Two-time Kentucky Derby-winning trainer Doug O'Neill has been suspended 30 days and fined $10,000 for a medication violation that occurred at Golden Gate Fields in Albany, Calif., on May 1, 2022, when Reddam Racing LLC's Worse Read Sanchez tested positive for lidocaine after a third-place finish in the Silky Sullivan Stakes.
The stipulated agreement calls for a 60-day suspension, with 30 days to be stayed “for good cause.”
O'Neill was suspended 30 days and fined $7,500 in March 2021 for a previous lidocaine positive, with 20 days of that suspension stayed.
Lidocaine, a local anesthetic, is a Class 2 drug with a Category B penalty under California Horse Racing Board rules.
According to the complaint, Worse Read Sanchez was found by the UC Davis laboratory to have 180 picograms per milliliter of 3-Hydroxy Lidocaine in his system. O'Neill requested a split sample be tested by Texas A&M Veterinary Medical Diagnostic Laboratory, and that lab confirmed the presence of the drug at time of testing.
The reduction of the suspension from 60 to 30 days – conditioned on there being no further Class 1, Class 2 or Class 3 drug violations during a probationary period from May 1, 2020, through May 1, 2023 – means O'Neill can turn the stable over to an assistant during his absence.
Under CHRB rules, a 60-day suspension would have required O'Neill to transfer his horses to someone other than a family member or employee. In addition, O'Neill would have been required to forfeit all stalls assigned to him and remove all signage, training-related equipment, tack, office equipment and other property. Those sanctions do not reply with 30 days of the original suspension stayed.
Stewards set the days of his suspension from Nov. 21 through Dec. 20, meaning O'Neill will miss the final two weeks of Del Mar's Bing Crosby season and the six-day Los Alamitos winter Thoroughbred meet.
O'Neill, who has been a licensed trainer since 1988, has won 2,738 races from 17,052 starts. In addition to his two Kentucky Derby victories (I'll Have Another in 2012 and Nyquist in 2016), O'Neill has saddled five Breeders' Cup winners.
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