Bennie L. “Chip” Woolley Jr., who saddled Mine That Bird to a 50-1 upset of the Grade 1 Kentucky Derby in 2009, has been suspended six months by stewards at Turf Paradise in Phoenix, Ariz., for what an official ruling said was “possession of an illegal needle and syringe.”
Woolley had been summarily suspended on Feb. 8 after a veterinarian conducting pre-race examinations allegedly saw Woolley or an assistant at his barn in possession of the needle and syringe. All of his horses were scratched that day.
The 180-day ban begins on Feb. 8.
Woolley was also fined $2,500, plus a 5% surcharge to the Race Horse Adoption Fund for a total of $2,625.
The ruling also states that case “is referred to the director of the Arizona Department of Racing with the recommendation that further action is required due to the severity of this violation which calls into question the honesty and integrity of horse racing in Arizona.”
Woolley, 58, was coming off his best year since Mine That Bird's 3-year-old season of 2009 when the New Mexico native's stable earnings topped $2 million, largely on the shoulders of the Derby winner. In 2021, Woolley saddled 28 winners from 280 starters for earnings of $617,950 while racing in the Southwest and at Canterbury Park in Minnesota.
He won with three of 30 starters thus far in 2022.
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