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JDG: Who Gets The Rossi Horses?

Around 200 horses formerly trained by Frederic, Cedric and Charley Rossi will need to be relocated from their Calas training stable in Marseille after their indictment Thursday, when a judge in Aix-en-Provence banned the three from any participation or presence in racing and training for the duration of the indictment. The Jour de Galop reports in their Saturday edition that some decisions on the futures of those horses have already been made.

The three Rossis, along with a veterinarian, a stable manager, and Charley's wife Jessica Marcialis, a jockey, were brought in after a two-month investigation into possible race-fixing and doping in their operation, based at the Calas training centre in Marseille, France.

The most famous and successful in question is Sealiway (Fr) (Galiway {GB}), the winner of the G1 QIPCO Champion S. who may be pointed to the Saudi Cup next, and will go to an as-yet-to-be determined trainer in Chantilly, Kamel Chehboub told the JDG. Skazino (Fr) (Kendargent {Fr}), second in the G1 Prix Royal Oak, will stay in Marseille, but will be shifted to trainer Richard Chotard, the JDG reports. They quote Jean-Claude Seroul as saying his three fillies with Frederic Rossi are on their way to Jerome Reynier. Mangoustine (Fr) (Dark Angel {Ire}) the winner of the G3 Prix Miesque for Franco-American basketball star Tony Parker, will head to Mikel Delzangles at Chantilly, the JDG reports. Miguel Castro Megias has five horses with Charley Rossi, all of which will go to Chantilly at the end of the week, also to an undetermined trainer, the paper says, while they report that Michel Delaunay, who has 10 horses with Charley Rossi, has not yet made a decision on where his horses will go.

Ten horses were seized during the raid, and the JDG asked the Aix-en-Provence court what might happen to them, and was told that their owners may request their return from the investigating judge in the case.

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Harness Trainer, Alleged Navarro Co-Conspirator Oakes Pleads Guilty To PED Charges

Harness trainer Christopher Oakes pled guilty to one count of misbranding and drug adulteration with intent to defraud or deceive on Wednesday, when he appeared before federal judge Mary Kay Vyskocil via teleconference. According to the Thoroughbred Daily News, Oakes is the 10th of the original 27 indicted in March 2020 to plead guilty in a scheme to use performance-enhancing drugs in racehorses.

Oakes was allegedly overheard on wire taps speaking to Jorge Navarro (who was also indicted and pled guilty) about the distribution and use of performance-enhancing drugs to Thoroughbreds. Specifically, the TDN reported that Oakes and Navarro were overheard making plans to administer performance-enhancing substances to X Y Jet, who later died suddenly.

Navarro changed his plea from not guilty to guilty this summer, but has not yet been sentenced.

Oakes told Vyskocil on Wednesday: “I purchased medications from Dr. Seth Fishman and Dr. Gregor Skelton and his assistant Ross Cohen and administered the medications to the horses in my care to gain an unfair advantage.”

Oakes will be sentenced on Feb. 17, and faces up to three years in prison.

Read more at the Thoroughbred Daily News.

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Change of Plea Hearing Scheduled for Jordan Fishman

A Change of Plea Hearing for Jordan Fishman, a defendant in the federal doping conspiracy case USA vs. Navarro, was entered into the record Wednesday by Judge Mary Kay Vyskocil in United States District Court, Southern District of New York. The hearing has been scheduled for October 6, 2021 at 4:30 p.m. Jordan Fishman is charged with drug adulteration and misbranding conspiracy.

The request for the hearing likely indicates Fishman's desire to change his plea from not guilty to guilty, following similar change of pleas from Navarro, veterinarian Kristian Rhein, and drug distributor Michael Kegley Jr., all of whom initially pled not guilty in the case.

Jordan Fishman is charged by the government of the “illicit manufacture and distribution of PEDs…to Seth Fishman's specifications.”

“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.”

In May, Vyskocil was emphatic about wanting to begin trials in the fourth quarter of 2021 for the first of four groupings of 14 defendants in the case, and later set a Nov. 15 start date for the trial of Seth Fishman, Lisa Giannelli and Jordan Fishman.

But during a Sept. 15 status conference, that schedule got reset to January 2022 for those defendants.

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Standardbred Owners File Suit Against Gural, Meadowlands For Exclusion Due To Allard Association

The following statement was released by the Meadowlands, Tioga and Vernon Downs and Jeff Gural on Friday, Aug. 27.

The Meadowlands, Tioga and Vernon Downs and Jeff Gural have been named in a lawsuit initiated by a number of Standardbred owners who allege to have been excluded from racing at the three tracks as a result of their patronage of trainer Rene Allard.

Allard was among more than 30 racing related individuals indicted and arrested in March 2020 by the United States Department of Justice for offenses relating to the systematic and covert administration of illegal performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs) to racehorses. He was later included in a superseding indictment filed in federal court in December 2020. The charges remain pending.

The plaintiffs named are Kapildeo Singh, Lawrence Dumain, Ira and Brian Wallach, Yves Sarrazin, Erlin Hill, Bruce Soulsby and Alan Weisenberg, who in their complaint admit that they have an interest in horses stabled by Allard in Florida over the winter of 2020-2021. The complaint alleges that the plaintiffs were the victims of a conspiracy by Gural to exclude their horses from racing at the three tracks to gain a “competitive advantage.”

“It's a little discouraging that when you're trying to clean up the drug problem, we now have to hire an expensive lawyer to defend us against this lawsuit, which essentially calls me dishonest,” said Meadowlands President Jeff Gural. “Worse yet, we get no cooperation from the horsemen who love to complain about the drugs but don't lift a finger to help us catch the perpetrators. The lawsuit is without merit. We will vigorously defend against these allegations and look forward to being vindicated in court.”

According to ustrottingnews.com, the complain was filed on Aug. 23 in the U.S. District Court Northern District of New York. An initial conference before Magistrate Judge Miroslav Lovric has been set for Nov. 24, 2021 at 10 a.m. via teleconference.

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