intercepted call.
“Of course, it's doping. The question is, is it testable doping?” Fishman responds according to a transcript.
“Ah test,” says the individual.
“No, no, no, what I'm trying to say is, any time you give something to a horse, that's doping,” Fishman responds. “Whether or not they test for it is another story. This is stuff people are using all the time, so no, they're not testing for it. You know, but don't kid yourself. If you're giving something to a horse to make it better and you're not supposed to do that.”
“Yeah sure,” the individual says.
“That's doping,” Fishman says in response. “You know, whether or not it's testable, that's a different story.”
The conversation began with Fishman asking the caller about his plans to purchase more “stuff.”
Fishman then says, “You know, I have people that set world records using stuff, and then their competition uses the same stuff and the horse doesn't even show up to the track.”
The wiretap was played in court on the fifth day of the trial as testimony resumed after a day's interruption. On Jan. 24, Judge Mary Kay Vyskocil declared a mistrial in the case of Fishman co-defendant Lisa Giannelli. Giannelli's attorney tested positive for COVID-19 before court on Monday, warranting the mistrial.
As the day began Tuesday, Vyskocil announced a ruling rejecting a motion for a mistrial by Fishman's attorneys. They moved for a mistrial because of the positive COVID-19 test they believed upset the flow of the trial and because of remarks the attorney for Giannelli made during openings statements last week that they said could prejudice the jury against their client.
That attorney, Louis Fasulo, had described his client as the “proverbial sheep” to Fishman's “sheep master.”
Vyskocil countered that Fishman had not been prejudiced. “Dr. Fishman has received a fair trial so far and will continue to receive a fair trial,” Vyskocil said.
Fishman was one of more than two dozen members of the horse racing community charged in sweeping indictments in March 2020 with conspiring to dope horses at race tracks across the country with illicit performance-enhancing drugs that wouldn't show up in post-race testing. Those charged included top trainers Jason Servis, who awaits trial, and Jorge Navarro, who pleaded guilty to conspiring with others to dope horses and was sentenced to five years in prison.
Fishman is charged with two counts of conspiring to violate drug adulteration and misbranding laws. He faces a maximum of 15 years in prison if convicted.
As part of their case, prosecutors allege Fishman accepted tens of thousands of dollars from Navarro in exchange for untestable drugs.
On Tuesday, prosecutors called Dr. Jean Bowman, veterinary medical officer in the division of surveillance for the FDA, as a government expert witness.
During her testimony, prosecutor Sarah Mortazavi introduced into evidence photos taken on the day of Navarro's arrest in 2020 that showed him in possession at his Florida home of four alleged PEDs that came from Fishman.
Mortazavi drilled down on those drugs, named BB3. The indictment described BB3 as a customized “blood building” PED that when combined with intense physical exertion thicken a horse's blood. A horse doped with BB3 ran the risk of a heart attack, the indictment said.
The photo of BB3 seized by the FBI from the Navarro residence shows only the product's name on the bottle.
Bowman testified that BB3 had not been approved by the FDA and that she could find no studies in an FDA database about BB3 and its effectiveness and safety to horses.
Bowman also told the jury that the label on the BB3 bottle should have contained more information to pass muster with the FDA. She said the label should have contained the name of the prescribing veterinarian, how and when it should be administered, the identity of the manufacturer, and what precautions should be taken before administering it.
The doctor testified that BB3 and the other drugs Fishman sold should only be prescribed after a physical examination of the animal.
Prosecutors contend Fishman never did that before shipping his PEDs to buyers.
At one point during questioning, Mortazavi had Bowman read from an email Fishman sent to Giannelli on Jan. 5, 2019, that contained a list of drugs available from Fishman's South Florida business Equestology.
“BB3: would only let trusted clients have this,” Bowman quoted the email as saying.
Fishman's lawyers Maurice Sercarz and Marc Fernich will have an opportunity to cross-examine the FDA expert when the trial resumes Jan. 26.
The Thoroughbred industry's leading publications are working together to cover this key trial.
The post ‘Of Course, It’s Doping’: Fishman Trials Focuses On Wiretaps, FDA Expert appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.
Baffert/NYRA Hearing, Day 2: Social License To Operate, Ethics Of Therapeutic Drugs Debated
The hearing to determine whether the New York Racing Association will be permitted to exclude Hall of Famer trainer Bob Baffert continued through its second day of testimony Jan. 25 with testimony from witnesses on behalf of the racing association.
Tuesday's proceedings were taken up with the remainder of cross-examination of Rick Goodell, an attorney who has represented the New York State Gaming Commission, as well as testimony from Dr. Pierre-Louis Toutain, veterinary pharmacologist, Dr. Camie Heleski, senior lecturer for the University of Kentucky, and Jeffrey Cannizzo, senior director of government affairs for NYRA.
Here are a few of the highlights:
- Justice O. Peter Sherwood, who is serving as hearing officer for the proceedings, grew testy at times Tuesday with Baffert's legal team. Cross examination of Goodell resulted in Baffert attorney Clark Brewster asking repeatedly about New York's threshold levels and whether a test under those levels would result in a positive (in New York it might, if the commission has other evidence a medication was given outside of the permitted timeframe). Sherwood also shut down one of Brewster's lines of questioning of Cannizzo, which was focused on the lack of conflict of interest rules for NYRA board members. Brewster seemed focused on the fact that the New York State Gaming Commission does not permit board members or employees to have active ownership interests in racing, while many NYRA board members do. Sherwood reminded Brewster that in his view, previous rulings from U.S. District Judge Carol Bagley Amon have established that NYRA has the legal authority, based on precedence from a 1982 case before the New York State Supreme Court, to rule a trainer off, and that this point is not considered up for debate.
“What I'm saying now, I've told you before,” Sherwood said to Brewster. “I've cited the case Judge Amon cited. I've cited it in written opinions. I've told you that at this hearing but for some reason or another, you're ignoring it.”
Brewster repeatedly thanked Sherwood for putting his feelings about that legal authority into the record.
- Toutain was asked to testify to the potential welfare and performance implications of the drugs for which Baffert horses have tested positive since 2019. Toutain resides in France, and is a distance professor for the University of London's Royal Veterinary College.Toutain was asked about phenylbutazone, and whether it's appropriate to use in the course of training horses.
“No,” said Toutain. “The appropriate use is to suppress the pain for horses and not get the horse to compete with an underlying condition. When you treat horses with phenylbutazone, normally you have to stop on the horse.”
Toutain also asserted that the use of bute could increase the risk of injury “because you are masking underlying conditions that can be severe. The purpose of phenylbutazone is to help the horse, not to mask any injuries.”
Toutain agreed that bute, lidocaine, and betamethasone would not enhance a healthy horse's maximum athletic effort, but were instead potentially problematic because of what they could be hiding.
As to corticosteroids like betamethasone, Toutain cited research stating that horses who were treated with corticosteroids had four times greater risk of catastrophic injury, although it was not clear when those administrations occurred in relationship to the injuries or what doses were used. Toutain also pointed out that a finding in blood of a corticosteroid at a low level does not presuppose the origin of the corticosteroid. A low systemic level of the drug could mean it was given intravenously some time before, or it could have emerged as a result of an intra-articular administration. In cases when a corticosteroid is injected into a joint, low levels of the drug will eventually be found circulating in the body but the concentration will always be much higher in the joint that took the injection.
“Just because you detect nothing in the blood does not mean there is nothing in the joint,” he said.
- Toutain admitted his field of expertise was pharmacology and not regulation. Although he has been consulted in the construction of regulation for international racing, that is not his primary occupation.
- As to lidocaine, Toutain said there is a relatively low threshold for its use because the drug spikes in the blood quickly and dissipates quickly. It likely has maximum effect somewhere in the first hour of an administration, but Toutain said it's often regulated in such a way to prevent administration within 24 hours of a race.
- Heleski testified primarily about the social license to operate, a concept that applies to many industries beyond animal sports. Heleski explained that the phrase refers to social or public acceptance which grants permission for an organization to conduct a given activity. This concept has been used in the past to apply to the mining and forestry industries, and has been applied in recent years to equine activities, including horse racing.
Heleski said that in order to tolerate a given equine sport, the public needs to feel the animals are treated appropriately, and that there is accountability and transparency present in the sport. Attorneys for NYRA asked Heleski about the many headlines in mainstream news media which have dogged Baffert in recent years, as well as the Saturday Night Live skit which poked fun at his interview tour after he announced the betamethasone overage for Medina Spirit. These things, she said, could impact the sport's social license to operate.
“Many people will talk about the issue of drugs and medications and they have a big concern,” she said. “They don't necessarily go into the nuance of levels. Most of the time, they feel like if there was a drug or medication noted, it's bad. They put it all under the umbrella of doping.
“If someone is so well known in a certain sport or industry that even the casual racing fan can identify them, they're more likely to make an impact when some news takes place.”
Baffert's attorneys asked Heleski whether it was Baffert's fault that the general public does not grasp the difference between various therapeutic medications. Attorney W. Craig Robertson also questioned the validity of the concept of the social license to operate, since he said it is not an actual, physical license given out by a central authority and seems an amorphous concept.
- Heleski pointed to several key problematic areas in racing which she believes detract from the sport's social license to operate — equine deaths, whip use, medication problems, and aftercare. On cross examination, NYRA attorneys pointed out to Heleski that Baffert has had more than 70 horses die in his care since launching his training career.
Following the day's proceedings, a representative of Trident DMG distributed the following statement to media on behalf of Baffert's legal team. According to its website, Trident is a strategic communications, public relations, and crisis management firm. The statement is attributed to Brewster.
“By jumping to false conclusions and ignoring the facts, NYRA is fueling a bandwagon smear campaign against Mr. Baffert for its own private, competitive purposes – an effort that threatens the integrity of the entire industry. Here are five undisputed facts that support why Mr. Baffert's suspension by NYRA should be overturned immediately:
- The New York Gaming Commission is the exclusive and only regulatory agency for horse racing oversight in the State of New York. NYRA has no seat at the table for regulating racing.
- NYRA's Board is conflicted, comprised of horse owners that directly compete with Mr. Baffert. No wonder they want him banned from New York racing – his horses beat theirs.
- The basis for NYRA's attack is to import rulings from other racing venues about the permissible use of medications that are for therapeutic purposes. Not one racing regulatory agency found grounds to suspend or take action against Mr. Baffert for any of the therapeutic medication threshold overages.
- Of the top 14 thoroughbred horse trainers in New York State, nearly all have had more medical violations than Mr. Baffert has been accused of and not one has been suspended by NYRA, nor has NYRA even attempted to suspend them. In fact, not one of the allegations against Mr. Baffert relates to a single New York racetrack rule violation, and Mr. Baffert has never had a reported medication positive in the state in his 25-plus years of racing.”
The hearing continues at 9:30 a.m. on Jan. 26. Read our reporting from Day 1 here.
The post Baffert/NYRA Hearing, Day 2: Social License To Operate, Ethics Of Therapeutic Drugs Debated appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.
Gun Runner Filly Tops OBS Winter Mixed Sale’s Consignor Preferred Session
Hip No. 86, consigned by Get Away Farm, Agent, went to Breeze Easy LLC, Mike Hall for $275,000 to top the Consignor Preferred Session on the first day of the Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's 2022 Winter Mixed Sale.
The yearling bay filly by Gun Runner, is out of Homemade Mo Nae, by Uncle Mo, a half-sister to graded stakes winner Conquest Two Step. Click here to view her walking video.
Hip No. 180, a bay son of Laoban consigned by McMahon of Saratoga Thoroughbreds LLC, Agent, was purchased by Reeves Thoroughbred Racing for $160,000. He's out of Steve's Philly by Tale of Ekati, and is a full-brother to current stakes winner Yo Cuz.
Hip No. 25, a yearling by Maclean's Music, went to Woodford Thoroughbreds for $150,000. Consigned by Silver Oaks Farm (Danielle Loya), Agent, the dark bay or brown filly is out of stakes-placed Beauty for Ashes and is a half-sister to graded stakes-placed Beautiful Shot.
Woodford Thoroughbreds also paid $130,000 for Hip No. 112, a bay filly by Mitole consigned by Summerfield (Francis & Barbara Vanlangendonck), Agent. She's out of stakes winner Lunarlady, by Yes It's True, and is a half-sister to the dam of graded stakes-placed Whateverybodywants.
Summerfield also consigned Hip 133, a bay filly by Vino Rosso out of graded stakes placed Peisinoe, and is a half-sister to graded stakes placed Proverb. She was purchased by Bach Stables, LLC for $110,000.
Hip No. 122, a son of Audible consigned by Beth Bayer, Agent, was sold to First Finds for $100,000. The bay yearling colt is out of Mom's Deputy, by War Chant, and is a half-sister to graded stakes winner Mom's On Strike.
Hip No. 33, consigned by Abbie Road Farm (Lisa McGreevy), Agent, was sold to Woodford Thoroughbreds for $65,000. The dark bay or brown filly by Mo Town is out of Can't Steal My Joy, by Exclusive Quality, from the immediate family of Kentucky Oaks winner Shedaresthedevil.
The top broodmare of the day went to H & E Ranch for $57,000. Hip 40, Sierra Aleone, a dark bay or brown mare by Gemologist, is a stakes placed winner and sold in foal to Spun To Run.
Hip No. 253, Freedom Speaks, a daughter of American Freedom consigned by Best A Luck Farm LLC, Agent was sold to Reitman Stables LLC for $145,000 to top the Horses of Racing Age session.
The 3-year-old gray filly, whose three-eighths in :31 2/5 seconds was fastest at the distance at the Under Tack Show, is out of the Macho Uno mare Wicked Speed, a half-sister to Horse of the Year Fatal Bullet.
Hip No. 268, Sonic Thrust, consigned by Grassroots Training & Sales LLC, was sold to Emerald Sales, Agent for Michael Eiserman for $70,000. The 4-year-old bay colt by Twirling Candy, who breezed three eighths in :31 4/5 seconds at the Under Tack Show, is out of Broad Sound, by Broad Brush, and is a half-brother to stakes placed Brimstone Island.
For the Consignor Preferred session, 143 horses sold for a total of $3,074,300, compared with 99 horses grossing $1,896,300 in 2021. The average price was $21,499 compared with $19,155 a year ago, while the median price was $10,000 compared with $10,100 last year. The buyback percentage was 16.4 percent; it was 30.3 percent last year.
For the Horses of Racing Age session, 73 horses grossed $1,211,700 compared with 73 selling for a total of $1,692,500 in 2021. The average was $16,599, compared to $23,185 a year ago, while the median price was $11,000. It was $13,000 last year. The buyback percentage was 18.9 percent; it was 12 percent in 2021.
The Winter Mixed Sale continues Wednesday at 11 a.m. with Hip No.'s 401 – 649 in the Open Session.
The post Gun Runner Filly Tops OBS Winter Mixed Sale’s Consignor Preferred Session appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.
