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.

Source of original post

Four Additional Trainers Handed Provisional Suspensions By HIWU

The Horseracing Integrity and Welfare Unit (HIWU) has updated its list of trainers that have been provisionally suspended after their horses have allegedly tested positive for banned substances, and the new names are Natalia Lynch, David Reid, Javier Morzan and Mary Pirone.

Lynch, who is based in New York and had a winner Sunday at Saratoga, was sanctioned for allegedly having a horse test positive for Altrenogest. According a 2018 press release from the Racing Medication and Testing Consortium (RMTC), Altrenogest is a progesterone receptor agonist used to control estrus in fillies or maintenance of pregnancy in mares. It is marketed in the United States as an oral formulation known as ReguMate. According to the National Library of Medicine's website, Altrenogest is structurally similar to the anabolic androgenic steroid, trenbolone.

The horse in question is Motion to Strike (Competitive Edge), who tested positive after finishing fourth in a $5,000 claimer at Monmouth June 24. The horse was claimed from that race by owner-trainer Silvino Ramirez. Ramirez now has the option of having the void claimed and returning the horse to Lynch.

According to Equibase, Lynch has been training since 2020 and has had 21 winners from 214 starts. She is 5-for-56 on the year.

In regards to Lynch, NYRA issued the following statement Friday: “NYRA has been alerted via HIWU that a horse under the care of trainer Natalia Lynch has tested positive for the banned substance Altrenogest. Per HISA rules, Lynch is now under a provisional suspension nationally and cannot participate in any activities at NYRA tracks. HISA/HIWU rules allow for Lynch to request a formal hearing and the analysis of a split sample. Lynch had occupied four stalls at Saratoga Race Course and 11 stalls at Belmont Park. Horses under Lynch's care are being transferred to a covered person who is not affiliated with Lynch as required by HIWU.”

Also new to the list, trainer Mary Pirone was also provisionally suspended for an Altrenogest positive. Based at Emerald Downs, Pirone has been training since 1987. She has won just two races since 2020, going 2-for-31 over that time. Pirone's Benny the Jet (Bernardini) tested positive after finishing fifth in a $2,500 claimer at Emerald Downs June 24. He was also claimed out of that race and in his next start he won for trainer Jorge Rosales and owner Dawn Spillman.

Trainer McLean Robertson, the dominant trainer at Canterbury Park, was also provisionally suspended by HIWU for Altrenogest.

Trainer Javier Morzan was provisionally suspended after his horse Lady Liv (Bal a Bali {Brz} tested positive for Metformin. Top Northern California trainer Jonathan Wong was also provisionally suspended for Metformin. Metformin is commonly used in humans to combat type 2 diabetes. While Metformin is a permitted medication by the U. S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) for humans in athletic competition, the National Institutes of Health published a study indicating it has an effect on athletic performance. In a study of 10 men, they determined that “time to exhaustion was significantly higher after Metformin than placebo ingestion,” and that “Metformin improved performance and anaerobic alactic contribution during high-intensity exercise.”

Morzan is currently racing at Delaware Park. He is 5-for-60 on the year and has won 18 total races during a career that began in 2020.

HIWU's list also includes trainer David Reid, who was provisionally suspended after a horse he trained tested positive for Venlafaxine. In humans, Venlafaxine is used to treat depression. It is also used to treat general anxiety disorder, social anxiety disorder, and panic disorder. Reid, who  is based at Hawthorne, has a career record of 36 wins from 184 starters.

The post Four Additional Trainers Handed Provisional Suspensions By HIWU appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

McLean Robertson Latest Trainer To Be Suspended By HIWU

McLean Robertson, a top trainer in the Midwest whose accomplishments include a pair of training titles at Canterbury Park, has been provisionally suspended by the Horseracing Integrity and Welfare Unit (HIWU) after a horse he trained allegedly tested positive for Altrenogest. The ruling was posted to the HIWU website Monday.

It's been a busy few days for HIWU. On Saturday, it was reported on the HIWU website that New York-based trainer Raymond Handal has been provisionally suspended after an alleged positive for Zeranol. On Sunday, the website included a ruling against trainer Jonathan Wong, whose stable includes divisions in Kentucky and California. He has also been provisionally suspended after an alleged positive for the prescription drug metformin, a type 2 diabetes treatment.

All three positive were for drugs on HIWU's banned substance list. In those cases, trainers who have had horses test positive receive automatic provisional suspensions, which go into effect once the positives are made public.

The ruling on Robertson came under HIWU Rule 3212 which covers the presence of a banned substance and/or its metabolites or markers.

Altrenogest is sold under the names Swinemate, Altren and Regumate and is used in veterinary medicine to suppress or synchronize estrus in horses and pigs. According to the website of the National Library of Medicine 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 report on the website also notes that Altrenogest is “structurally similar to the anabolic androgenic steroid.”

The horse in question, Johnny Up (Majesticperfection) is not a filly or mare but a gelding. The alleged positive occurred in a June 4 race at Canterbury, a $10,500 claimer in which Johnny Up won by 6 1/4 lengths.

By mid-afternoon, Robertson had not returned a phone call seeking comment. Robertson has 1,544 career wins from 7,108 starters.

The post McLean Robertson Latest Trainer To Be Suspended By HIWU appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

Verified by MonsterInsights