Robin Goodfellow’s racing tips: Best bets for Tuesday, December 13
Sportsmail's racing expert Robin Goodfellow delivers his tips for Tuesday's meetings at Southwell and Wolverhampton.
Month: December 2022
Garcia, Navarro’s Florida Vet, to Serve 10 Months in Prison
Erica Garcia, a 44-year-old, Florida-based racetrack veterinarian who admitted to injecting purported performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs) into horses trained by the now-imprisoned trainer Jorge Navarro over a several-year period in the 2010s decade, was sentenced Monday to two terms of 10 months in prison, which the judge will allow her to serve concurrently.
The sentence was the result of a plea agreement with federal prosecutors that dropped one felony charge of distributing misbranded and adulterated drugs in exchange for Garcia admitting her guilt in two “substantive” misdemeanor violations of Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act regulations.
Judge Mary Kay Vyskocil of United States District Court (Southern District of New York) also fined Garcia $2,000 and ruled that she must be under supervised release for a year after getting out of prison.
Garcia's sentence falls on the lighter side of those meted out to most other convicted defendants in the wide-ranging international racehorse doping scandal that first came to light in March 2020.
Navarro himself, for example, is serving five years in prison, and other convicted veterinarians in the case got sentences between three and 11 years.
Prosecutors had argued for a two-year prison term, the maximum sentence under federal guidelines for those crimes.
Garcia had argued for a sentence of probation only, urging the court to take into account that she is the primary caretaker and sole provider for an 11-year-old daughter.
In part, the comparatively lenient sentence was based on the feds being willing to cut Garcia a plea break because she withdrew from the Navarro conspiracy in April 2019 after “supporting her employee's decision to report a sick [Navarro-trained] horse to regulatory authorities as required by law,” prosecutors wrote in a sentencing submission.
“In hindsight, I realize how stupid and careless I was,” Garcia wrote in her own sentencing submission. “I don't blame Jorge or anyone else for what has happened to me. I take full responsibility for my actions and continue to pay the ultimate price.”
But the feds stated that even though Garcia stopped working for Navarro about a year before the sweeping series of arrests and indictments, she still had to be punished for injecting the purported PEDs, some of which prosecutors said she had no idea what they were or what their supposed medical value was.
“Garcia injected horses with adulterated and misbranded drugs at Navarro's request, for the purpose of facilitating Navarro's corrupt goals of improperly doping horses to compel them to race beyond their natural abilities,” the federal sentencing submission stated.
“Even after withdrawing from the Navarro conspiracy, Garcia offered for sale and sold adulterated and misbranded drugs to others for further distribution and administration,” the government wrote.
“Garcia, as a veterinarian, provided cover for her crimes by giving the appearance that her use of medications was legal and medically necessary. By doing so, Garcia exploited the deference typically afforded to licensed veterinarians and abdicated her duty of care to the horses,” the feds stated.
“Those crimes involved Garcia's participation in a years-long scheme to administer unnecessary and potentially dangerous drugs to racehorses. Those drugs included: (1) a drug described as a blood builder, 'Monkey'; (2) a drug advertised as containing growth factors and further described as having performance-enhancing effect on horses, SGF-1000; (3) a drug from an unknown manufacturer with unknown ingredients that Garcia agreed to inject into horses' joints, called 'red acid' [and] (4) a compounded bronchodilator intended to be even more potent than Clenbuterol,” the feds stated.
“At the time Garcia agreed to administer these drugs–and during the course of the offense conduct–Garcia believed these drugs to have performance-enhancing effects, and was otherwise ignorant of their precise ingredients and how they were manufactured,” the feds summed up.
In open court in August 2021, Navarro admitted to administering illicit substances to the stakes stars of his stable, specifically citing X Y Jet, War Story, Shancelot and Sharp Azteca as examples.
The feds had been prepared to present as evidence at a trial that Garcia, in at least one wiretapped phone conversation, was the one who stuck a needle into Shancelot to send “Monkey” coursing through his system three days before the colt's racing debut.
On Feb. 13, 2019, the feds stated, Navarro raised the issue of Shancelot with Garcia and asked if she would “grease the monkey.”
Garcia responded, “Got it.”
Navarro then confirmed whether Garcia “ha[d] enough monkey,” prompting Garcia to check. “Uh, I think I have, I don't know if I have two shots. It will be damn close. Let me see. Yeah, yeah, I do.”
On Feb. 16, 2019, Shancelot would win his career debut at 12-1 odds at Gulfstream Park.
The improbably fast sprinter would win his next two starts, too, including unleashing a massive 121 Beyer Sped Figure in a 12 1/2-length romp in a Saratoga Race Course Grade II stakes.
Shancelot's jaw-dropping speed figure represented the highest Beyer by any 3-year-old sprinter in the three-decade published history of those numbers.
“To Dr. Garcia's knowledge, none of the horses she treated were harmed or suffered any ill effects,” her attorney wrote in the sentencing submission. “But of course this does not justify her behavior. She understands the very real health risks of giving unlabeled and non-FDA approved substances to animals.”
Garcia's lawyer also told the judge in the sentencing submission that even while being caught up in the doping scandal, Garcia has rebuilt her career as her court case played out, transforming from a racehorse practitioner to a small-animal veterinarian in Florida.
Garcia's attorney wrote that, “She is a force for good in her community where she runs a low-cost spay and neuter program and is among a handful of doctors able to treat exotic pets and perform surgery on goats and other farm animals.”
Vyskocil's order stated that, “The Court recommends the defendant be housed in the Fort Lauderdale area to facilitate family visits.”
Once the Bureau of Prisons designates her facility, Garcia is to report on Mar. 20, 2023.
The post Garcia, Navarro’s Florida Vet, to Serve 10 Months in Prison appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.
Trainer, Clocker Stunned as NYSGC Rejects Advice of from Hearing Appeal Officers
by T.D. Thornton & Bill Finley
The New York State Gaming Commission (NYSGC) on Monday adjudicated two unrelated penalty appeals by a clocker and a trainer by flat-out rejecting two separate hearing officers' recommendations that those cases be dismissed without penalization.
In both instances, the commissioners voted unanimously to impose the original penalties that had been handed down by Braulio Baeza, Jr., the NYSGC state steward at the three New York Racing Association (NYRA) tracks.
Monday's vote means trainer Orlando Noda now must pay a fine of $5,000, serve a 90-day suspension, and complete an anger management course prior to being reinstated for “for striking a horse excessively while working the horse out at Saratoga Race Course on Aug. 5, 2021,” according to the NYSGC.
And Richard Gazer, a longtime NYRA clocker, has been fined $2,500 and suspended 30 days “for altering a published work of a horse to make the horse eligible to race,” the NYSGC ruled.
The outright rejections of the officers' combined days of conducting the hearings and their months spent writing up the reports is somewhat unusual. But in a number of jurisdictions, racing commissioners are not bound to accept the opinions of the officers they hire to hear appeals.
Drew Mollica, who represents Noda, told TDN in a phone interview he was stunned by the NYSGC's decision.
“This is crazy. I was just telling my colleagues, 'I win, but I lose,'” Mollica said.
“This is madness. The hearing officer is the one who heard the evidence. On what basis, what evidence, did the commission use to overturn the hearing officer's recommendation?” Mollica asked rhetorically.
Noda, who has been training since 2019, is also licensed as an exercise rider.
In his reading into the record of the decision, NYSGC chairman Brian O'Dwyer said that, “The commission duly deliberated and considered this matter, and determined by a 6-0 vote to reject the hearing officer's report and recommendations. In doing that, commissioners reviewed the entire record, and established by a preponderance of evidence that Noda's conduct was improper and detrimental to the best interest of racing, and determined that the appropriate penalty was that which was given by the stewards.”
Mollica said he will confer with Noda about using “every legal remedy at his disposal” to fight the commission's order, “because the hearing officer vindicated him and found that he did nothing wrong.”
Gazer's penalty stems from a May 19, 2022, ruling in which the commission stated he “alter[ed] a horse's workout time while training at Belmont Park.”
The horse in question, Papi On Ice (Keen Ice), was initially credited with a five-furlong work in 1:04.60. The work was later changed to a half-mile in :51.33.
Because Papi On Ice had been beaten more than 25 lengths in a previous start, that result triggered a precautionary placement on NYRA's “poor performance” list. In order to get off that list, a horse must work a half-mile in :53 or faster. But the rule does not allow for a workout farther than a half mile.
Because Papi On Ice's workout was initially published as a five-furlong move, the racing office would not accept the colt's entry for a race.
Gazer told DRF.com back in May that the time of the work was not changed, but that the distance was shortened to comply with NYRA's rule. He did not time Papi On Ice himself, but a subordinate clocker told him the horse did work a properly timed half mile as part of the longer five-eighths breeze.
“This is a joke. It really is,” Gazer told TDN Dec. 12. “I've been doing this for 40 years. The horse was on the other training track, went a half-mile, and galloped out five-eighths and the trainer, Randi Persaud, wanted the five-eighths time. But they have that rule where he had to have a half-mile workout. It's a stupid rule. They called me up and I said I would change it. It was no big deal. It was either :51 for the half or 1:04 and something for five-eighths.”
Gazer continued: “We had a seven-hour hearing, [the hearing officer] recommended that they drop all the charges. And then they do this. It doesn't make any sense.”
Chairman O'Dwyer said Monday that the commissioners saw it differently.
“The commission reviewed the entire record [and] established the violation as a matter of fact,” O'Dwyer said. “And in particular, found that the conduct was improper in relation to commission rule 4042.1(f).”
That rule prohibits “improper, corrupt or fraudulent” acts or practices in relation to racing or conspiring or assisting others in such acts or practices.
Along with O'Dwyer, NYSGC commissioners John Crotty, Peter Moschetti, Jr., Christopher Riano, Marissa Shorenstein and Jerry Skurnik all voted in favor of rejecting the hearing officers' recommendations not to penalize the two licensees.
The commissioners did not debate or discuss the details of the two cases during the open, public meeting, which is standard for the way the NYSGC usually issues appeal outcomes after a hearing officer issues a report.
Based on past practice, the NYSGC generally receives such reports and takes its vote on the hearing officer's recommendation at some point before the meeting, and the chairman then reads the results into the record when the meeting goes into session, explaining the vote in one or two sentences.
Karen Murphy, an attorney who represents Gazer, told TDN in an email that, “In the 30 years that I have been practicing before the Gaming Commission (and its predecessor) this has never happened….The decision in this matter was dependent on the credibility of the proffered witnesses. In recommending that all the charges be dismissed, including a 'fraudulent, corrupt act' charge, the designated Hearing Officer made a determination in favor of Mr. Gazer's credibility. Today, the Commission rejected that credibility [and] did so without giving any specific reasons or findings…”
Murphy added that the NYSGC's ruling against her client amounted to a failure of the open-government test, “and in doing so abjectly failed in its obligations under law to Mr. Gazer. We look forward to righting this wrong.”
The penalties for Noda and Gazer will go into effect within a few days upon formal issuance of the commission's findings and order.
The post Trainer, Clocker Stunned as NYSGC Rejects Advice of from Hearing Appeal Officers appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.
‘Very Lucky She’s Gotten Back To Even This Point’: Assistant Cindy Weaver Returns Home
Cindy Weaver, assistant and wife of trainer George Weaver, suffered a severe brain injury this summer at Saratoga on July 3, when the horse she was exercising on Saratoga's Oklahoma Training Track collapsed and died, pinning her underneath for a time.
According to the Daily Racing Form, Cindy Weaver was able to return to the couple's Florida home at the beginning of November, though she requires full-time live-in help and daily therapy.
“Everybody says she's far ahead of where she's supposed to be. We're still in the middle of it, hoping she can get certain things back,” George Weaver told DRF. “We're very lucky she's gotten back to even this point. We're happy about it, but I hope she keeps coming. She's not in a place where she can be independent.”
Read more at the Daily Racing Form.
The post ‘Very Lucky She’s Gotten Back To Even This Point’: Assistant Cindy Weaver Returns Home appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.
