Trainer Tom Amoss has been suspended seven calendar days, fined $3,000, and assessed two points on the Association of Racing Commissioners International's multiple medication violation program for a lidocaine positive for the 3-year-old filly Catwings, winner of the sixth race on June 23, 2022, at Horseshoe Indianapolis in Shelbyville, Ind.
Catwings has been disqualified from the maiden special weight race victory and the purse redistributed. Sammies Samurai, the runner-up will receive first-place money of $20,400 and be declared the winner.
The Indiana Horse Racing Commission ruling, dated Nov. 10, states that Industrial Laboratories in Denver, Colo., detected lidocaine at a concentration of 127 picograms per milliliter in blood serum. According to the ruling, lidocaine and its metabolites are prohibited at levels greater than 20 pg/ml. A picogram is one-trillionth of a gram.
Amoss requested a split sample be tested. UIC Analytical Forensic Testing Laboratory in Chicago, Ill., confirmed the drug's presence at a concentration in excess of the permitted level. At that point, the ruling states, Amoss waived his right to a formal hearing before the board of stewards.
Lidocaine, a local anesthetic, is a Class 2 drug with a Category B penalty under Association of Racing Commissioners International model rules. The model rules call for a 15-day suspension, absent mitigating circumstances, for a first offense. The ruling did not reference mitigating circumstances, but Amoss said in a comment posted on Twitter that he was “grateful to the stewards for independently recognizing this as a possible cross-contamination, and reducing my suspension from 15 days to 7 days.”
The trainer added, “We will work to ensure this will not happen again.”
According to ThoroughbredRulings.com, this is Amoss' first medication violation since a betamethasone positive in Kentucky in 2016 resulted in a five-day suspension and $500 fine.
The suspension is to be served Nov. 13-19.
Tomorrow, the Indiana Racing Comm. will announce that my horse, Catwings, tested 60 parts per trillion above the threshold of 20 parts per trillion for permissible medication. I take full responsibility, and I apologize for the mistake. I am grateful to the stewards…
— Tom Amoss Racing (@TomAmossRacing) November 13, 2022
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