ADMC Program | Horse Racing Free Tips

Weekly Stewards and Commissions Rulings, Feb. 6 – Feb. 12

Every week, the TDN posts a roundup of the relevant Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act (HISA)-related rulings from around the country.

Among this week's rulings, trainer Jonathan Wong has been suspended for two years and fined $25,000 for a post-race metformin positive from last June.

Wong told the TDN he has appealed the ruling which could now go before the Federal Trade Commission, head to federal court, or both. He also said that he would seek a temporary injunction against the ban.

Trainer Kari Craddock was issued a seven-day suspension for a post-race Methocarbamol positive. Methocarbamol is a Class C controlled medication, a first offense for which comes a possible $500 fine and loss of purse. This was Craddock's second Methocarbamol-related violation since HISA's Anti-Doping and Medication Control (ADMC) program went into effect.

Trainer Ismael Bahena has also been provisionally suspended after Bahena's trainee, Color Field, tested positive for methamphetamine–a banned substance under HISA and a ubiquitous drug of human abuse–when winning at Horseshoe Indianapolis on Oct. 30. HIWU has now brought 11 methamphetamine-related cases for adjudication since the ADMC program went into effect.

NEW HISA/HIWU STEWARDS RULINGS

The following rulings were reported on HISA's “rulings” portal and through the Horseracing Integrity and Welfare Unit (HIWU)'s “pending” and “resolved” cases portals.

Resolved ADMC Violations

Date: 01/06/2024

Licensee: Monte Gelrod, trainer

Penalty: Written reprimand. Admission.

Explainer: For the presence of Omeprazole-Controlled Medication (Class C)-in a sample taken from Salto de Tigre. This was a possible violation of Rule 3312-Presence of Controlled Medication Substance and/or its Metabolites or Markers (Post-Race/Vets' List).

Date: 01/13/2024

Licensee: Jay Nehf, trainer

Penalty: A fine of $3,000; imposition of 3 Penalty Points. Admission.

Explainer: A possible violation of Rule 3314-Use or Attempted Use of a Controlled Medication Substance or a Controlled Medication Method-on the horse, Customer List. This was also a possible violation of Rule 4222-Intra-Articular Injections Within Seven (7) Days of Timed and Reported Workout.

Date: 01/21/2024

Licensee: Fernando Abreu, trainer

Penalty: A fine of $3,000; imposition of 3 Penalty Points. Admission.

Explainer: A possible violation of Rule 3314-Use or Attempted Use of a Controlled Medication Substance or a Controlled Medication Method-on the horse, Sugar N Spice. This was also a possible violation of Rule 4222-Intra-Articular Injections Within Seven (7) Days of Timed and Reported Workout.

Date: 01/07/2024

Licensee: Jose Delgado, trainer

Penalty: Disqualification of Covered Horse's Race results, including forfeiture of all purses and other compensation, prizes, trophies, points, and rankings and repayment or surrender (as applicable); a fine of $500; imposition of 1.5 Penalty Points. Admission.

Explainer: For the presence of Dexamethasone-Controlled Medication (Class C)-in a sample taken from Buff Hello, who finished third at Gulfstream Park on 1/7/23. This was a possible violation of Rule 3312-Presence of Controlled Medication Substance and/or its Metabolites or Markers (Post-Race/Vets' List).

Date: 11/20/2023

Licensee: Kari Craddock, trainer

Penalty: 7-day period of Ineligibility, beginning on February 14, 2024; Disqualification of Covered Horse's Race results, including forfeiture of all purses and other compensation, prizes, trophies, points, and rankings and repayment or surrender (as applicable); a fine of $1,000; imposition of 1.5 Penalty Points. Admission.

Explainer: For the presence of Methocarbamol-Controlled Medication (Class C)-in a sample taken from Ekati's Hit, who finished second at Remington Park on 11/20/23. This was a possible violation of Rule 3312-Presence of Controlled Medication Substance and/or its Metabolites or Markers (Post-Race/Vets' List).

Date: 12/13/2023

Licensee: Darien Rodriguez, trainer

Explainer: For the presence of Dexamethasone-Controlled Medication (Class C)-in a sample taken from Charlotte the Brit, who finished second at Tampa Bay on 12/13/23. This was a possible violation of Rule 3312-Presence of Controlled Medication Substance and/or its Metabolites or Markers (Post-Race/Vets' List).

Date: 06/01/2023

Licensee: Jonathan Wong, trainer

Penalty: 2-year period of Ineligibility for Covered Person, beginning on July 1, 2023; Disqualification of Covered Horse's Race results, including forfeiture of all purses and other compensation, prizes, trophies, points, and rankings and repayment or surrender (as applicable); a fine of $25,000; payment of $8,000 of HIWU's arbitration costs. Final decision by arbitral body.

Explainer: For the presence of Metformin-a banned substance-in a sample taken from Heaven and Earth, who won at Horseshoe Indianapolis on 6/1/23. This was a possible violation of Rule 3212-Presence of a Banned Substance and/or its Metabolites or Markers.

Post-Race Samples From 2023 Breeders’ Cup Cleared By HIWU

All post-race test samples taken from contenders in the 2023 Breeders' Cup World Championships at Santa Anita Park earlier this month have been cleared by the Horseracing Integrity & Welfare Unit (HIWU).

2023 marked the first year the Breeders' Cup World Championships were run under the full jurisdiction of the Horseracing Integrity & Safety Authority (HISA), including the Anti-Doping and Medication Control (ADMC) Program, which took effect in May of this year and is implemented and enforced by HIWU.

As was the case under Breeders' Cup's anti-doping and medication control rules that were in place before HISA's ADMC Program was implemented, medication is prohibited within 48 hours of the 14 Championship races and the undercard. All potential Breeders' Cup competitors were also subject to out-of-competition testing for banned substances.

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Trainer Lynch Plans Appeal After HIWU Arbitrator Imposes 4-Year Banned Substances Suspension

Natalia Lynch, a Belmont Park-based trainer who has been licensed since 2020, has been penalized with a four-year suspension and a $50,000 fine after a Nov. 9 Horseracing Integrity and Welfare Unit (HIWU) arbitration judgment found her to be in violation of two separate anti-doping rules, one for the presence of a banned substance (Altrenogest) in a horse, and another for possession of a different prohibited drug (Thyro-L).

Lynch's attorney, John Mac Hayes, told TDN Monday that the trainer plans to appeal the arbitration result to a Federal Trade Commission administrative law judge.

A post-race drug screening revealed Altrenogest in Motion to Strike (Competitive Edge) after Lynch shipped the gelding to Monmouth Park for a June 24 race.

Motion to Strike ran fourth as the 7-10 favorite, and a $5,000 claim was subsequently voided after the HIWU test results came back positive.

Altrenogest is sold under the several brand names, including Regu-Mate. It is used in veterinary medicine to suppress or synchronize estrus in female horses and pigs.

The website of the National Library of Medicine states that Altrenogest is “a commonly used progestogen for the suppression of oestrus and associated distracting behaviors that interfere with training and performance of female racehorses.”

The website also notes that Altrenogest is “structurally similar to the anabolic androgenic steroid.”

However, Matt Hegarty of DRF.com, who was first to report on Lynch's penalties, pointed out a notable coincidence regarding Lynch's Nov. 9 arbitration judgment and a separate document released by the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act (HISA) Nov. 13 regarding proposed changes to the Anti-Doping and Medication Control (ADMC) program: The HISA Authority, Hegarty wrote, wants to reclassify Altrenogest as a controlled substance instead of its more severe “banned” status, “with recommended penalties starting at a fine of $500.” (The status change for Altrenogest was just one among numerous proposed rules changes outlined here.)

According to the decision written by arbitrator Bernetta Bush, a retired judge, when a HIWU investigator met Lynch at Belmont on July 20 to notify her of the Altrenogest adverse analytical finding, a search of the vehicle Lynch was driving revealed a container of Thyro-L, which is also banned under the ADMC rules.

Lynch had argued that the Altrenogest positive was cross-contamination as a result of Regu-Mate lawfully being administered to a filly that was supposedly housed in the stall next to Motion to Strike.

As for the Thyro-L, Lynch stated that earlier in the spring, she attempted to discard that newly banned substance by giving it to her mother. Yet she did not realize the drug had remained in her mother's vehicle instead of being thrown away. According to the arbitrator's report, Lynch said she was only driving her mother's vehicle on July 20 because she had lost the keys to her own car.

The arbitrator didn't buy the reasoning in either argument.

“Taken as a whole, Trainer Lynch has presented mere speculation, rather than competent evidence, regarding the source of the Altrenogest,” Bush wrote.

“[T]he uncontested evidence provided by Gregory Pennock, an investigator for the Agency whose testimony the Arbitrator credits as consistent with the record and not disputed with competent evidence, establishes that [the filly] was several–five to seven–stalls away from the Covered Horse, and that [the filly] had not been administered Altrenogest for five days before the day the sample was collected from [Motion to Strike],” Bush wrote.

“The record establishes that Altrenogest is administered orally and would have to be administered directly into the horse's mouth for contamination to occur, and that the amount detected in the sample is consistent with ingestion within 24 hours.”

Bush's ruling continued: “In connection with attempting to skirt liability, Trainer Lynch appears to have made many misrepresentations or inconsistent statements of fact which detract from the overall credibility of her testimony…. More specifically, regarding the Rules, the Arbitrator finds that Trainer Lynch bears significant fault for the presence of Altrenogest. This is not a case of simple negligence.

“Not only has Trainer Lynch failed to show any benign manner in which the substance entered the Covered Horse (a critical failure), but even if she had, Trainer Lynch had (and breached) a clear and unmistakable duty to protect the Covered Horse from any cross-contamination and otherwise comply with the Rules. No evidence presented mitigates the responsibility placed on Trainer Lynch by the Rules she is charged with disobeying.”

Taking up the charge of the Thyro-L, the arbitrator noted that Lynch had argued that her possession was not intentional, that she “wasn't trying to cheat,” and that none of the horses under her care had ever tested positive for that substance.

“Trainer Lynch offers many arguments to escape liability or mitigate the consequences of her unlawful possession, but none are persuasive such that she can carry her burden,” Bush wrote.

Hayes, Lynch's lawyer, classified the arbitrator's penalties as “unreasonably harsh.”

In a series of emailed bullet points, Hayes told TDN that the arbitrator “improperly discounted” expert testimony that was presented in Lynch's defense.

Hayes wrote that the arbitrator allegedly also “ignored the Federal Rules of Evidence and Civil Procedure” that have been established by the U.S. Supreme Court and instead “relied on International Law wholly inapplicable in federal court proceedings.”

Hayes also wrote that Regu-Mate is “not a doping agent” and that “no evidence of doping exists.”

Hayes added that the arbitrator allegedly “completely ignored” a different Regu-Mate positive “in a different horse who resided in the same barn where Natalia's horse had stood before racing.”

Hayes further claimed that “HIWU's own expert testified HIWU should have investigated the two positives coming from the same barn to determine if they might be related.”

According to a 2020 profile written by the Monmouth Park press office, Lynch, a Maryland native, had been enrolled in nursing school at Towson University when she started galloping horses a few years ago.

Lynch originally wanted to become a jockey, but switched her aspirations to training, the profile stated. She worked as an assistant to Brittany Russell, Jeremiah Englehart, and Ray Handal prior to getting licensed as a trainer, going out on her own three years ago when owner Al Gold offered to let her train nine horses from his Gold Square, LLC, stable.

The post Trainer Lynch Plans Appeal After HIWU Arbitrator Imposes 4-Year Banned Substances Suspension appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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HISA Proposes $80.9 Million 2024 Budget

The Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority (HISA) has released its proposed budget for 2024, totaling $80.96 million, including $38.7 million earmarked for the Horseracing Integrity and Welfare Unit (HIWU), the drug testing arm of the federal program.

The total fee assessments for the states and racetracks come out to $78.5 million, but available credits potentially bring that number down to $59.8 million.

HISA's 2023 total budget was initially set at $72.5 million. That number was subsequently revised down to $66.4 million earlier this year.

The proposed 2024 budget was issued on Aug. 17, but the opportunity to publicly comment on it ended on Thursday, Aug. 24.

While the proposed budget is listed as a press release on the HISA website, it was not sent out in wide circulation via email like other HISA press releases. On Aug. 9, however, the Authority included in an email on 2022 tax filings a warning that the budget would be released “in the coming days.”

The proposed budget is broken down among the following HISA-related departments: the racetrack safety program, the Anti-Doping and Medication Control (ADMC) program, technology, and administration costs.

Among the big-ticket items, $21.2 million has been allocated for lab testing and $9.5 million for “professional services.”

The latter is a broad category denoting things like “external support for critical functions ranging from arbitration fees to companies that support our IT infrastructure and man our help desk,” explained HISA spokesperson Mandy Minger.

Some $3.6 million is set aside for legal fees, including the cost of lawsuits.

Total revenues from fines related to the racetrack safety and ADMC programs, along with other sources of income like those from lab testing, come to $3.6 million.

According to Minger, these revenues will be used to reduce the net expenses, “and therefore reduce the 2024 assessments.”

Nearly $23 million of HIWU's $38.7 million operating budget goes toward “collection costs,” with $6.7 million going toward salaries.

The total price tag of operating the entire ADMC program–which includes that for HIWU, as well as drug testing and adjudication cost—comes to $59.5 million.

The Authority's loan repayments total $1.25 million.

In a May Q&A, HISA CEO Lisa Lazarus told the TDN that The Jockey Club, the Breeders' Cup and the NTRA had all provided loans to the program, and that they were “pretty much no interest” loans designed to cover short-term operational costs.

While the proposed budget for next year is more detailed than previous iterations, it is still lacking in granular line-item details explaining exactly how the money is being used, said National Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association (HBPA) CEO Eric Hamelback.

“We are not surprised by the increase [from 2022 totals], but here we are once again not able to truly assess the budget due to the lack of transparency in the breakdown of the figures,” said Hamelback.

Individual racing commissions can choose to cover the assessed fee for the state–broadly speaking, a figure calculated on a formula based on total starts and purses.

Where commissions enter into a voluntary agreement with the Authority for existing personnel to conduct tasks like sample collection, conducting investigations, and adjudicating violations, the state is privy to a credit on its total assessment.

According to the proposed budget for next year, the total to be assessed comes to $78.5 million, with $18.7 million available in industry credits.

The states that decline to cover these financial assessments pass the burden of responsibility onto the racetracks in the state.

Yet to be issued, the 2024 fee assessments for the states and racetracks must be made public by Nov. 1 this year.

“We anticipate that the assessment will be released in October,” said Minger, who added that the same formula to assess these fees will be used again.

The current state and racetrack assessments are a bone of contention among various racing jurisdictions, however.

According to Hamelback, several states are “looking at the possibilities” for next year “of not sending their signal out in order to maintain racing” because of the financial burden posed by these fees.

Such a move would mirror the state of Texas, which has maintained since the advent of HISA a blackout on sending its simulcasting signal out of state in order to operate outside of the federal program's jurisdiction.

Hamelback added, however, he was not positioned to publicly name the states considering this option.

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