Barnes, 34, was put on the exclusion list maintained by the racing body, alongside his father-in-law John Higgins. The duo are not allowed on an property licensed by the BHA. Previously a registered owner in Britain, Barnes celebrated a winner with Manor Park (GB) (Medicean {GB}) at Newton Abbot in 2021.

“The BHA can confirm that the Ashley Barnes listed as an excluded person on our website is the professional footballer Ashley Barnes,” a BHA spokesperson told the Daily Mirror. “Mr Barnes has been excluded due to a failure to cooperate with a BHA investigation. As that investigation is ongoing, the BHA will make no further comment.”

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The delay in imposing the ban was put in place in order to avoid any appearance of conflict of interest because many of the trainers are pointing horses to races run at the Meadowlands during November in which they could meet horses owned by Meadowlands owner Jeff Gural. The delay will also give owners time to transfer their horses to new barns.

The Meadowlands requested access to evidence presented during the trials of Dr. Seth Fishman and one of his assistants, Lisa Giannelli. Fishman was sentenced to 11 years in prison and Giannelli was given a sentence of 42 months. They were among more than 30 people charged with crimes related to the use of performance-enhancing drugs on horses after a widespread investigation by the FBI and others.

Meadowlands owner Jeff Gural said that he has so far received information only from the Giannelli trial and predicted that when information from the Fishman trial is released far more names could be involved.

According to a press release issued Friday by the Meadowlands, the evidence obtained by the track revealed the identity of persons who had purchased prohibited substances Epogen and Thymosyn.

Those who will be excluded for the alleged use of EPO are Dylan Davis, Nick Devita, Gareth Dowse, Jeff Gillis, Brian Malone, John Mungillo, Eric Prevost, Richard Silverman, Leroy Slabaugh and Howard Taylor.

Those who will be excluded for the alleged use of Thymosyn are Ryan Bellamy, Anthony Buttitta, Franck Chick, Jamen Davidovich, Eddie Dennis, Brady Galliers, Rick Howles, Anthony Lake, Betty Jean Davis Lare, Kevin Lare, John Leggio, Gregg McNair, Cynthia Milano, Anthony Napolitano, Howard Savage, Arthur Stafford and Trevor Stafford.

Additionally and according to the Meadowlands press release, the Federal government conducted its own collection of blood and urine samples from racehorses, both post-race and from out of competition testing, during its investigation. Six individuals allegedly had horses test poistive for banned substances and also will be excluded from the Meadowlands. The following is a list of those individuals and the drugs their horses allegeldy tested positive for: Al Annunziata (Propantheline); Jenn Bongiorno (Ethamsylate); Bob Bongiorno (Ethamsylate); Scott DiDomenico (Ethamsylate); Jeff Gillis (Ethamsylate); Nick Sodano Sr. (Cobalt).

The 33 could face even more penalties as the information uncovered by the Meadowlands will be turned over to the various state racing commissions covering the tracks where the individuals compete.

Asked why there were no thoroughbred horsemen among the names uncovered by the Meadowlands, Gural speculated that Giannelli's clients were primarily Standardbred horsemen and that once names linked to Fishman are released they could involve thoroughbred trainers and owners.

Fishman, a Florida veterinarian, was sentenced for what United States Attorney Damian Williams said was due to “his role at the helm of an approximately twenty-year scheme to manufacture, market, and sell to racehorse trainers and others in the racehorse industry 'untestable' performance enhancing drugs for use in professional horseracing.”

While the evidence against Fishman was enough for him to be sentenced to 11 years in prison, the government's case didn't shed much light on who was buying what from Fishman and his company. The one exception was Jorge Navarro, who was directly linked to Fishman. In a Department of Justice press release it was revealed that “Fishman aided Navarro in doping XY Jet, a thoroughbred horse that won the 2019 Golden Shaheen race in Dubai before dying of sudden heart attack in January 2020. As established at trial, Fishman sold tens of thousands of dollars' worth of PEDs to Navarro over the course of several years, and Navarro specifically credited Fishman for XY Jet's performance at the Golden Shaheen.”

“The whole thing is terrible,” Gural said. “It's unfortunate. They lucked out that I kept the Meadowlands open, but their luck ran out because I am honest. We spent $2.5 million of our own money on this investigation. It's sad because there are people who had no choice but to cheat. They felt they had to feed their family and they couldn't win a race. What's really sad is Howard Taylor. He's not a trainer, he's an owner. He had to be giving EPO to his trainers to use and not a single trainer picked up the phone and said I have an owner who wants me to use EPO on his horses.  He has 150 horses and he uses a lot of trainers. You would have thought at least one trainer would have picked up the phone and told us what's going on.”

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The hearing Oct. 8 concerned two writs of mandate that Hollendorfer filed against the CHRB constituting an oftentimes complicated and convoluted legal knot essentially surrounding which entity–the tracks or the state agency–have the ultimate jurisdiction to bar the trainer from participating in California horse racing.

TSG barred Hollendorfer from its facilities after six of the trainer's horses were catastrophically injured between December 2018 and June 2019 at Golden Gate Fields and Santa Anita, a time when the latter track experienced a well-publicized spike in equine fatalities during an unusually wet spell.

This past July, Hollendorfer reached a settlement with TSG-controlled subsidiary owners of Santa Anita Park and Golden Gate Fields, the details of which have not been publicly disclosed.

Hollendorfer has not raced or trained at TSG-owned facilities since that June 2019 exclusion.

The CHRB's responses to the writs of mandate–entwined as they are in the language of race-meet agreements [RMA] and stall applications–also provide an interesting backdrop to the years-long dispute over contractual legalese in the race-meet agreement between the tracks and the California Thoroughbred Trainers (CTT), primarily surrounding matters of fair procedure.

Without accord, the same contract has been automatically adopted at the start of each meet in California for some three years. The CHRB has given the relevant stakeholders until this Thursday's CHRB meeting to reach a compromise.

At the heart of the two writs of mandate are the events surrounding Hollendorfer's attempts to enter horses at Del Mar and Santa Anita in the summer and fall of 2019.

After TSG initially banned Hollendorfer from its grounds, the Del Mar Thoroughbred Club (DMTC) took the same course of action for its subsequent summer meet.

In response, Hollendorfer, through the CTT, asked the CHRB to intervene on his behalf, but because Del Mar's action was subsequently overturned in court, the CHRB dropped the matter before a formal hearing could take place, according to court documents.

After Hollendorfer's failed attempts to enter horses at the start of Santa Anita's following fall meet, the trainer once again petitioned the CHRB to intervene. “The CHRB investigated and determined in its discretion that no rules were violated” because of language in the RMA and stall applications, according to CHRB'S court filings.

Also key to the arguments is CHRB rule 1989, which relates to a track's ability to remove or deny access to a licensee. The CHRB argues in court filings that “There has never been any assertion by the CHRB or the racing associations that Petitioner was removed or denied access under Rule 1989.”

Hollendorfer disagrees and writes in court filings that the CHRB's own counsel, Robert Brodnik, “independently invoked Rule 1989 as the basis for asserting that the associations had 'denied access' to Petitioner rather than 'exclude or ban' him.”

Hollendorfer also argues that rule 1989 is inconsistent with other statutes-an inconsistency that gives the CHRB, through its board of stewards, the ultimate right to refuse a trainer's entries, and not the individual racing association.

Through the writ of mandate, Hollendorfer seeks to “compel” the CHRB “to perform its mandatory ministerial” duties in deciding whether the trainer should be able to race at Santa Anita and Golden Gate.

“Petitioner's regulatory complaints against DMTC and [Los Angeles Turf Club] LATC were substantively similar. Both stemmed from actions by those associations in refusing to accept race entries submitted by Petitioner. CHRB's Rules only authorize racing personnel to establish individual race conditions and the procedures for the submission of entries, with control over and the power to refuse entries delegated exclusively to the CHRB's Board of Stewards,” Hollendorfer writes.

“In investigating Petitioner's complaint against LATC, Respondent's Chief of Investigations confirmed that LATC had independently refused Petitioner's valid race entry without involving the Stewards. Respondent's investigation further confirmed that LATC did so based on a purported 'contractual rights' secured via RMAs and Stall Applications, which conflicted with CHRB Rules. As a consequence, Respondent was fully aware that the actions of both racing associations were inconsistent with controlling statutes and regulations,” according to court filings.

In failing to conduct “any hearings on Petitioner's complaints,” the CHRB “permitted the illegal acts of licensed racing associations in dereliction of its duties under the law, all to the harm and damage of Petitioner,” Hollendorfer's court filings state.

“The general rule as stated by the Supreme Court is that 'statutes do not supplant the common law unless it appears that the Legislature intended to cover the entire subject or, in other words, to 'occupy the field.' '[G]eneral and comprehensive legislation, where course of conduct, parties, things affected, limitations and exceptions are minutely described, indicates a legislative intent that the statute should totally supersede and replace the common law dealing with the subject matter,” the filings add.

Hollendorfer also questions the impartiality of the CHRB in adjudicating his case, citing email communications and deposition testimony from former board members.

“The day the ban of Petitioner was announced, [former board member Madeline] Auerbach shared with senior CHRB staff her, and that of CHRB Chair Charles Winner, approval of the media's change in focus from the recurring number of fatalities to the exclusion. Her email stated: 'It appears to me that most of the coverage that I have read seems more concentrated on Santa Anita's action to remove Hollendorfer than on the latest fatality. That is probably a good way of getting a positive spin on a negative story.' Chair Winner replied, 'Well put,'” Hollendorfer's court filings state.

In response to Hollendorfer claims, The CHRB claims that the 2018-2019 race RMA in place between Santa Anita and the CTT contains language providing the track authority to “deny stable space and refuse entries” so long as the decision is not arbitrary or capricious.

“Petitioner insists that the CHRB had a mandatory duty to give him a hearing regardless of the actual reasons behind the racing associations' decisions to not allow him to enter or race in 2019. However, possession of a valid trainer's license does not 'confer any right upon the holder thereof to employment at or participation in a race meeting,'” the CHRB's court filings state.

“[The CHRB's] Chief Loehr completed his investigation and report on October 1, 2019, five days after Petitioner submitted his Complaint. He found no violation of the Horse Racing Law. He found that Petitioner was banned from all Stronach Group tracks on June 22, 2019, and the ban remained in place as of the time of his investigation,” states CHRB court filings.

“[Loehr] determined that both the Stall Application and the RMA gave the LATC the authority to deny stalls and refuse race entries as long as the decision is not arbitrary or capricious, and that 'The LATC decision to deny Mr. Hollendorfer's entry is based upon his June 22, 2019 ban from all Stronach Group tracks,'” according to the CHRB's court filings.

In response to Hollendorfer's questions over the board's impartiality, the CHRB distances itself from TSG's actions.

“Petitioner claims that former CHRB Chair Charles Winner and Vice-Chair Madeline Auerbach harbored pecuniary or other bias that somehow infected the CHRB's response to his complaints. His allegations are baseless and irrelevant. Neither Winner nor Auerbach were involved in any CHRB decisions concerning Petitioner. Both were off the Board by February 2020, and did not vote to approve the Hearing Officer's proposed decision that the CTT/LATC dispute was moot,”

In a separate writ of mandate, Hollendorfer claims the CHRB “abused its discretion” by voting to deem the RMA in place between the CTT and the relevant tracks when the trainer was initially barred from Santa Anita “expired” and “incapable of repetition” when it came to Hollendorfer's later actions through the CTT.

“Conversely, Respondent has maintained that the same RMAs were extended [by the CHRB], effective December 26, 2019, and deemed operative and binding on those same signatory parties for the purposes of re-licensing the racing associations to conduct subsequent race meets, and the resolution of trainer expulsion disputes,” according to Hollendorfer's court filings.

“Respondent's inconsistent actions constituted, at a very minimum, an abuse of discretion that unlawfully deprived Petitioner of due process and equal protection under the law, as to vested fundamental rights recognized and protected by the constitution and judicial precedent established by the Supreme Courts of the United States and California,” Hollendorfer adds.

In response, the CHRB argues that the writ should be denied because Hollendorfer “was not a party to either of the two administrative proceedings conducted by the CHRB, and has no standing to challenge the results of those proceedings.”

Even if Hollendorfer did have standing, the CHRB continues, “the petition should still be denied. As to the LATC administrative process, the CHRB correctly decided that the matter was moot. Subsequent actions by the CHRB to impose the terms of the RMA on later race meets because parties could not agree on the terms of a RMA was unforeseeable, and is irrelevant to whether the CHRB's mootness decision was correct at the time based on the administrative record before the CHRB.”

The CHRB adds: “As to the DMTC proceeding, there was no hearing, and the CHRB never issued an administrative decision that would be subject to judicial review under C.C.P section 1094.5. The CHRB accepted the parties' representation of settlement and never rendered a decision. Thus, that aspect of Petitioner's cause of action is not ripe for adjudication now. Petitioner has no standing to challenge the outcome of either administrative proceeding conducted by the CHRB, and his petition under C.C.P. section 1094.5 should be denied.”

The judge in the case took both writs under submission and a ruling is pending.

Hollendorfer's court briefs can be read here, here, here and here. The CHRB's oppositions briefs can be read here and here.

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The Belgian native was riding Syros for Francis Graffard in the Group 3 Prix Thomas Bryon Jockey Club de Turquie when making contact with Ryan, who was aboard the Ralph Beckett-trained Captain Wierzba.

In what looked a deliberate elbow, Soumillon edged Ryan out of the saddle and, while he denied any malice to the incident, apologies on At The Races afterwards by saying it was “not a nice act” and that he had made “a misjudgement”.

Syros went on to finish second but was disqualified by the French stewards who gave Soumillon his lengthy ban. The rider will be free to ride on Arc weekend at ParisLongchamp as the two-month ban does not come into effect until next week.

Very nasty. Rossa Ryan took a horrible fall mid-race after contact with Christophe Soumillon… pic.twitter.com/m0IqvCsC9F

— At The Races (@AtTheRaces) September 30, 2022

“I received a little bit of pressure from Rossa's mount on my outside trying to get a better position behind Ryan,” Soumillon said. “I was just behind Ryan at the time. And I put my elbow against him just to make him understand I wasn't going to the inside and unfortunately when I asked my horse to stay there and go a little bit to the right, I pushed him for one stride or two and he fell off.

“Straight away, I knew, I'd made a mistake. I'm terribly sad with what happened because I hate seeing stuff like this and when you are doing that it's even more terrible, so I want to apologise to everyone, not just only one person who owns the horse or trains the horse or even the jockey.”

He added: “I just saw him [Ryan] now and he's fine and the horse too so I'm happy for that, but for all the people loving racing it was not a nice act from my side and I am terribly sorry and I want to apologise for what I did today.

“I just received a big suspension from the France-Galop stewards. I'm going to be suspended for two months – 60 days of racing. So that's a very big thing. So unfortunately my end-of-season is now gone. But I accept the sentence for what I did, for the terrible mistake like I said.

“And for sure that sentence is an example to others then that's acceptable but for sure, I shouldn't do that. I didn't do it on purpose to make him fall off his horse. I was just trying to keep my position. But with the ground … I probably did with a little power. It was a misjudgment from my side.

“I wasn't trying to make him fall off his horse. Unfortunately he was side by side with me, his iron goes up and he goes over the horse. I don't really understand what happened in that moment because it's going really fast but it's a terrible thing for what I did. I know a lot of people are not going to excuse me, but I feel really bad at the moment for what happened.”

Ryan reported that he and his mount were fine after the incident. He said, “The horse is fine, I'm fine. That's the main thing. I'm 100 per cent.”

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The incidents occurred on Dec. 3, 2017 and Aug. 7, 2020, and were brought to the BHA in March 2021. Harris' ban is backdated to March 16, 2021.

“Welfare and the care of horses is absolutely paramount,” James O'Mahony, the BHA disciplinary panel's chairman, told racingpost.com. “In the first footage, there is in our judgement a loss of temper, which is completely inappropriate.

“Yet perhaps the most disturbing feature was blows to the face and neck of the horse concerned. In the second video, there's also the use of a solid implement. His attitude must of course be changed if he thinks for one moment he can do anything like this again.”

Read more at racingpost.com.

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In addition to the penalties, the stewards have referred the matter to the New Jersey Racing Commission and have recommended the permanent revocation of Mejia's license.

The ride on Strongerthanuknow was Mejia's first since a July 25 spill at Monmouth and the track photographer took a picture of him to commemorate the comeback win. The picture, which was posted on the Monmouth Facebook page, clearly shows Mejia holding an object, which includes two prongs, in his left hand that appears to be a battery. The picture was subsequently removed.

After the picture surfaced, the stewards ordered the jockey off all of his mounts last Friday. They held a hearing Wednesday and the 10-year ban was part of a ruling issued Thursday.

Thursday's ruling states: “Upon entering the winner's circle and prior to dismounting from the horse Strongerthanuknow on Sept. 3, 2021, Tomas Mejia was in possession of a prohibited electrical device.”

The stewards found that Mejia was in violation of a New Jersey Administrative Code, which reads: “No electrical, mechanical, or other appliance or device, other than the ordinary whip, shall be applied to a horse at any time, anywhere on the grounds of any licensed racetrack.”

The New Jersey Racing Commission does not allow its stewards to talk to the press.

“I don't really know about the evidence other than a photo that was going around Twitter,” said Mejia's agent, Robert Tuccille. “I wasn't at the hearing. I didn't know that any of this was happening. Tomas was always a very nice, pleasant kid and everybody liked him. As a person, the kid was truly a pleasure to work for. He was very nice and nobody ever said a bad word about him. It caught me off guard. But if it's all true, then the penalty is appropriate.”

Trained by Jorge Duarte, Jr., Strongerthanuknow won the race in question, defeating 4-5 favorite Mumbai (Street Sense) by a neck. After riding Strongerthanuknow to victory, Mejia won two more races before being removed from his mounts.

Strongerthanuknow is owned by Colts Neck Stables, and their principal, Richard Santulli, said, “We at Colts Neck Stables were dismayed to learn of this incident, and that this had occurred to one of our horses.” Santulli said that he preferred to withhold comment on the penalty.

Mejia, who turned 26 on Thursday, is a native of Panama who began his career at age 15 after attending the Laffit Pincay, Jr. Jockey Academy in his native country. His began riding in the U.S. in 2018 and has had 110 winners here. He has 19 winners at the Monmouth meet, tying him for 11th place in the standings.

“To get 100 wins to me it's beautiful, especially in this country,” Mejia said in June. “It is tough (to win) since there are a lot of very good jockeys. It is not easy to get to 100 wins, but that is my goal right now.”

He continued: “I want to be the top jockey, and a jockey who gets to 1,000 wins. My goal is that when they see me in races I want people saying, 'That's Mejia, that's my jockey.'”

In comparison to other penalties handed down to riders caught using a battery, the Mejia suspension was noteworthy for its severity. After getting caught using a battery aboard Valhol in the 1999 GI Arkansas Derby, jockey Billy Patin was suspended for five years by the Arkansas Racing Commission. In 2015, Roman Chapa was caught for the third time in his career using a battery and was suspended for five years and fined $25,000 by Texas Racing Commission stewards. Chapa was also caught after evidence surfaced from a picture taken by the Sam Houston track photographer.

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Mahon's licence was withdrawn in June after an Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board Referrals Committee hearing. The hearing found he had neglected and had not adequately cared for up to 10 horses in his yard in Kilcolgan, County Galway.

Mahon's appeal focused on his claim that Geoffrey's Girl (Fr) (Croco Rouge {Ire}) had suffered a catastrophic fetlock injury only the morning of the IHRB inspection on Apr. 13, 2021. The IHRB asserted that the injury was over a week old. However, the IHRB Appeals Panel did not feel there was enough evidence to uphold the IHRB's view of what happened, thus his ban was reduced. However, despite the shorter ban, Mahon is not guaranteed of gaining a training licence should he reapply for one in the future.

The IHRB Appeals Panel said in a statement, “…that having regard to the totality of the evidence… Mr. Mahon's conduct as a licenced trainer fell well below the standard reasonably expected. It is manifestly clear that Mr. Mahon's conduct is injurious to the good reputation of horse racing. As a licence holder, he failed in his duties towards the horses in his care by failing to adequately supervise them and to identify even their most basic welfare needs.”

Although barred from training, Mahon is not forbidden from attending race meetings or from working in racing and he has been representing Pat Kelly at the races over the summer.

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“In consultation with our Chief Veterinary Officer, Dr. Dionne Benson,” wrote Butler, “we have determined that the conditions in which these horses are transported via cargo ship are inappropriate, inhumane and represent a significant risk to their health and welfare.”

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NYRA notified Baffert ahead of the Belmont Stakes that it was suspending his ability to enter horses in races or have stall space at its racetracks due to his recent history of medication violations, the conflicting statements he provided to media around the Medina Spirit scandal, and Churchill Downs' suspension of the trainer.

Judge Carol Bagley Amon of the Eastern District of New York determined that NYRA's suspension of Baffert should not have taken place without some sort of hearing allowing him to address the organization's accusations against him. Although NYRA was asserting its private property rights in the case, Amon said the organization is closely entwined enough with the state that its suspension of Baffert constituted a state action, thereby requiring due process.

Gamine, a 4-year-old daughter of Into Mischief, is undefeated in three starts in 2021. She won the G3 Las Flores at Santa Anita on April 4, the G1 Derby City Distaff on May 1 at Churchill Downs, and the G2 Great Lady M Stakes at Los Alamitos on July 5. She has breezed twice at Del Mar since the Great Lady M victory.

The only blemish on Gamine's nine-race career is a ninth-place finish in the 2020 Kentucky Oaks, after which Baffert has kept the filly to sprint distances.

The Ballerina, contested over seven furlongs, is a “Win and You're In” race for the Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Sprint this fall at Del Mar.

Read more at the Daily Racing Form.

Additional stories about Baffert's Kentucky Derby positive and ensuing legal battles can be found here.

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