On Thursday, a federal judge put Guido behind bars for 20 months as part of an agreement with prosecutors in which Guido pleaded guilty to one felony count of substantive drug misbranding and adulteration with intent to defraud and mislead in exchange for three conspiracy charges against him being dropped.

Guido was also ordered to pay a $10,000 fine. Prior to his Nov. 17 sentencing, he already paid a $61,800 forfeiture that had been a condition of his plea bargain.

At two separate sentencings on Nov. 15, the same judge in in United States District Court (Southern District of New York) sent the former Standardbred trainer Rene Allard to prison for 27 months while the former racetrack veterinarian Louis Grasso got 50 months for his role in the same doping ring.

Had the case gone to trial, prosecutors had been prepared to prove how Guido and Grasso worked together to administer performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs) to Standardbreds.

“Critically, Guido sought to obtain some of the most potent PEDs in the industry-blood builders-to administer to racehorses for the purpose of corruptly improving their race performance,” prosecutors wrote in a pre-sentencing submission.

Among the evidence that the feds intended to present if the case had gone to rial was a 2019 intercepted phone call in which the trainer and veterinarian discussed the death of a horse named Reiki, presumably after the administration of a blood-clotting agent.

“Guido appreciated the dangers of illegally administering drugs to racehorses for no legitimate medical purpose,” the prosecution's filing continued. “One of Guido's racehorses unexpectedly died with no apparent cause, leading co-defendant Louis Grasso to speculate that the horse had died after receiving a mis-administered dose of N-butyl alcohol. Guido likewise appreciated that his conduct was prohibited: over the course of his career, Guido had received multiple prior positive drug tests and fines or suspensions as punishment.”

Prosecutors had sought a 30-month prison sentence. Guido's attorney had argued for a far more lenient punishment of 12 months of home confinement. Guido's lawyer also disputed that his client had a direct role in Reiki's death.

“The government suggests that Mr. Guido was directly responsible for the death of a horse under his care,” Guido's attorney wrote. “The basis of this allegation is a conversation between Dr. Grasso and Mr. Guido recorded on October 2, 2019, in which they discuss the death of a horse owned by a friend of Mr. Guido.

“Dr. Grasso, who did not examine the horse, opines that the horse died of an improperly administered N-Butyl injection. [Reiki] died the day before [after competing in] a race at Pocono Downs.”

“Mr. Guido was not present at that race, he did not transport that horse to the track, and it's not clear whether Reiki was stabled at [his farm]. Mr. Guido did not mis-deliver an injection of N-Butyl to Reiki on October 1, 2019…. The entire conversation is speculative [and] we don't know why the horse died,” the defense filing continued.

But yet, even Guido's own attorney conceded in the same paragraph that, “What is true, however, is that similar to his facilitating others in obtaining Epogen prescriptions, Mr. Guido may have supplied the N-Butyl that Dr. Grasso had prescribed for his barn. It is conduct that he deeply regrets.”

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The decision was handed down by Judge Mary Kay Vyskocil in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York before a small audience that included Meadowlands owner Jeff Gural. Under the sentencing guidelines, three years was the maximum allowable sentence.

“I believe this offense is serious,” Vyskocil said. “I have taken that into account as well as the characterizations of Mr. Oakes as a human being and a person. But I do not see any compelling reason to go below the sentencing guideline.”

While the case against Oakes involved his pattern of doping his own horses, it also focused on his relationship with Navarro and the doping of Navarro's XY Jet (Kantharos). Oakes supplied Navarro with PEDs that were given to X Y Jet, including a “blocker” PED. On Feb. 13, 2019, the same day X Y Jet won an allowance race at Gulfstream, Navarro instructed Oakes to enter the Gulfstream backstretch to administer PEDs to the sprinter.

“Mr. Oakes shared misbranded and adulterated drugs with others, including, and most particularly Mr. Navarro,” Vyskocil noted. “Specifically, he helped Mr. Navarro dope XY Jet.”

While still in training, XY Jet died in early 2020. Navarro said at the time that the cause of death was a heart attack.

Addressing the court, government lawyer Sarah Mortazavi lashed into Oakes, saying that he had failed to realize the severity of his actions.

“The defendant has not grappled with the seriousness of his crimes,” she said, “Instead of remorse, we have gotten from him self-serving excuses meant to minimize his conduct. He has said that the government can't prove that I killed any horses or did something to improve their performances, so what I did was not detrimental to these horses. But he injected these horses with drugs up to and including the day of their race, putting their health at risk.”

Oakes' attorney Page Pate did not deny that his client used PEDs and broke laws but asked the court to consider that trainer had many good qualities. That, he argued, was justification for leniency.

“The offenses committed, while clearly wrong, are inconsistent with who he was as a person and as a trainer who cared for his horses,” Pate said. “It's true that he tried to win purses by using PEDs he got from Dr. [Seth] Fishman and PEDs he created on his own and that that gave him an unfair competitive advantage in his races. But the narrative became Mr. Oakes abused his horses. Looking back over his 40-year career that is not consistent with what so many people who knew him and worked with him have told the court. The things he has done for his community, his random acts of kindness, they show that he is not a criminal.”

When addressing the court, Oakes, who began to choke up, brought up what he said was a long-running battle with alcoholism.

“I drank when I succeeded and I drank when I failed and I failed a lot,” he said. “I did not ask for help because I thought that would show a sign of weakness.”

Vyskocil said Oakes would have to enter a drug and alcohol treatment program once in prison.

Oakes said he was remorseful and blamed his decisions on stress and the pressure he felt to succeed.

“I was constantly unhappy, irritated and depressed,” he said. “I wanted everything to be perfect and I demanded that of my wife, my kids and my employees. I regret the path that I followed. I allowed stress and the pressure I was under to dictate my decisions. I have no one to blame but myself. I am aware of the crimes that I have committed, and I have learned from them. I humbly ask for leniency.”

Gural, who had banned Oakes at his tracks well before he was indicted, sat quietly and listened to the testimony. Gural was instrumental in putting together the investigation that led to Oakes and more than two dozen others being indicted on charges related to doping.

“I am glad I came, if for no other reason than to see how justice works,” he said. “I thought everybody did a good job and the judge understood the severity of the situation. It is a tragedy. These horses can't talk for themselves. When I started this, I had friends who told me it was a waste of time, that it was impossible to catch these guys. Getting 5 Stones involved and the fact that so many horses died in California, that got the attention of the U.S. Attorney, and they were willing to prosecute. I spent a great deal of time talking to the U.S. Attorney and convincing them that there were people out there using drugs.”

Oakes owned a handful of Thoroughbreds before his arrest and won 14 races. His horses were trained by Navarro. Oakes was a prominent harness trainer with 1,875 career wins and $29,631,843 in career earnings.

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The publication presented the transcript in its entirety here.

Fishman was convicted by a federal jury last week on two counts of conspiring to violate adulteration and misbranding laws and the manufacture of performance-enhancing substances given to racehorses.

His sentencing is currently scheduled to take place during the first week of May. The maximum term he may face in federal prison is 20 years.

Jeff Gural, owner of the Meadowlands, has been outspoken in his support of Hall, who admitted to purchasing PEDs from Fishman in an effort to improve her horses' performance. Hall has seen her membership in the U.S. Trotting Association revoked, but Gural does not plan to ban her from his track. A spokesman for the New York State Gaming Commission also indicated that there were no restrictions in place on Hall's license as of last week.

The transcript notes several occasions when wiretapped phone calls were played for the jury. The contents of an audio recording is not typically captured on the court reporter's transcript and is not included here.

Here are a few takeaways from the transcript:

• Hall initially contacted Fishman in an effort to find a veterinarian to serve her new training operation. She contacted Lisa Ranger on a recommendation from a fellow trainer in Ohio identified as Daniel Mier and purchased electrolyte jugs, iron sucrose, folic acid, vitamin B-12, Caco Copper, Amicar, and vitamin C from Equestology through Ranger. Hall was new to Florida at the time and interested in finding a new veterinarian to do lameness examinations on her horses. She inquired about whether Fishman could do this, but he later explained he did not do lameness work due to back problems. In fact, she said, Fishman never did any kind of examination of any of her horses. Hall later found a different veterinarian to do the work but never made any inquiries as to whether he could sell her any pre-race PEDs.
• Fishman later detailed to Hall that he'd been investigated by an unidentified state veterinary board.
  “Here's reality,” read a text from Fishman to Hall, which Hall was asked to read on the stand. “I was tortured so much by race commission without a client ever getting a single positive other than stupid shit like Bute given by another vet. I voluntarily gave up my license and then the veterinary board had me investigated for BS. They even accused Lisa of practicing veterinary medicine. I spent $25,000 in legal fees and had a personal political favor called in to end the BS.”
• Hall corresponded with Fishman anyhow in hopes he could help her with a pre-race program for her horses, which would eventually include products she understood to be VO2 Max, a blood builder, and equine growth hormone.
• Those products were given to Hall in vials with instructions they be reconstituted with sterile or bacteriostatic water before being injected — a process that made Hall nervous, since she did not want to accidentally put the product into the wrong vein or into a muscle and harm the horse.
• Fishman told Hall in text messages that a blood building program would run $400 to $800 per month per horse. “A good program for blood, tissue regeneration and muscle factors is normally $1,250 to $1,500 per month,” Fishman told her. He offered to discount that program to $750.
• Hall said Fishman never charged her for the PEDs he gave to her. He did indicate at one stage that if she referred other trainers to him, that she could make a commission off those sales. She assumed his interest in working with her was primarily the hope she could connect him to larger-scale operations where he believed she had a connection.
• Hall indicated that there were rumors that Tony Poliseno, apparently Donato Poliseno, who is a defendant on a separate indictment, was selling product trainers in Ohio believed could be suspect. Poliseno was on the Fishman client list presented as an exhibit by the prosecution during the trial.
  “…By the time I had left Ohio or when I was getting ready to leave Ohio, a lot of trainers were getting fed up with Poliseno,” Hall testified. “There were rumors that he was selling them products that were not as they were labeled. Horses were having bad reactions. Some of it they thought could have just been saline, so they were wasting money. A lot of people were stopping buying from him, and that's kind of how I came across Equestology.”

Read the complete transcript at Harness Link

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Fishman was convicted this week of two counts of conspiring to violate adulteration and misbranding laws and the manufacture of performance-enhancing drugs intended for use in racehorses.

The documents list clients by last name. One is limited to those with New York addresses. (Fishman's trial was held in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.) The other is alphabetized by last name and includes zip codes from a variety of states and a few Canadian postal codes. Street addresses and cities have been redacted, with zip code and state data remaining.

The list includes a number of people who were also indicted in March 2020 for their roles in what prosecutors say was a widespread network of drug suppliers, distributors and end users using adulterated and misbranded products to dope Thoroughbred and Standardbred racehorses. Thomas Guido/Guido Stable, Ross Cohen, Carl Garofalo, Tony Poliseno, Rene Allard, and Richard Banca are all on the list.

Garofalo entered a guilty plea in June 2021 to one count of adulteration and misbranding and was ordered to forfeit $6.7 million. He has yet to be sentenced. The other defendants have pleaded not guilty.

A number of harness trainers and stable names appear on the list, as do the names of several veterinarians, and a few Thoroughbred racing connections.

Jeff Gural, owner of the Meadowlands, indicated to the Paulick Report he is making inquiries with each harness trainer on the list to find out what specifically they were purchasing from Fishman and when.

“Everyone told me I was wasting my time and money trying to clean [racing] up so I just assume everyone thought it was business as usual and there was no risk,” Gural wrote in an email. “Obviously, they were wrong.”

The dates on the lists indicate they were pulled in February 2020, but it's not clear whether they are limited to client accounts that were active or contained historical data. The lists also do not indicate what the clients were purchasing or whether they were the end users of the products. While prosecutors say Fishman was not actively practicing veterinary medicine, he was licensed as a vet and could have provided legitimate, legal treatments in addition to or instead of the illegal products he was found guilty of making and distributing.

See the general list here.

See the New York-specific list here.

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A jury of eight women and four men in U.S. District Court in Manhattan found Fishman, 50, guilty of two counts of conspiring to violate adulteration and misbranding laws and the manufacture of PEDS administered to racehorses by corrupt trainers for money and fame.

U.S. District Judge Mary Kay Vyskocil will sentence Fishman May 5.

Prosecutor Sarah Mortazavi told the judge prosecutors would be seeking to detain Fishman pending sentencing. 

The verdict came swiftly. Jurors got the case late Feb. 1 and deliberated for about three hours Tuesday and Wednesday. The trial began with jury selection Jan. 19 and lasted 11 days. 

The jury rejected Fishman's defense that his actions were in keeping with his oath as a licensed veterinarian to protect the health and welfare of animals.

“I understand the jury has reached a verdict,” Vyskocil said after the jury filed in the wood-paneled courtroom on the 26th floor of the courthouse.

The jury's foreperson then announced Fishman's guilt on each of the counts.

“I love animals. I love horses,” one of the jurors, Victoria Lopez, a 61-year-old woman from The Bronx, said in an interview following the verdict. “What they were doing wasn't right.”

“The jury's swift conviction of Seth Fishman reflects the overwhelming evidence of his guilt as displayed through this trial,” New York U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said in a release issued from his office. “As an ostensible veterinarian – sworn to the care and protection of animals – Fishman cynically violated his oath in service of corrupt trainers and in the pursuit of profits.”

Williams added, “Through the sale of untested, unsafe, and unstable drugs, Fishman's illegal drug business was a platform for both fraud and animal abuse. Today's conviction appropriately condemns the danger inherent in Fishman's crimes and underscores the seriousness with which this office takes the kind of abuse that Fishman practiced.” 

Stuart S. Janney III, chairman of The Jockey Club, also reacted to the verdict.

“I am pleased to see all of the effort and time spent by federal agents, prosecutors, and others who have worked so hard on this case be rewarded with a guilty verdict, and I thank them for their commitment,” Janney said in a statement distributed by TJC.

“It is highly encouraging to know that those who cheat and endanger our sport's athletes, both equine and human, face meaningful and life-changing punishments,” he added. “Clearly, this verdict will serve as a deterrent to others, and it also provides hope for those who want to see true change in the racing industry. This step forward, one of many recently, reflects our steadfast determination towards maintaining the highest levels of integrity and safety for racing's athletes and customers.”

Fishman wasn't in the courtroom when the verdict was announced. Vyskocil hasn't said in open court where he is. A cryptic comment from Fishman's attorney to the judge led to speculation Fishman may be in a hospital.

Fishman had a co-defendant Lisa Giannelli, at the start of the trial. She worked with Fishman for 18 years, and prosecutors accused her of being Fishman's drug distributor. On Jan. 24, Vyskocil declared a mistrial in her case after her attorney tested positive for COVID-19. 

Nearly two years ago, Williams' office charged Fishman, six other veterinarians, 11 trainers, and nine others, identified as PED distributors, with conspiring dope horses in New York, New Jersey, Florida, Ohio, Kentucky, and the United Arab Emirates.

The investigation began in 2018 and was headed by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and criminal investigators with the Food and Drug Administration.

At the time of the indictment, then-New York U.S. Attorney Geoffrey Berman said the case was “the most far-reaching prosecution of racehorse doping in the history of the U.S. Department of Justice.”

At a March 2020 press conference announcing the indictments, FBI New York assistant director in charge William F. Sweeney Jr. said the doping conspiracy risked the health of horses administered PEDs.

“What happened to these horses amounted to nothing less than abuse,” Sweeney said.

Those charged included top trainer Jason Servis, who federal prosecutors say juiced multi-millionaire Maximum Security, the first-place finisher in the 2019 Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve (G1), who was demoted to 17th by stewards for interference with another horse in the race.

The accused also included Jorge Navarro, who was sentenced to five years in prison last year after pleading guilty to conspiracy. Prosecutors presented evidence at Fishman's trial showing that the trainer paid Fishman tens of thousands of dollars for PEDs, including a substance called BB3 that prosecutors say thickens a horse's blood to make it run faster and farther.

Navarro is one of nine charged individuals who have pled guilty. Two others who were arrested entered into non-prosecution agreements with prosecutors.

The Fishman trial revealed that another of those accused, former harness trainer Ross Cohen, struck a deal with prosecutors to become a cooperating witness.

Servis and several others have pled not guilty and are awaiting trial. 

Prosecutors have said in court papers that they are in plea discussions with several defendants without naming them. 

The Fishman verdict could have an impact on cases going forward.

The evidence against Fishman included witness testimony, emails and texts, and wiretap recordings that captured Fishman talking about doping horses, and bragging that his drugs wouldn't appear in post-race testing.

Prosecutors also showed the jury thousands of vials of drugs seized from Fishman's Florida company Equestology.

Two of those witnesses were harness trainer Adrienne Hall and Thoroughbred trainer Jamen Davidovich. They testified they juiced their horses with PEDs obtained from Fishman. Hall testified under deferred prosecution agreement with the government. Davidovich's testimony came after he was granted immunity.

As part of their case, prosecutors also played for the jury video of Navarro's juiced X Y Jet winning the $2.5 million Dubai Golden Shaheen Sponsored By Gulf News (G1) in Dubai in 2019. X Y Jet died of a heart attack a year later, Navarro said in a statement shortly after the incident.

“Thank you boss, (you're) a big part of it,” Navarro said in a text exchange with Fishman just after the 2019 Golden Shaheen.

The Thoroughbred industry's leading publications are working together to cover this key trial.

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The Thoroughbred industry's leading publications are working together to cover this key trial.

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“At this time the government rests its case,” prosecutor Anden Chow told U.S. District Court Judge Mary Kay Vyskocil on the trial's eighth day.

A short time later, the defense rested their case without calling any witnesses or putting the accused veterinarian on the stand to testify.

Without the jury present in the Manhattan courtroom, Vyskocil told Fishman he had a right to testify but was under no obligation.

“So, it's your decision not to testify Dr. Fishman?” the judge asked.

“That is correct,” Fishman said.

“And it's your decision alone not to testify?”

“That is correct,” Fishman said.

The conclusion of testimony sets the stage for the next phase of the trial: closing arguments followed by jury deliberations after the judge issues instructions on the law. Eight women and four men comprise the jury.

Vyskocil told both sides that summations would commence Jan. 31.

Fishman, 50, was one of 27 horse racing insiders arrested in March 2020 in the biggest horse doping bust in U.S. history. Those charged included two prominent trainers, Jason Servis, who is awaiting trial, and Jorge Navarro, who pleaded guilty and was sentenced to five years in prison. Fishman is the first to go to trial in the case.

Prosecutors have accused Fishman of manufacturing illegal performance-enhancing drugs that harness and Thoroughbred trainers, including Navarro, administered to their horses to win lucrative purses and enhance their reputation. Prosecutors say those charged acted without regard to horse welfare, risking breakdowns and death.

Prosecutors allege that Fishman was especially sought after because he claimed that his products wouldn't appear in customary post-race testing.

Fishman is charged with two counts of conspiring to violate adulteration and misbranding laws. If convicted, he faces a maximum of 15 years in prison.

He went on trial Jan. 19 with Lisa Giannelli, who worked with him for 18 years. Vyskocil granted her a mistrial after her lawyer tested positive for COVID-19 Jan. 24.

Fishman contends that he carried out the accused activities in the good faith belief that he was practicing veterinary medicine.

On Friday, prosecutors set up a table in front of the jury box with dozens of boxes and bins containing vials of substances worth tens of thousands of dollars, seized at the time of Fishman's initial arrest in 2019. Prosecutors say the vials contained PEDs.

Additionally, Federal Bureau of Investigation agent Jarrett Concannon testified that during a search of Fishman's business in South Florida last month, he took photos of the same products stored on shelves.

Prosecutors say the search showed Fishman was in possession of PEDs in violation of his bail conditions.

The government's witnesses were a varied assortment. They included a woman who worked for Fishman and his Equestology business in South Florida for five years and testified after agreeing to a non-prosecution agreement with prosecutors.

They further included Ross Cohen, a defendant in March 2020 indictments. He agreed to flip as part of a cooperation deal with the feds.

Also testifying were two current trainers, Adrienne Hall who has small stable of harness horses in Florida, and Jamen Davidovich, who ran principally in Ohio in 2021 and has a start this year in New York.

Each testified Fishman supplied them with PEDs for their horses after reaching out to the veterinarian a few years ago.

Jurors also heard testimony from three FBI agents and two experts in veterinary medicine.

As part of their case, prosecutors played excerpts from more than two dozen wiretaps that captured Fishman discussing horse doping and bragging that his products weren't “testable.”

“Don't kid yourself,” Fishman is heard saying to an unidentified male individual on the other end of the line in a wiretap from April 15, 2019. “If you're giving something to a horse to make it better, and you're not supposed to do that, that's doping. You know, whether or not it's testable that's another story.”

The Thoroughbred industry's leading publications are working together to cover this key trial.

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The testimony from Adrienne Hall and Jamen Davidovich highlighted the seventh day of Fishman's trial on adulteration and misbranding conspiracy charges. Fishman was one of 27 individuals charged in the case and is the first on trial. Those charged include two prominent trainers—Jason Servis, who is awaiting trial, and Jorge Navarro, who pleaded guilty and has been sentenced to five years in prison.

Hall, of Monroe, N.J., trains horses at the Sunshine Meadows harness track in Florida and last raced a standardbred last month in New Jersey. Davidovich, also an owner, raced primarily in the Mid-Atlantic in 2020-21. He has starts this year in New York and Ohio and says he approaches the sport now more as a hobby.

Both told the jury of eight women and four men how they went about getting in touch with Fishman in 2017 and 2018 with the sole intention of obtaining from PEDs that wouldn't show up in post-race testing.

“His reputation preceded him,” Davidovich, 31, of Pennsylvania said.

Hall testified Fishman gave her a PED called VO2 Max, which she used to dope a horse and win a harness race in March 2019. Prosecutors have elicited testimony that VO2 Max increases horses' oxygen levels that enable them to run faster and longer but at risk to their safety and well-being.

The jury heard a portion of an FBI wiretap that captured Hall excitedly telling Fishman about the first-place finish.

“I wish you could have seen the race,” Hall says to the veterinarian. “He was so fantastic. He dominated. He was a completely different animal. I was so happy.”

Hall added the horse's final quarter time was 27 seconds.

“What is it usually?” Fishman asks.

“Usually it's :28 or :29 and struggling,” she responds.

Hall testified that the PEDs were a gift from Fishman. She said she believed that was the case because Fishman wanted her to connect him to two trainers she knew.

One of those trainers was Todd Pletcher, the Hall of Famer who runs a large stable.

His name was revealed under cross-examination by Fishman attorney Maurice Sercarz.

Prosecutor Sarah Mortazavi, who initially questioned Hall, never asked Hall to reveal the names during her direct examination.

At the start of her direct testimony Hall had said that before she got her trainer's license, she worked at two Thoroughbred farms and for Pletcher's stable in an administrative position, not with horses.

Hall told Sercarz that even though she told Fishman she would contact Pletcher, she never did.

Mortazavi then asked why that was when she questioned the witness again.

“He would never take my advice or opinion,” Hall testified, referring to Pletcher. “I would never approach him about something like that.”

Hall was on the witness stand, testifying against Fishman as part of a non-prosecution agreement with prosecutors. They agreed not to prosecute her for doping horses.

Davidovich was testifying without any such agreement. Instead, he invoked his Fifth Amendment right not to testify and then was compelled to testify by Judge Mary Kay Vyskocil under a grant of immunity. Under a grant of immunity, a witness can't be charged with any crimes he or she admits to.

Hall and Davidovich could, however, potentially face sanctions from regulators after their testimony. Servis and Navarro have been suspended from racing, as have other indicted individuals.

Davidovich told the jury Fishman began supplying him with PEDs after a meeting at a sushi bar in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. He said there was a third person at the meeting, a person he described as “my owner.”

Asked by prosecutor Anden Chow how the subject of PEDs came up, Davidovich responded, “We were talking about different things to make the horse run better.”

Davidovich said that as they got to know each other, Fishman complained to him about Navarro. Prosecutors say Fishman was one of Navarro's suppliers of banned PEDS.

“He said Navarro owed him a lot of money, and he was going to cut him off if he didn't pay,” the witness testified. “He also said he didn't want (Navarro) taking down the whole ship because he had a loud mouth.”

Davidovich said Fishman was referring to a video shot at Monmouth Park in which Navarro and one of his owners bragged after winning a race that Navarro was the “Juice Man.”

Davidovich said he stopped doping horses in 2018 after meeting Dr. Steve Allday, a well-known Thoroughbred veterinarian.

“He was the first person in the business who took me under his wing and taught me a different way of being involved in horse racing,” he testified.

He added: “I know what I did was wrong, and I wanted to move forward in a different way.”

The Thoroughbred industry's leading publications are working together to cover this key trial.

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Tuesday's proceedings were taken up with the remainder of cross-examination of Rick Goodell, an attorney who has represented the New York State Gaming Commission, as well as testimony from Dr. Pierre-Louis Toutain, veterinary pharmacologist, Dr. Camie Heleski, senior lecturer for the University of Kentucky, and Jeffrey Cannizzo, senior director of government affairs for NYRA.

Here are a few of the highlights:

• Justice O. Peter Sherwood, who is serving as hearing officer for the proceedings, grew testy at times Tuesday with Baffert's legal team. Cross examination of Goodell resulted in Baffert attorney Clark Brewster asking repeatedly about New York's threshold levels and whether a test under those levels would result in a positive (in New York it might, if the commission has other evidence a medication was given outside of the permitted timeframe). Sherwood also shut down one of Brewster's lines of questioning of Cannizzo, which was focused on the lack of conflict of interest rules for NYRA board members. Brewster seemed focused on the fact that the New York State Gaming Commission does not permit board members or employees to have active ownership interests in racing, while many NYRA board members do. Sherwood reminded Brewster that in his view, previous rulings from U.S. District Judge Carol Bagley Amon have established that NYRA has the legal authority, based on precedence from a 1982 case before the New York State Supreme Court, to rule a trainer off, and that this point is not considered up for debate.

“What I'm saying now, I've told you before,” Sherwood said to Brewster. “I've cited the case Judge Amon cited. I've cited it in written opinions. I've told you that at this hearing but for some reason or another, you're ignoring it.”

Brewster repeatedly thanked Sherwood for putting his feelings about that legal authority into the record.

• Toutain was asked to testify to the potential welfare and performance implications of the drugs for which Baffert horses have tested positive since 2019. Toutain resides in France, and is a distance professor for the University of London's Royal Veterinary College.Toutain was asked about phenylbutazone, and whether it's appropriate to use in the course of training horses.

“No,” said Toutain. “The appropriate use is to suppress the pain for horses and not get the horse to compete with an underlying condition. When you treat horses with phenylbutazone, normally you have to stop on the horse.”

Toutain also asserted that the use of bute could increase the risk of injury “because you are masking underlying conditions that can be severe. The purpose of phenylbutazone is to help the horse, not to mask any injuries.”

Toutain agreed that bute, lidocaine, and betamethasone would not enhance a healthy horse's maximum athletic effort, but were instead potentially problematic because of what they could be hiding.

As to corticosteroids like betamethasone, Toutain cited research stating that horses who were treated with corticosteroids had four times greater risk of catastrophic injury, although it was not clear when those administrations occurred in relationship to the injuries or what doses were used. Toutain also pointed out that a finding in blood of a corticosteroid at a low level does not presuppose the origin of the corticosteroid. A low systemic level of the drug could mean it was given intravenously some time before, or it could have emerged as a result of an intra-articular administration. In cases when a corticosteroid is injected into a joint, low levels of the drug will eventually be found circulating in the body but the concentration will always be much higher in the joint that took the injection.

“Just because you detect nothing in the blood does not mean there is nothing in the joint,” he said.

• Toutain admitted his field of expertise was pharmacology and not regulation. Although he has been consulted in the construction of regulation for international racing, that is not his primary occupation.
• As to lidocaine, Toutain said there is a relatively low threshold for its use because the drug spikes in the blood quickly and dissipates quickly. It likely has maximum effect somewhere in the first hour of an administration, but Toutain said it's often regulated in such a way to prevent administration within 24 hours of a race.
• Heleski testified primarily about the social license to operate, a concept that applies to many industries beyond animal sports. Heleski explained that the phrase refers to social or public acceptance which grants permission for an organization to conduct a given activity. This concept has been used in the past to apply to the mining and forestry industries, and has been applied in recent years to equine activities, including horse racing.

Heleski said that in order to tolerate a given equine sport, the public needs to feel the animals are treated appropriately, and that there is accountability and transparency present in the sport. Attorneys for NYRA asked Heleski about the many headlines in mainstream news media which have dogged Baffert in recent years, as well as the Saturday Night Live skit which poked fun at his interview tour after he announced the betamethasone overage for Medina Spirit. These things, she said, could impact the sport's social license to operate.

“Many people will talk about the issue of drugs and medications and they have a big concern,” she said. “They don't necessarily go into the nuance of levels. Most of the time, they feel like if there was a drug or medication noted, it's bad. They put it all under the umbrella of doping.

“If someone is so well known in a certain sport or industry that even the casual racing fan can identify them, they're more likely to make an impact when some news takes place.”

Baffert's attorneys asked Heleski whether it was Baffert's fault that the general public does not grasp the difference between various therapeutic medications. Attorney W. Craig Robertson also questioned the validity of the concept of the social license to operate, since he said it is not an actual, physical license given out by a central authority and seems an amorphous concept.

• Heleski pointed to several key problematic areas in racing which she believes detract from the sport's social license to operate — equine deaths, whip use, medication problems, and aftercare. On cross examination, NYRA attorneys pointed out to Heleski that Baffert has had more than 70 horses die in his care since launching his training career.

Following the day's proceedings, a representative of Trident DMG distributed the following statement to media on behalf of Baffert's legal team. According to its website, Trident is a strategic communications, public relations, and crisis management firm. The statement is attributed to Brewster.

“By jumping to false conclusions and ignoring the facts, NYRA is fueling a bandwagon smear campaign against Mr. Baffert for its own private, competitive purposes – an effort that threatens the integrity of the entire industry. Here are five undisputed facts that support why Mr. Baffert's suspension by NYRA should be overturned immediately:

1. The New York Gaming Commission is the exclusive and only regulatory agency for horse racing oversight in the State of New York. NYRA has no seat at the table for regulating racing.

2. NYRA's Board is conflicted, comprised of horse owners that directly compete with Mr. Baffert. No wonder they want him banned from New York racing – his horses beat theirs.

3. The basis for NYRA's attack is to import rulings from other racing venues about the permissible use of medications that are for therapeutic purposes. Not one racing regulatory agency found grounds to suspend or take action against Mr. Baffert for any of the therapeutic medication threshold overages.

4. Of the top 14 thoroughbred horse trainers in New York State, nearly all have had more medical violations than Mr. Baffert has been accused of and not one has been suspended by NYRA, nor has NYRA even attempted to suspend them. In fact, not one of the allegations against Mr. Baffert relates to a single New York racetrack rule violation, and Mr. Baffert has never had a reported medication positive in the state in his 25-plus years of racing.”

The hearing continues at 9:30 a.m. on Jan. 26. Read our reporting from Day 1 here.

The post Baffert/NYRA Hearing, Day 2: Social License To Operate, Ethics Of Therapeutic Drugs Debated appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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U.S. District Court Judge Mary Kay Vyskocil called for an end to the marathon nine-hour session at about 6 p.m. ET, ordering the jurors who had yet to be interviewed to return to the same Southern District of New York court by 9:30 a.m. Jan. 20.

The interview process consisted of 72 questions posed to the possible jurors, asking about a wide topic of subjects, including their knowledge of horse racing, ownership of pets, gambling, medications, feelings about veterinarians, and their background. These questions were asked to learn if any of them had personal conflicts that would prevent them from viewing the court case fairly and impartially.

Nine of the persons interviewed Wednesday were excused for a variety of reasons.

Of the 37 questioned, the only potential juror who said he follows horse racing closely at the present time was excused after he voiced concerns about judging the case without a bias.

Fishman and Giannelli are facing federal charges for allegedly working through a company called Equestology to sell adulterated and misbranded performance-enhancing drugs to clients in the horse racing industry.

Fishman and Giannelli are part of the March 9, 2020, indictments that also snared trainers Jorge Navarro and Jason Servis. Fishman is charged with two counts of conspiracy to commit drug adulteration and misbranding while Giannelli is facing one count of misbranding conspiracy.

The post Jury Selection Still In Progress After First Day Of Fishman/Giannelli Trial appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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