Belinda Manchio | Horse Racing Free Tips

Gelding in ‘Inhumane Treatment’ Case Settles in at New Home

Food and Wine (War Front), the 5-year-old gelding whose mistreatment for a bowed tendon resulted in a trio of “improper or inhumane” care rulings issued by the Delaware Park stewards last Friday, is settling in at his new home, a rehab farm in Townsend, Delaware, that serves as a satellite facility for MidAtlantic Horse Rescue (MAHR).

“He's very, very cool. He's just a real classy horse,” said Beverly Strauss, the co-founder and president of MAHR. “He's in beautiful condition except for his leg. It's just an unfortunate situation and it's really sad, because it looks as if he's got some talent but just ended up on the wrong side of the racetrack.”

Strauss said Food and Wine's owner, Jose Rosales, had asked her for help in trying to get the gelding re-homed earlier this fall by listing him on CANTER, but there were no takers.

“They had called me about taking him a couple of weeks ago, but we've been totally swamped,” Strauss said. “We do the aftercare for Delaware Park and we help with the Beyond the Wire program in Maryland, plus some kill pen horses here and there. So I suggested we list him and see if somebody wanted to rehab him.”

This was in the weeks before Rosales was fined $2,500 and suspended 30 days for ignoring his own veterinarian's recommendation to give Food and Wine up to a year off to heal a bowed tendon, then drugging the gelding in an attempt to mask his lameness from a regulatory veterinarian.

Strauss only learned about that darker side of Food and Wine's recent history last Friday when the Delaware Thoroughbred Racing Commission (DTRC) ruling came out against Rosales.

According to that Oct. 15 ruling, Rosales had administered drugs to mask the gelding's pain from a bowed tendon in order to make it through a workout that Rosales hoped would get Food and Wine removed from the DTRC's restricted list. But Food and Wine went lame at the end of that Oct. 3 breeze, and the Delaware Park stewards launched an investigation into his care based on a tip from a veterinarian.

Food and Wine's trainer, Linda Manchio, was also fined $2,500 and suspended 30 days. Assistant trainer Belinda Manchio was fined $1,000 and suspended 15 days (details here).

DTRC executive director Sarah Crane told TDN that as of Oct. 19, no appeals to those rulings had been filed.

“As far as other horses that were in the care of that trainer, it is my understanding that there were not very many, and they have all been transferred out to a different facility,” Crane said. “So there are no horses at Delaware Park under the care of anybody who was listed in those rulings.”

Strauss said that once she learned that Rosales would be leaving Delaware Park immediately because of the ruling against him, she decided that MAHR would just care for the gelding instead of trying to place him through CANTER.

“I just said, 'We'll take him,'” Strauss said.

“Now he's in a paddock the size of a double round pen and he's moving around and comfortable,” Straus said. “With bowed tendons, I like to have them moving a little bit. I don't like to have them stuck in a stall. I know everybody rehabs bows differently, but I think it's better for him if he can move around a little bit. We don't have him on Bute now. He'll get it as needed, but he hasn't been on it in the few days since he's been with us. He's very sweet and very nice, and once he rehabs, I think he'll make somebody a really, really nice horse.”

Based in Warwick, Maryland, MAHR is a non-profit, accredited equine aftercare and placement organization with a 158-acre farm along the banks of the Sassafras River. Strauss said that since TDN last profiled MAHR in 2016, the operation has substantially expanded.

“I think when we last spoke we only had one facility,” Strauss said. “Now we've got the main farm and four satellite farms–two that we use for rehab and two for retraining and adoption. We have about 45 horses here at the main farm and close to 90 horses in the program at all times. So we've grown.”

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Delaware Cruelty Case Results In 30-Day Suspensions After Owner Tries To Hide Bowed Tendon

Three licensees have been given suspensions and fines in a horse cruelty case in Delaware, according to stewards' rulings published this week. The rulings detailed a rough summer for allowance gelding Food and Wine. On June 2, the horse won the seventh race at Delaware Park by four lengths but walked out of the winner's circle lame. Regulatory veterinarians placed the horse on the vet's list, which would require him to complete a timed workout and pass a subsequent blood test before he'd be allowed to compete again.

Food and Wine, who was owned by Jose Luis Rosales and apparently trained by Linda Lee Manchio, was examined by a private veterinarian 12 days later. Ultrasounds revealed a bowed tendon with a 50 percent tear in one of the horse's legs. The practitioner suggested the horse needed eight to twelve months' rest to recover from the injury.

In early August, Manchio was notified that a post-race drug test from that June 2 race had come back positive for methocarbamol, which is a Class 4 substance and commonly used as a muscle relaxant to treat or prevent tying up. Manchio did not request to have the split sample tested. The horse was disqualified from his June win and Manchio was fined $1,000.

In the meantime, Food and Wine was still in training, posting a three-furlong workout on Sept. 25. Rosales contacted Delaware's regulatory veterinarian to schedule a time for a breeze to get the horse off the vet's list.

The stewards say Rosales ordered his horse be treated with Naquasone on Sept. 27. Naquasone contains a combination of trichlormethiazide (a diuretic) and dexamethasone acetate (a corticosteroid). On Sept. 27 and 28, Rosales also directed injections of dexamethasone to the horse, possibly to prepare for the workout scheduled for Oct. 3 before the state veterinarian.

The stewards' ruling also indicates the horse was given oral prednisolone and Naquasone in August.

The workout was not a success, as Food and Wine pulled up lame after going a half mile in :50.60. The horse remained on the veterinarian's list.

From there, Beverly Strauss, executive director of the MidAtlantic Horse Rescue, said she got a call from the horse's owner requesting she rehome the horse. Strauss listed him on CANTER, an online listing service designed to help source horses from the track straight to second careers. There were no takers, so Strauss pulled the listing and sent Food and Wine to MidAtlantic's lay-up facility. She said the gelding is doing well, but her organization will shoulder his costs for quite some time.

“The tendon is ugly but he is working fairly well on it,” she said. “We will give him a year off and then find him an appropriate home. He is very sweet and quite handsome.”

Glen Hill Farm's Craig Bernick, who bred Food and Wine, said he has been in touch with MidAtlantic and will be sending a donation to help cover the cost of the gelding's rehabilitation.

Delaware stewards cited several rule violations in the case against owner Rosales and listed trainer Linda Manchio, including the state's regulation against cruelty to horses. Rosales and Manchio were suspended 30 days and fined $2,500 for their roles in the incident, which stemmed from a complaint by an unidentified practicing veterinarian. Additionally, testimony at a stewards' hearing revealed Linda Manchio had not been at Delaware Park at all in 2021 and had left her barn in the care of her daughter, assistant trainer Belinda Manchio, who was also suspended 30 days and fined $1,000.

Linda Manchio has 18 starts this year, all but one of which were at the Delaware Park summer meet. Her first entry as a trainer came in 1976 according to Equibase, though riding and training records prior to that year have not been digitized. Manchio has saddled horses sporadically since 2000, taking a gap between 2003 and 2020.

Rosales, who became a licensed owner in 2019, has had 15 starts this year, coming entirely from three horses, including Food and Wine. One had already been claimed away from him at the time of the October ruling, and the other had changed hands sometime over the summer, going from the barn of Monica McGooey for Rosales to Manchio's barn for new owner Pink Ribbon Stable.

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Attempt To Mask Lameness Results In ‘Inhumane Treatment’ Penalties

The Delaware Park stewards have suspended and fined an owner, trainer and assistant trainer for “improper or inhumane treatment” of a horse diagnosed last spring with a 50% tendon tear.

Four related Delaware Thoroughbred Racing Commission (DTRC) rulings in the case involve a gelding named Food and Wine (War Front) who was disqualified from a June win because of a drug overage.

After returning sore from that victory because of a bowed tendon that a veterinarian said required eight to 12 months off, Food and Wine was put back into training in September and purportedly drugged in an attempt to mask lameness and get the gelding off the restricted list.

But instead of being cleared to race based on that supervised workout, Food and Wine again pulled up lame.

According to the rulings, a veterinarian then reported the series of incidents to the stewards.

As a result, after appearing at an Oct. 15 stewards' hearing and waiving his right to counsel, owner Jose Luis Rosales, 37, has been fined $2,500 and suspended 30 days.

Trainer Linda Manchio, 76, who did not appear at her hearing, has been fined $2,500 and suspended 30 days. The Oct. 15 DMTC ruling against her stated that she has not been to Delaware Park all year despite stabling and starting horses there.

Assistant trainer Belinda Manchio, 58, whom the Delaware Park stewards deemed to have been the licensee in charge of the day-to-day care for Food and Wine, attended her hearing, waived her right to counsel and was fined $1,000 and suspended 15 days.

TDN could not immediately reach Rosales or either of the Manchios for comment. It was unclear if appeals were in the process.

Here's how the allegations unfolded according to the four DTRC rulings (three dated Oct. 15 and one from Aug. 5):

Five-year-old Food and Wine, with a 2-for-15 record, wired a June 2 turf allowance at Delaware Park. At one point in the race, the 14-1 shot opened up a 10-length lead under jockey Tomas Mejia (who has since been suspended 10 years by New Jersey regulators for using an electrical shocking device in a race at Monmouth Park).

But after Food and Wine coasted home by four lengths at the wire, he “returned sore and was placed on the State Veterinarians List,” three of the Oct. 15 DTRC rulings stated.

Then, according to the rulings, on June 14, “the Practicing Veterinarian performed an Ultrasound on Food and Wine [that] reveled a 50% tear in his tendon (Bowed Tendon). The Veterinarian recommended 8 to 12 months off to recover.”

Subsequently, on Aug. 5, the stewards ruled that Food and Wine had tested positive for an overage of methocarbamol, a Class 4 and Penalty Category C skeletal muscle relaxant, after his June 2 win. Linda Manchio waived her right to have a split sample tested. Food and Wine was DQ'd from the win and Linda Manchio was fined $1,000.

Meanwhile, instead of getting the time away from the track that the practicing veterinarian had recommended, Food and Wine was instead placed back into training. He breezed three furlongs in :38 at Delaware Park on Sept. 25.

One of the DTRC rulings states that the gelding's owner, Jose Luis Rosales, “contacted the State Veterinarian to schedule a breeze in order for Food and Wine to be removed from the Vets List and be eligible to race.”

That workout was scheduled for Oct. 3. According to the ruling, “Food and Wine worked a half-mile in :50.60 and pulled up lame. Food and Wine remained on the Vets List.”

After the stewards began investigating, it was revealed in the ruling that, “Food and Wine was treated in August with Prednisolone Pills and Naquasone Powder. Owner Jose Luis Rosales ordered the treatment of Naquasone on Sept. 27 and an injection of Dexamethasone on Sept. 27 and 28 [in the] days prior to Food and Wine's workout.”

The ruling continued: “Stewards determined that the ordered treatment[s] by Mr. Rosales for Food and Wine were to take away any lameness so that Food and Wine could work and be removed from the Vets List to race.”

One of the Oct. 15 rulings noted that “Trainer Linda Manchio shall bear primary responsibility for the proper care, health, training, condition, safety and protection of horses in her charge.”

The ruling also stated that, “During testimony in this matter, Trainer Linda Manchio has not been to Delaware Park in 2021, her stable has been in the care of her Assistant Trainer Belinda Manchio. Linda Manchio did not follow the recommendation of her Practicing Veterinarian for Food and Wine.”

Belinda Manchio's ruling stated that the stewards determined she “shall assume the same duties and responsibilities as imposed on a registered Trainer” for the “proper care, health, training, condition, safety and protection of horses in her charge.” The ruling noted that she, too, “did not follow the recommendation of her Practicing Veterinarian.”

All three Oct. 15 rulings stated that the conduct of the suspended licensees “does adversely affect the public's confidence in the reputation of Thoroughbred racing in Delaware and is not in the best interest of horse racing.”

As an owner, Rosales has five wins from 29 lifetime starters dating to 2019.

Linda Manchio's record on Equibase dates to 1976, the oldest year available for training stats in that database. She has 192 wins from 2,254 starters during that time, but had no starters between 2003 and 2020. There are no other rulings listed against her in The Jockey Club's rulings database.Att

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