Diodoro is eligible to race in Texas because the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority (HISA) does not have jurisdiction in that state.

Diodoro did not return a phone call from the TDN, but it appears that he will be busy at the Lone Star meet, which concludes on July 14. Diodoro has been allotted 50 stalls, which appears to be the maximum amount allowed by the track's racing department. He has not started a horse since April 3 at Turf Paradise. He was able to run in Arizona after his suspension was announced because the horses had been entered before Diodoro was notified of the violation

Diodoro was provisionally suspended by HIWU on March 29. Though he has been summarily suspended the case must still be reviewed by HIWU's Internal Adjunction Panel. Diodoro also has the option of trying to contest the suspension in court.

Levothyroxine is a thyroid medication. According to the National Library of Medicine the use of thyroid hormones for doping to enhance performance in human sports has long been controversial. There have been claims of abuse of these drugs, but they have not been prohibited by the World Anti-Doping Agency.

The Texas Racing Commission interpreted its state racing rules and concluded that only the racing commission can legally oversee racing in the state and therefore would not allow HISA to come into Texas. Because they are not under HISA's jurisdiction, Lone Star Park and Sam Houston cannot send their simulcast signal out of state.

Diodoro was the leading trainer in 2023 at Oaklawn Park and is currently still in second place in this year's Oaklawn standings. Training since 1995, Diodoro has 3,184 career wins and a winning rate of 21 percent.

A similar scenario is playing out in Louisiana, where trainer Jonathan Wong has begun racing. Wong received a two-year suspension from HIWU after he had a horse test positive for Metformin, a drug that is commonly used by humans to combat type 2 diabetes. Like Texas, Louisiana racing is not under HISA's control. Wong has started eight horses in Louisiana with no winners. He has four horses entered at Evangeline Downs next week and another Saturday night.

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What exactly is gabapentin?

“It is a drug that is used as an anti-convulsant in people. It is also used for neurotrophic pain—in other words, pain originating from nerves,” said former California Horse Racing Board (CHRB) director, Rick Arthur. “For example, if you have shingles, they're likely to put you on gabapentin.”

According to the government run MedlinePlus website, gabapentin is commonly prescribed to help control certain types of seizures in people who have epilepsy, and works by decreasing abnormal excitement in the brain.

Common gabapentin medications include Horizant, Gralise, and Neurontin.

Its use in human medicine has increased as an alternative pain relief to highly addictive opioids, said Arthur. But “frankly, it is not very effective,” he added, of the orally administered drug. 

Gabapentin is a Class 3, penalty category B drug according to the Association of Racing Commissioners International, meaning it is deemed to have certain uses in racehorses.

Under the Horse Racing and Integrity Act's (HISA) impending anti-doping and medication control (ADMC) program, gabapentin is listed as a category B controlled substance. This means it is permitted for use in certain windows. 

When HISA's ADMC goes into effect on March 27, a first-time gabapentin positive comes with a possible 15-day suspension, a fine of up to $1,000, and automatic disqualification of the race-day results.

According to HISA's chief of science, Mary Scollay, because gabapentin is listed in the HISA technical document as an anti-convulsant, “I expect there could be successful legal argument that it's not an analgesic.”

So, for what kinds of issues can gabapentin be used to treat in horses?

“It was advocated about 10, 15 years ago as a way to treat navicular disease,” Arthur said. “But that kind of fell apart as it didn't work.”

It is also used to treat lameness in horses, “but more as a desperation move when they don't know what it is,” he added.

Because of its use as an anti-anxiety medication in humans, some say it has the same potential off-label use for horses, too.

Neither Southern California-based private veterinarian, Ryan Carpenter, nor current CHRB equine medical director, Jeff Blea, are aware of gabapentin being used as a calming agent in racehorses. Though Blea admitted that it could have that effect. 

According to the CHRB's stewards rulings webpage, there have been roughly 18 individual gabapentin positives in California since 2005.

“For the most part, they were normally cases where the humans associated with the horse were on gabapentin,” said Arthur, explaining how most cases were ruled instances of environmental contamination.

“We have no idea how the transfer occurs. We were suspicious that it was secondary contamination from someone urinating in the stall but we never confirmed that,” he said. 

In one instance, an off-track veterinarian had prescribed gabapentin to a dog that was brought to the barn, said Arthur. 

“We assumed it was from urine,” said Arthur, when asked about how the transfer was made. “Why someone would let a dog urinate in the stall I don't know. 

While the relationship between a person or an animal prescribed gabapentin and a positive finding in a horse is clear “in most cases,” said Arthur, “there were a number of instances where there was no explanation for it other than the horse being administered gabapentin.”

According to Arthur, if the reported finding shows gabapentin at nanograms in the low single digits, that is typically an indication of environmental contamination. 

“If it's up over 15, 20 nanograms, I would expect that to be an intentional administration,” said Arthur. “We had one case around 100 nanograms, which would be impossible to explain by accidental contamination.”

The Pennsylvania Racing Commission did not publish the amount at which gabapentin was found in Artie's Princess's (We Miss Artie) post-race sample. However, Joseph told the TDN last week that the horse tested positive at a level that should be considered below the recognized threshold level.

Joseph also told the TDN that the horse was tested 24 hours before the race by the same laboratory. “The horse was negative and was then positive the next day when no vet treated her. How is that possible? The proof is in the pudding,” said Joseph. 

According to Arthur, “you would not expect this drug to work for more than 12 to 24 hours in any sense as an analgesic or pain reducing medication.”

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“The defendant wasn't just in the doping business, she was in the deception business,” prosecutor Benjamin Gianforte told the jury in U.S. District Court in New York.

But defense attorney Louis Fasulo countered by saying that his client couldn't be found guilty because her actions lacked criminal intent.

“Intent,” he wrote in large letters on a computer screen for the jury of eight men and four women to read.

Fasulo said intent was the crux of the case. “What was Lisa Giannelli's intent? Why did she do what she did?”

Giannelli is challenging the government's evidence against her in a case growing out of the federal government's crackdown on horse doping at racetracks across the country. The defendants included the prominent trainer Jason Servis who faces trial in early 2023.

Giannelli is being tried on one count of conspiring to violate federal law prohibiting the adulteration or misbranding of drugs.

In his opening, Gianforte said that for more than two decades Giannelli distributed illegal performance enhancing drugs that corrupt trainers used to dope horses. He said the drugs clearly violated racing regulations. But that didn't stop the cheaters, he said.

“Why? Because fast horses win money,” the prosecutor said.

Gianforte said the drugs Ginannelli sold were sought after because they were designed not to show up in post-race testing.

“Professional horseracing is highly competitive,” the prosecutor said. “Winning highly lucrative.”

Those create a huge temptation to cheat and defraud others, he said.

“That's what doping amounts to-fraud,” he said.

Gianforte never mentioned by name a key figure: the veterinarian Seth Fishman who manufactured the drugs Giannelli sold at racetracks and training centers. Her customers were mostly harness trainers.

In February, Fishman was convicted of conspiracy. Fasulo told the jury that Giannelli would testify that she did nothing wrong.

“She will tell you what she did and why she did it,” he said. “We're not hiding from that.”

He told the jury that horse racing was a sport in its purest sense and “how it is manipulated goes to the people in the sport.”

He said the trial wasn't about PEDs or horse racing or whether animals should be subjected to drugs. And he said it wasn't about Fishman “with his own motives that he kept” from Giannelli.

“At no time did he tell her she was doing anything wrong in fulfilling his orders,” he said. “She was not the veterinarian; she was not the doctor.”

The cooperator was Ross Cohen, who took the stand after an FBI agent and an FBI photographer testified about law enforcement searches conducted at Giannelli's home in Felton, Del., in 2020 and at Fishman's warehouse in Boca Raton, Fla., in 2019.

Cohen was arrested in 2020 during the government's big takedown. He has since pleaded guilty as part of cooperation agreement with the government.

Cohen, 50, testified that he purchased performance enhancing bleeder pills from Giannelli when he was training horses in New York.

Under questioning from prosecutor Sarah Mortazavi, Cohen said Giannelli told him that he should give the pills to horses on the day of a race even though that would violate race regulations.

“She said they do not test for it at this time, but there was no guarantee they'd always not test,” he testified.

He said testability was important to him.

“I did not want to get suspended and fined and have the owners lose the purse money,” Cohen said.

Earlier in the day, prosecutors showed the jury a 2016 text that Giannelli sent to Fishman referring to Cohen.

“Propanthelene bromide? Ross Cohen is asking about it,” Giannelli wrote.

“Have but it tests,” Fishman replied.

Cohen testified the substance is a bronchodilator that increases a horse's airways. He told Mortazavi he didn't remember talking to Giannelli about that. His testimony resumes April 29.

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Here's a rundown:

Jorge Navarro: Navarro pled guilty to one count of drug alteration and misbranding and was sentenced to five years in prison, the maximum allowable sentence. Judge Mary Kay Vyskocil was not the least bit sympathetic when Navarro blamed his juicing on the pressure he was under to win races and went so far as to say she wished she were able to sentence him to more than five years. In addition to the prison sentence, Navarro was ordered to payment of restitution in the amount of $26,860,514, reflecting winnings obtained through his fraudulent doping scheme. He is expected to begin his stay in prison as early as next week.

Jason Servis: Has not entered a guilty plea and seems intent on fighting this to the end. In November, in a superseding indictment, the government tacked on the extra charges of mail and wire fraud conspiracy. The maximum sentence under federal guidelines for the charge is 20 years. His trial has been delayed and is not expected to occur until the first quarter of 2023. He is represented by the high-profile attorney Rita Glavin, who also represented Andrew Cuomo, who resigned amid accusations of sexual harassment.

Louis Grasso, Donato Poliseno, Conor Flynn, Thomas Guido, Rene Allard and Richard Banca: The defendants come from the harness industry and are under an indictment that is separate from the Servis-Navarro indictment. Grasso is a veterinarian, who, the government charges supplied adulterated and misbranded PEDs to trainers. The others are all trainers. All six have been charged with one count of drug adulteration and misbranding and have maintained their innocence. Their case goes to trial June 27.

Erica Garcia and Michael Tannuzzo: Tannuzzo was a NYRA-based trainer with a small stable who, allegedly, helped supply Navarro with drugs. Garcia is a veterinarian who also faces charges that she helped procure drugs for Navarro. Their trial is slated for December.

Marcos Zulueta: A Parx-based trainer who was winning at a 31% clip before being indicted, has pled guilty and has been sentenced to 33 months. He also assisted Navarro in obtaining PEDs. Has not yet reported to prison.

Gregory Skelton: An Indiana-based veterinarian, he is no longer under indictment.

Seth Fishman: The Florida veterinarian ran a large scale operation that manufactured and sold PEDs, Fishman went to trial and was found guilty after the jury deliberated for less than two days. He was convicted on two counts of conspiring to violate adulteration and misbranding laws and the manufacture of PEDS and faces up to 20 years in prison. He was absent from the court room for the last two days of his trial and his absence has yet to be explained. He will be sentenced May 5.

Lisa Gianelli: Assisted Fishman. Her trial was postponed after her lawyer came down with COVID.

Ross Cohen: Is no longer under indictment and testified against Fishman.

Chris Oakes: A prominent harness trainer who used drugs on his own horses and also supplied Navarro with drugs, pled guilty and was sentenced to three years. His sentence will begin June 1.

Nick Surick: Another prominent Standardbred trainer, he is no longer under indictment.

Jordan Fishman: A Massachusetts-based drug manufacturer, he pled guilty and was sentenced to 15 months.

   Rick Dane, Jr.: A harness trainer, he has pled guilty and has not yet been sentenced.

Kristian Rhein: A veterinarian based in New York, he sold SGF-1000, the drug that Servis was allegedly using on his horses. He was sentenced to three years and is serving his terms at FCI Fort Dix.

Michael Kegley, Jr.: A sales director for a company that sold PEDs, Kegley was sentenced to 30 months and is serving his term at FCI Ashland.

Alexander Chan: Like Servis, mail and wire fraud charges have been tacked on to the original indictment and he faces up to 20 years in prison. Allegedly procured drug for Servis. His trial has been postponed until 2023, when he will be tried along with Servis.

Henry Argueta: Servis' former assistant, he is no longer under indictment. Would come as no surprise if he were to testify against his old boss.

Scott Robinson: A drug supplier, he pled guilty and was sentenced to 18 months and is serving his sentence at FCI Coleman Low. Granted an interview from prison to the TDN and said he had “thousands of customers.”

   Scott Mangini: A drug manufacturer and a former partner with Robinson, was sentenced to 18 months and Is serving his sentence at FPC Pensacola.

Chris Marino: The harness trainer is no longer under indictment.

Sarah Izhaki and Ashley Liebowitz: A mother and daughter team who appeared to be minor players in the scandal. Izhaki pled guilty and was sentenced to time served plus three years of supervised release. Her daughter, Leibowitz, entered into a non-prosecution agreement with the government.

Rebecca Linke: A New Jersey-based veterinarian, Linke entered into a deferred prosecution agreement with the government. The charges in the indictment will be dismissed if she complies with all the rules, regulations and special conditions of the agreement.

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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 also 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 Apr. 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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Thoroughbred Daily News reports that the partnership of Peter Brant and Coolmore discovered this first-hand, following the 3-million Euro (about $3.3 million) purchase of French Group 1 winner Rougir at last year's Arqana December Breeding Stock Sale. On his own, Brant also bought the French Group 1-placed Speak of the Devil for 1.95 million Euros (about $2.2 million) at the Arqana sale.

Three days after the fall of the hammer, Rougir and Speak of the Devil's former trainer, Cedric Rossi, was among several in his family arrested in connection to a horse doping probe.

Going into the sale, Rougir was a high-level runner in Europe, having won the Group 1 Prix de l'Opera Longines and G3 Prix des Reservoirs in her native France. She had most recently traveled overseas to compete in last year's Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Turf, where she finished seventh for owner Le Haras de La Gousserie. Having her trainer under suspicion for cheating would understandably cast doubt over the legitimacy of those performances, and in turn, the expensive purchase.

However, Brant said both of his purchases have jumped through every testing hoop. Had they not, or if the horses' records were damaged by anything pertaining to Rossi's arrest, Brant said he and the Coolmore partners had discussed contingency plans with the auction company.

“We were assured these horses were not involved in this thing,” Brant told TDN. “We had all sorts of tests taken on these horses. Samples were sent to Germany. They checked out very well. We were led to believe that these horses were not part of the investigation, that they checked out very well.”

Rougir and Speak of the Devil have been moved to the Florida-based barn of trainer Chad Brown, with short-term and long-term targets in New York turf graded stakes races.

Read more at Thoroughbred Daily News.

The post After Some Hurdles, Seven-Figure Filly Rougir Begins Full-Time U.S. Residency appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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

The post Jury Selection Process Begins for Fishman Trial appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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“Navarro's aggressive pursuit of performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs)–and his eagerness to use racehorses under his care to test the potency of novel PEDs–displayed a particularly callous disregard for the well-being of the horses under his care and control,” government attorneys wrote in a Dec. 10 sentencing submission filed in United States District Court (Southern District of New York).

“[T]he defendant considered his prolific doping a badge of honor,” prosecutors alleged. Navarro, 46, is to be sentenced Dec. 17. Although the recommendation for the maximum prison sentence for one of the highest-profile defendants in the alleged international doping scandal is not a shock, the fact that entities “from whom purse winnings were obtained through the immediate effect of Navarro's fraud” were described as victims is a significant turn of events.

But there could be three looming roadblocks to the collection of that $25.8 million in restitution that aren't made any clearer by Friday's submission. The first is that prosecutors filed the schedule of victims under seal, so exact names of who is eligible to collect weren't made public.

The second is which entities (owners, trainers, jockeys, etc…) have been determined to be eligible for payback, and in exactly which races? Theoretically, the list spans nearly a decade of Navarro's racing across multiple jurisdictions. The third is that the judge doesn't have to approve the recommendation. But all of those points could end up being trumped by practicality: Even if the judge holds him to it, whether or not Navarro will ever be able to pay such a daunting amount of restitution is the obvious question. It is common in multi-million dollar fraud convictions for victims never to see even a penny of restitution decisions that get hammered out in a plea agreement, like Navarro's did. And if Navarro ends up getting deported back to his native Panama as the result of his pleading guilty to one felony drug conspiracy count, the prospect of him ever paying up could vanish entirely the moment he's banished from America.

(Separately, Navarro's deal also includes a fine of $70,000 payable to the government that is due at the time of his sentencing. It is not counted as part of the restitution.)

“Throughout Navarro's years-long conspiracy, Navarro was the critical component in a network of fraud–the individual who amplified the corruption of horse owners and encouraged the corruption of his underlings,” the Dec. 10 filing stated.

“Navarro earned tens of millions of dollars in purse winnings by training and racing Thoroughbred horses that Navarro had 'doped' using a plethora of adulterated and misbranded PEDs, including (among others) blood builders, vasodilators, SGF-1000, baking soda 'drenches,' 'bleeder' pills, and other drugs not approved by the Food and Drug Administration…

“There was no question that, throughout the charged conspiracy, Navarro understood what he was doing was wrong. Navarro often warned, and was warned by, trainers to ensure that no one would be caught 'doping' their horses,” the filing stated. Back in August, Navarro admitted to administering illicit substances to horses under his care, including to many of the stakes stars of his stable during the 2010s decade. He specifically cited War Story, Shancelot, Sharp Azteca and X Y Jet as examples. That latter horse–an elite-level international stakes sprinter–died suddenly in January 2020, within months of having been repeatedly drugged by Navarro.

On Dec. 3, in a presentencing report in his own defense, Navarro had asked the federal judge for a variance to bring the most time he would spend behind bars down to about 3 1/2 years. Navarro–plus friends and family members who wrote numerous character-reference letters to the judge begging for leniency of his behalf–also professed to have “loved” the very horses he injected and force-fed with purported PEDs. The feds took umbrage at both of those assertions in Friday's filing.

“Notwithstanding his hypocritical and self-serving claim to have 'loved' the horse, Navarro's course of conduct with X Y Jet merely exemplifies his aggressive pursuit of new drugs with which to dope his horses,” the court document stated.

“Navarro's frantic efforts to dope X Y Jet in advance of a Feb. 13, 2019, precursor race to the $2.5 million Golden Shaheen race were emblematic of his approach to racing, and indicative of the nature of Navarro's discussions when speaking with complicit third parties, in contrast to how Navarro apparently comported himself around others.”

The filing continued: “In his sentencing submission, Navarro blatantly breaches the plain terms of the parties' plea agreement. Despite agreeing to the [five-year max] calculation…and despite further agreeing that 'neither party will seek any departure or adjustment'…Navarro asks the Court to depart and adjust the stipulated Guidelines sentence on the basis of out-of-circuit precedent never adopted in this Circuit, and contrary to the Guidelines calculations in the plea agreement and pre-sentencing report.”

Prosecutors cited three specific reasons why the five-year imprisonment as per federal sentencing guidelines is appropriate in Navarro's case.

“First, the nature and scope of Navarro's offense conduct merits a Guidelines sentence. Navarro participated in the conspiracy for years, and in the course of the conspiracy, pursued many different PEDs from multiple different suppliers–both veterinarians and laypeople–in efforts to gain a competitive advantage. Navarro's criminality was motivated by his cynical efforts to boost his own profile and profits.

“Second, a Guidelines sentence is necessary to provide just punishment and reflect the nature and seriousness of the offense given Navarro's casual attitude regarding his years-long 'doping' conspiracy.

“It is not the case that Navarro's crime was the result of a single lapse in judgment, confined in time and scope,” the filing continued. “To the contrary, Navarro engaged in repeated and persistent efforts to cheat over the course of years, cycling through various sources of supply, and pursuing aggressively new means to illegally dope horses. Yet Navarro never acknowledged the seriousness of his crimes. Navarro's flippancy towards his dangerous and illegal conduct is exemplified by calls, text messages, and other evidence…”

The government's third point has to do with deterring other trainers from committing the same crimes.

“Racehorse trainers, who are entrusted with the care and custody of racehorses, have unfettered access to these animals, and by extension are entrusted to ensure those horses' care and health,” the filing stated. “Like veterinarians, trainers are afforded a certain latitude under the assumption that they are acting in good faith as competitors and as custodians of racehorses. Navarro exploited that good faith.

“He, like many actors in the racehorse industry, had grown indifferent to, and dismissive of, the notion of obtaining illegal drugs to dope racehorses for profit. Racehorse trainers, in particular, assume that even if caught doping, they will have the means and wherewithal to obfuscate, litigate, and intimidate others into overlooking or justifying a violation, and thus continue their doping practices unencumbered.”

The filing continued: “A Guidelines sentence of 60 months' imprisonment will send a strong signal to racehorse trainers and others in the industry that there will be serious consequences if they abuse their position of trust by engaging in the callous and dangerous practice of doping racehorses for profit.

“A significant sentence will counter the pervasive view in the racehorse industry that selling and administering adulterated and misbranded drugs is inconsequential and that the consequences of criminal activity will never amount to significant criminal penalties.”

In conclusion, prosecutors wrote that, “Jorge Navarro's case reflects failings, greed, and corruption at virtually every level of the world of professional horse racing.

“For money and fame, corrupt trainers went to increasing extremes to dope horses under their care. Unscrupulous owners, who stood to profit directly, encouraged and pressured trainers to win at any cost. Veterinarians sworn to the care and protection of their patients routinely violated their oaths in service of corrupt trainers and to line their own pockets.

Assistants and grooms all witnessed animal abuse in the service of greed, but did little to stop such conduct, and engaged in myriad ways to support notoriously corrupt trainers.

“Structures designed for the protection of the horses abused in this case failed repeatedly; fixtures of the industry–owners, veterinarians, and trainers–flouted rules and disregarded their animals' health while hypocritically incanting a love for the horses under their control and ostensible protection.

“Standing as the keystone for this structure of abuse, corruption, and duplicity was Jorge Navarro, a trainer who treated his animals as expendable commodities in the service of

his 'sport,'” the filing summed up.

The post Feds Want Those Navarro Cheated to Collect $25M Restitution appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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“From at least in or about 2002 through at least in or about March 2020, Seth Fishman, Lisa Giannelli, Jordan Fishman, and Rick Dane, Jr., the defendants, and others known and unknown, engaged in a corrupt scheme to create, manufacture, and distribute adulterated and misbranded PEDs to racehorse trainers and others in a systematic effort to improve race performance of racehorses, and obtain prize money as a result,” reads the indictment. “The defendants, created, marketed, and distributed a variety of PEDs, which were manufactured in an unregistered facility, mislabeled, and/or administered with no valid prescription.”

Several other defendants in the case have entered changes of plea from “not guilty” to “guilty” in recent months, including Jorge Navarro, Kristian Rhein, and Michael Kegley, Jr.

Read more at the Thoroughbred Daily News.

The post Jordan Fishman Scheduled For Change Of Plea Hearing On Oct. 6 appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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Specifically, almost everyone in the Thoroughbred industry wants to know what will happen to the highest-profile defendants at the very end of the supply chain: The barred trainer Jorge Navarro, who has already pled guilty to one felony count in the conspiracy and faces a maximum prison term of five years; plus the similarly ruled-off trainer Jason Servis, who is still fighting his charges even though the feds allegedly have him recorded on wiretapped phone conversations repeatedly discussing his administration of performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs) to horses.

Theoretically, the end-user defendants who put needles into horseflesh should be the ones who get penalized the harshest.

Here's the sentencing hierarchy so far: Mangini's 1 1/2 years behind bars matched the sentence handed down in March by the same judge to Scott Robinson, who pled guilty to charges related to marketing and selling the illicit pharmaceuticals that Mangini (and others) created.

Sarah Izhaki, considered a bit player for selling misbranded versions of Epogen on a much smaller scale, has already been sentenced to the time she had served plus three years of supervised release. But Izhaki had extenuating health circumstances that affected her relatively lenient penalty, which was described by the judge as a “one-off” sentence that other defendants should not expect to receive.

The sentencing stakes could be raised a little bit higher for the next two defendants on the court calendar. One is Michael Kegley Jr., an independent contractor for the Kentucky-based company MediVet Equine, who pled guilty to one count of drug adulteration and misbranding. Kristian Rhein, a suspended veterinarian formerly based at Belmont Park, pled guilty to a similar felony charge “for use in the covert doping of Thoroughbreds.”

But beyond the issue of jail time, the back-and-forth sparring between federal prosecutors and the defense at Mangini's

Sept. 10 sentencing hearing revealed another bizarre aspect of the alleged conspiracy: Even after pleading guilty back in April, Mangini still claimed–right up until the moments before his sentencing–that he had neither created nor sold PEDs.

United States District Judge J. Paul Oetken at one point termed those contentions “semantic issues” that were not really material to Mangini's sentencing. But as federal prosecutors put it when filing pre-sentencing documents that addressed this issue, Mangini's “continued refusal to contend with the basic facts of his offense speaks poorly of this defendant's character and to the continued danger posed by a man who refuses to acknowledge the core of his wrongdoing.”

Mangini's reasoning went something like this: Yes, he committed a felony by conspiring to distribute adulterated and misbranded drugs. But allegedly, the overwhelming portion of the online businesses that he was involved in simply sold knock-off versions of therapeutic products that were not approved by the Food and Drug Administration.

Mangini had argued that many of the buyers of the drugs he created were pet owners and veterinary clinics that just wanted cheaper versions of regulated pharmaceuticals, like omeprazole paste to reduce gastric acid, which he claimed was the primary focus of his e-commerce websites.

Mangini's attorney, Bill Harrington, argued on Friday that out of the 27,600+ product sales that the prosecution had presented as evidence, only a “tiny sliver” under 1% could possibly be considered PEDs, and even then only under very narrow circumstances.

Harrington said it was important for the court documentation in his client's case to reflect that Mangini did not “flood the supply side of the market” with PEDs as prosecutors have written in some press releases, because such allegedly false assertions will harm Mangini's reputation forever and “make the case sound more grave than it is.”

Harrington told the judge that “the U.S. Attorney's office is trying to say this is a crime where Mr. Mangini was corrupting the horse racing industry. And they don't have the evidence of that. The drugs don't support that.”

United States Attorney Andrew Adams begged to differ, and he confidently swatted aside any attempts to characterize Mangini's conduct as not involving the doping of racehorses.

“Mr. Mangini's position that none of these drugs were designed, marketed, intended to be PEDs is just ludicrous,” Adams said in court. “It's belied by the marketing materials. It's belied by the materials that were components of the drugs themselves. And it's belied by the methods by which these drugs were being sold, and the people to whom they were being marketed.”

The feds came armed with plenty of evidence. First, consider the names of the two chief websites Mangini was involved with: One was called racehorsemeds.com. The other was named horseprerace.com.

Next check out the names of some of the products peddled openly on those sites: Blood Building Explosion. Pre-Race Explosion. Growth Factor 5000. Horse Power! Equine Growth Hormone. Numb It Purple Pain Injection. Plug It Bleeder Injection. Blast Off Breather Injection.

One product called White Lightning was described as something that would “increase stamina and performance in racehorses, greyhounds, and camels.”

Another named Ice Explosion–described on the website as “one of our top selling products”–was advertised as a substance that “works to improve both sprint and endurance performance and reduce the perception of pain.”

Many of these products were stamped “WILL NOT TEST.” And some were instructed to be administered “4-6 hours prior to event,” according to the inventory list provided by the feds.

“The point of this operation was to assist people in getting an illegal edge in horse racing,” Adams said. “To find otherwise would ask the court to ignore essentially everything that was ever written, both in the [product] formulas and in the marketing materials for both websites that Mr. Mangini was a part of.”

The prosecutor continued: “The recommended dosages on [the websites], they're all aimed at horses. If you were to take what is on the website as the recommended dosage and applied it to a dog, you'd be seriously endangering the dog. The idea that this is therapeutic, [that] it could be for your house pet, is again, completely absurd. These were aimed at horses, aimed at racing horses, and aimed to do exactly what the marketing materials said they were aimed to do: To make your racehorse run faster.”

Mangini's contention, according to one pre-sentencing court filing, was that such products were allegedly “dietary supplements that contain different combinations of vitamins, amino acids, electrolytes, and minerals. Some dietary supplements say they 'will not test' because their ingredients are not prohibited by varied racing rules.”

With specific reference to the blood builders, Harrington held his ground in Mangini's defense.

“We dispute that any of those are PEDs,” Harrington said. “The only basis for saying that they're PEDs is the way they were advertised.”

So essentially, Mangini's attorney was saying that the websites were only engaging in hyperbole that is reflective of a society in which consumers aren't supposed to take claims of alleged performance enhancement at face value. Harrington made the analogy that human athletes who go to the mall to purchase gaudily advertised dietary supplements at a store like GNC know there's really nothing illicit in them.

“My argument is that even those non-injectable dietary supplements sold to people by GNC are advertised the same way,” Harrington said. “We all agree those are not PEDs. Yet they use the same language–'explode,' 'enhancement.'”

Adams didn't buy that line of reasoning.

“There's no dietary supplement that comes with a syringe,” Adams said, noting that many of Mangini's products did.

“The court should not accept the facile argument that dietary supplements at GNC…or a box of Wheaties, none of which are sold with a syringe included, is the same thing as what Mr. Mangini was doing,” Adams said.

Yet in the end, Oetken did end up making a concession to Mangini's semantics argument.

The judge ordered that Mangini's sentencing documentation be amended to strike references to PEDs, instead replacing that descriptor with the phrase, “animal drugs, including drugs that may enhance animals' performance or horses' performance.”

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