Though the program gave ample time to Jockey Club Chairman Stuart Janney III, Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority CEO Lisa Lazarus, Meadowlands owner Jeff Gural, and others who have been working to solve the problems, it left no doubt that the sport has pressing issues that if left unsolved threaten its existence.

“Horse racing has reached its moment of reckoning and we wanted to know, `can the sport really be reformed or is it too late?'” Vega said.

What followed was a recantation of the rash of fatalities that surrounded the GI Kentucky Derby and other major events, which included graphic footage of horses dying on the track.

“People who are not in your world see this headline of more than a dozen dead horses and they think, `what is going on in that industry?'” Vega asked Lazarus.

“My response is that HISA is here now and we're going to address it,” she said.

She continued: “There's clearly a problem that needs to be addressed and now we have some tools to fight it. We really owe it to those trainers who have spent their lives in this sport who have an incredible amount of integrity to get rid of those who tarnish this sport.”

It was not hard to get industry leaders to admit that doping is a major issue that has yet to be brought under control.

“(Doping) is a big problem,” Janney said. “It strikes at the integrity of the sport. There's nothing about it that is acceptable.”

Asked how the sport can clean itself up, Janney replied: “You put people away. You send them out of the sport and some of them go to jail.”

That very process began in March of 2020 when more than 33 veterinarians, trainers and drug distributors were charged by the Justice Department for using and manufacturing performance-enhancing drugs.

“The FBI said this led to broken legs, cardiac issues and in some cases death,” Vega said.

The show played wiretaps of conversations between convicted trainer Jorge Navarro and a another trainer in which Navarro bragged about how the drugs he was using made his horses run faster.

“I (expletive) gave it to this horse and this horse (expletive) galloped. He galloped,” Navarro said to the unidentified trainer.

“Amino acids?” the other trainer asked.

“Yeah, some amino acid  injectable. Small bottle,” Navarro replied.

They also played wiretaps from harness trainer Nick Surick in which he spoke of how he was put in charge of disposing of horses that Navarro had killed.

The FBI was assisted by 5 Stones Intelligence, which was hired by The Jockey Club and Meadowlands owner Jeff Gural. Janney said 5 Stones was told to not be afraid to go after the biggest names in the sport, like Navarro and Servis.

“I said I'm not interested in you going in an finding a relatively unimportant person working in someone's barn who has made a bet they shouldn't have made or has done something immaterial to what we're talking about,” he said. “I want you to go after the important people that I think are corrupting the sport.”

Before they were arrested, Servis and Navarro were clearly worried they could be caught and that the penalties could ruin their careers. A wiretap caught them saying the following:

Servis: We can't do it in broad daylight, we got to do it like…”

Navarro: “I know. I'll keep it at my…I'll keep…I'll keep it in my car. I ain't worried about that.”

Servis: What about, what I am-I don't want people to see that (expletive). We are dead. We are dead.”

Shaun Richards, who was the lead FBI agent on the case that nabbed Navarro, Jason Servis and others, spoke a hopeful note, that the progress made with the arrests has put investigators, HISA and others on the right trail.

” We're right where we need to be,” he said. “We have a really good subject identified and we are getting fantastic evidence.”

Vega asked Lazarus “How long will it take to clean this up?”

“It will probably take years to be truly confident that we've got a fully clean sport,” she said.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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The bettors deserved an explanation. But none has been offered or, likely, ever will be.

Racing needs to do a better job with this. In the four major sports, when the umpires or referees review the replay of a play, they are required to announce their decision to the fans in the stands and those watching at home. They don't just tell you whether a player was safe or out, but why he was safe or out. The fan may or may not agree with the call, but, at least, they know why the officials ruled the way they did.

At Saratoga? Crickets.

Any time there is an inquiry or an objection, whether a horse is disqualified or not, the stewards should be required to come on in-house television and explain why they made the call that they did. It doesn't have to be that difficult or complicated. Something like, “the four horse bore in in the stretch, caused the jockey on the three horse to steady and cost that horse second-place, and that's why we disqualified the four horse and placed him third,” would suffice.

After the running of the 2019 GI Kentucky Derby, the Churchill Downs stewards disqualified Maximum Security (New Year's Day) and placed him 17th for interference. It took them an agonizing 22 minutes to reach a decision and they were not required to make their reasoning public. Worse yet, they met with the media and Kentucky Horse Racing Commission steward Barbara Borden read a brief and meaningless statement and refused to answer any questions.

The situation couldn't have been handled any more poorly, but at least they tried do better going forward. There have been instances at the Kentucky tracks when the stewards have gone on television to explain their rulings and the stewards there publish a daily report on the racing commission website which offers a brief explanation for any decisions they made during the course of a card.

The NYRA stewards could do the same thing, but they've apparently stopped trying. Starting in September of 2016, the NYRA website started posting what it called the Stewards' Corner, which offered explanations of the decisions made by the stewards during a race day.

This is what was posted for the 10th race on July 9, 2022.

“Stewards' inquiry into the stretch run. Late stretch #12 Heymackit'sjack (Irad Ortiz Jr.) drifts out under left handed crop forcing #5 Feathers Road(Jose Lezcano) to take up. After reviewing the video and speaking to the riders involved, the Stewards felt that #12 Heymackit'sjack did cost #5 Feathers Road a placing. #12 was disqualified from 2nd and placed 4th. The race was made official  4-1-5-12.”

That was the last item posted to the Stewards' Corner. Every decision since has gone unexplained. Why?

Such information is especially important in a situation like the Jim Dandy, a race in which the consensus seems to be that they made the wrong call. Here is the New York Gaming Commission rules regarding when a horse comes over and bothers another horse: “A horse crossing another may be disqualified, if in the judgment of the stewards, it interferes with, impedes or intimidates another horse, or the foul altered the finish of the race.”

Isn't that exactly what happened when it comes to Forte and Angel of Empire? Ortiz clearly came over, bumped and pushed Angel of Empire out, and could have cost him a placing. Despite the incident, Angel of Empire finished third and lost by just a half-length.

Worse yet, on Thursday at Saratoga, Ortiz was involved in an incident very similar to what happened in the Jim Dandy and, this time, was taken down. It happened in the seventh race, a $25,000 claimer, and Ortiz was riding a horse named Eyes on Target (Exaggerator). Ortiz got his horse hemmed in on the inside, but muscled his way out in the stretch, came over a couple of paths and bothered two horses. Eyes on Target was disqualified and placed eighth. Why was Thursday's incident cause for a DQ, but the Jim Dandy incident was not?

The stewards are allowed to make mistakes and dealing with Ortiz cannot be easy. He might be the most talented jockey in the sport, but he has no problem crossing the line. Many believe he does what he does because the NYRA stewards don't hold him accountable. Which takes us back to the Jim Dandy? Do they give Ortiz more leeway than other jockeys? Are they less inclined to take a horse down in a major race like the Jim Dandy than in a $25,000 claimer on a quiet Thursday afternoon? Or did they have a good reason for not taking Forte down, one that, when explained, might have shed some light on why they ruled the way they did?

Wouldn't it be nice to know?

Judge Mary Kay Vyskocil is a Rock Star

When Jason Servis was sentenced to four years in prison Wednesday by Judge Mary Kay Vyskocil of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, it marked the final chapter in the long and sordid affair that began in March of 2020 when more than two dozen individuals were arrested on charges related to using performance-enhancing drugs on race horses. Getting caught was the worst thing that could have happened to these cheats. The second worst was that their cases were heard by Vyskocil.

One after another, they paraded in and out of her courtroom in lower Manhattan with their excuses and mea culpas, some of which included the defendants breaking down in tears. From the judge, they asked for some compassion and some leniency. They never got any. Not a one of them.

“You cheated, you lied and you broke the law,” Vyskocil told Servis. “You did endanger the horses in your care. Luckily, they didn't break down. You tried to gain an unfair advantage. I hope you accept that, but I don't think that you do. At the end of the day, unquestionably, you undermined the integrity of horse racing.”

It was what we had come to expect from the judge. She got it. These people were lairs and cheaters who broke the law and there was no defending what they did. And they were people who put the lives of the horses they were entrusted with in danger by using potent drugs that had the capability of doing great damage to the animal. She bristled any time one of the defendants told the court how much they loved their horses.

“You also demonstrated, Mr. Navarro, a collective, callous disregard for the well-being of the horses,” she told Jorge Navarro before sentencing him to five years in prison. “The bottom line is you likely killed or endangered the horses in your care.”

She said she would have liked to give Navarro more than five years, but that was the maximum sentence she was able to hand down. Servis also got the maximum sentence. Now, Navarro is rotting away in a federal prison and, in November, Servis will begin serving his term. They got what they deserved and that's because they came before a judge who clearly understood what had transpired and how awful these crimes were.

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What makes the Simpson case unusual is that his guilty plea came some three years after the original charges against Navarro, Servis et. al. were unsealed and there was no mention of Simpson's name in the indictments released at that time. Court records released this week show that Simpson came to the government's attention as early as mid-November, 2020 when the government and Simpson's attorneys agreed on a bail package. What happened over the next several months and why was Simpson's name omitted from the original indictment remain unanswered questions. The Simpson development also raises the question as to whether or not more new names will surface in the near future when it comes to those being indicted as part of the drugging scandal.

Simpson both trained and drove, winning 1,643 races as a driver and 375 as a trainer. He last drove in 2017 and it appears that around that time he accepted a job as an assistant to trainer Rene Allard. Allard is among the bigger names caught up in the scandal and is currently serving a 27-month prison sentence after he previously plead guilty to one felony count of misbranding and altering drugs.

In a particularly troubling chapter in the Allard scandal, the Federal Bureau of Investigation intercepted a phone conversation in which two other alleged conspirators discussed the deaths of horses trained by Allard after they had been given illegal drugs. One reference caught on wiretap described the trainer's operation as the “Allard death camp.”

Court documents released this week detailed Simpson's activities, which included purchasing drugs at a pharmacy in South Carolina and then shipping them to a training center located in the Southern District of New York. Simpson also, the government claims, “administered prescription drugs to racehorses under Simpson's and others' control without a valid veterinary prescription, for the purposes of enhancing the horses' race performance.”

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“Just the facts, ma'am.”

The iconic line “just the facts, ma'am” is associated with the character of Sgt. Joe Friday from the 1950s cop show “Dragnet” starring actor Jack Webb in the title role of an LAPD detective. You may be too young to remember the series, but it's likely you're aware of the phrase, because it's become a part of the lexicon. That's what happens when things get repeated over and over again.

Three years ago, when the government indicted and arrested 27 individuals (it went up to 31) in what it called a wide-ranging “doping” scheme, most of us heard about the “drug” SGF-1000 for the first time. Since then, we've heard of it over and over again. This substance was specifically associated with two high-profile trainers, Jorge Navarro and Jason Servis, who'd been under investigation and were caught on tape admitting to each other that they'd used it on most of their stock.

Servis trained Maximum Security (New Year's Day), a Gary and Mary West homebred who finished first in the $20 million Saudi Cup three years ago with Coolmore as a partner. Maximum Security has yet to be declared the winner, because the following month the government issued the indictments that named the colt as the most famous recipient of SGF-1000. After this, the Saudi regulator paused purse distribution from the race, pending the outcome of its own investigation of the government's case.

In the indictment and subsequent filings, the government referred to SGF-1000 as a “customized PED,” and that label as a performance-enhancing drug has stuck. Press coverage has repeatedly referred to it as a PED and “dope.” At this stage, “dope” and “SGF-1000” are as synonymous as “dope” and Epogen, or “dope” and customized analgesics, or “dope” and “red acid,” some of the other PEDs mentioned in the indictment.

Three months ago, in early December, Servis pled guilty to two charges: a felony count of misbranding and adulterating a generic version of unprescribed clenbuterol, and a misdemeanor count of misbranding and adulterating related to SGF-1000 use. Servis admitted to judge Mary Kay Vyskocil that Maximum Security, while under his care, had been administered SGF-1000 by a veterinarian. Because SGF-1000 is the only substance that the government has said was administered to Maximum Security, its use and chemical makeup are of importance to the Saudis as they close in on a decision.

Widespread Use

It's important to understand that the government's case wasn't about “dope” per se; there are no federal laws about the doping of racehorses. Instead, the government relied on felony counts related to the misbranding and adulteration of substances used in interstate commerce under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act to indict and convict these individuals.

In almost all of these cases, however, the misbranded and adulterated substances were bona-fide PEDs, and the government could rightfully say that it had stopped several doping schemes. However, in the specific matter of SGF-1000, it appears the government was aware the substance wasn't a PED since at least September of 2019.

During the course of the last three years, I've read more than a thousand pages of court filings and spoken to several trainers who've admitted off the record to using SGF-1000 on some of their horses. None of them thought he was “doping” horses or doing anything illegal. Some are big names in the business, others smaller trainers.

One told me he had three horses shipped to him in Florida from a facility in New York with three bottles of SGF-1000 for his vet to administer. “Their vet prescribed it. I don't know if it helped,” this trainer said. “It was hard to tell, but the show horse people in Wellington seemed to feel it helped horses recover from work. I was told it was popular with them.”

I asked him if he'd speak on the record. “No, I'd get crucified in this environment we're in now with the Feds and drugs and HISA,” he said. “But SGF-1000 has been around for a while.”

As far back as 2014, Medivet, the company that sold SGF-1000, was openly advertising the product in print trades, radio racing shows, and online, and a rep for the company posted this on Facebook on Nov. 24, 2014: “To all my Facebook friends who are involved with horses: I want to share with you two great products that are drug free and chemical free that will maximize the health and wellness of your performance horse.” This was an overture to the dressage and eventing crowd in Wellington. One of the products he described was SGF-1000, of which he said, “USEF [US Equestrian Federation] approved for competition.” I don't know if this was true or not about USEF, but Medivet and its reps were openly hawking the substance in broad daylight, not peddling it conspiratorially under the cover of darkness.

“There was nothing nefarious about it,” said another, bigger New York-based trainer, who also spoke on the condition of anonymity and admitted that a multiple Grade l winner of his now at stud in Kentucky was once on it. “Dr. [Kristian] Rhein–he had a big practice in New York–dispensed it as something that was great for recovery and wellbeing. He was a good vet, especially on soundness. He'd trot a horse up and back and tell you right away where a problem was. I didn't think anything of it, and I think it did help my horse recover after works or races. A vet always prescribed and administered it. You know, Dr. Rhein had a lot of clients, and everyone knew everyone else was using it until they put it out on that overnight in September that no one was permitted to use it. When that came out, I got scared, and I never used it again after that. No one told us it was illegal before.”

In September of 2019, NYRA, at the direction of the New York Gaming Commission, put a note on the bottom of its daily overnights saying the use of SGF-1000 was prohibited. Perhaps the FBI alerted the commission and NYRA that SGF-1000 use on its grounds was widespread. By this time, the FBI already had Dr. Rhein, one of the co-owners of Medivet, boasting on tape that he'd sold “assloads” of the substance, and we've subsequently learned from court filings that Medivet was making “millions” from the sale of it. All of this makes it obvious that SGF-1000 was being used by more than just Navarro and Servis.

On Aug. 3, 2021, Dr. Rhein pled guilty in federal court to a felony charge of drug misbranding and adulteration. The government has a list of Dr. Rhein's clients who purchased and used SGF-1000 and is aware that some of these trainers had horses for well-known owners, some of whom belong to elite industry organizations. From court filings, the government also is aware of the labs that made the SGF-1000 – “unregistered facilities,” according to the Department of Justice, in California and Australia. These labs shipped SGF-1000 to Medivet's facility in Kentucky for packaging. The government's case that SGF-1000 was misbranded is convincing.

Just the Facts, Ma'am

As far as SGF-1000 is concerned, however, it appears that government prosecutors, who repeatedly called it a PED in court filings and press releases, may not have been correct. In a court filing that noted an FBI application to search emails of one of the owners of Medivet, an FBI agent wrote this in part about SGF-1000: “I have further learned that the Hong Kong Lab did not detect the presence of any growth factors or growth hormones in the sample that was analyzed, but did detect the presence of sheep amino acids.”

A person with direct knowledge who is not authorized to comment on the matter told me FBI investigators don't believe SGF-1000 was a PED, unlike other substances that were named in the indictments.

According to court filings, New Jersey regulators and a confidential source working with the FBI took blood samples from Maximum Security after he was administered SGF-1000 in early June of 2019. The confidential source dispatched the samples to the Hong Kong Jockey Club lab, and the testing came back negative for PEDs. During this time frame the HKJC responded with this email note – obtained from court filings – to the confidential source: “We had analysed (sic) the content of the SGF 1000 from Medivet some years ago. It is listed to contain a combination of growth factors, peptides, proteins, and signal molecules obtained from ovine placental extract. No detectable amount of growth factors was found but collagens common to ovine or bovine origin were detected.”

SGF-1000 originated in Australia and since 2014 has been tested by a number of other reputable organizations with no relationship to Medivet, including the Racing Medication & Testing Consortium (RMTC), Australian authorities in 2015, and UC Davis Maddy Laboratory, and not once in these tests has it been positive as a PED, according to court filings. Each time, however, it tested for sheep collagen, which is widely used in the manufacture of facial creams and other human skin-care products.

Government Test

According to court filings, government agents had obtained a bottle of SGF-1000 by July of 2019 and “sent the substance to a laboratory in Hong Kong for testing to determine the precise chemical contents of that substance.”

The thinking here seemed to be that SGF-1000 didn't test in Maximum Security's blood, but it would from the actual sample straight out of the bottle.

The results of that test have never been publicly revealed. If SGF-1000 did contain PEDs, wouldn't the government have publicized it? If it didn't test positive, the government wouldn't be under any obligation to share the results, because the charges of misbranding and adulterating have nothing to do with whether a substance is a PED or not.

Tellingly, after Servis pled guilty to the misbranding charge for SGF-1000, the DOJ press release did not use the words “performance-enhancing drug” or “PED” in reference to SGF-1000 – an about-face from before; instead, the government noted that Servis was guilty of having SGF-1000 administered to horses after NY regulators said the substance was illegal to use in Sept. of 2019. The federal misdemeanor charge was essentially for a state regulatory violation.

The government had a chance to reveal the results of its 2019 test but never did.

The government had access to the “unregistered” labs that manufactured SGF-1000 and could have readily exposed the ingredients that went into the formulation of the substance, but it never did.

Based on the standing facts, SGF-1000 was a misbranded substance, but it was not a PED.

And by the way, the exact line “Just the facts, ma'am” was never uttered by Sgt. Joe Friday, either. It's an urban legend. That's what happens when something gets repeated over and over again.

Sid Fernando is president and CEO of Werk Thoroughbred Consultants, Inc., originator of the Werk Nick Rating and eNicks.

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Among the many defendants in the doping case that have come before Vyskocil, it was one of the longest sentences handed out and two months longer than the 60 months she gave Navarro. Navarro has been called Surick's “doping mentor.” The longest sentence she has handed down was the 11 years she gave veterinarian and drug supplier Dr. Seth Fishman.

“I consider your conduct to be very serious,” Vyskocil told Surick at the sentencing. “By giving horses performance-enhancing drugs, you endangered the horses, and the other horses they raced against, as well as the jockeys and drivers. You're supposed to be caring for horses that you trained, yet you risked their lives and impugned the integrity of the sport in which you made your livelihood.”

Surick had pled guilty to two counts of drug adulteration and misbranding and one count of obstruction

The sentence came despite Surick's efforts to cooperate with the government. In hopes of a lighter sentence, the trainer had given the government information on others who were indicted as well as individuals who had not been indicted. But the government felt it could not use the information because Surick had incorrectly maintained that co-defendant Dr. Rebecca Linke had injected a horse he trained named Northern Virgin with EPO. Linke was able to prove that she did not inject the horse.

Surick's credibility came into question because of the false accusations against Linke and prosecutors decided they could not use his testimony against others. Surick said he did not lie about Linke and rather had problems remembering all the details of the incident. The government accepted that Surick may have been telling the truth about Linke and simply mixed up some details.

The government was willing to accept a lighter sentence because the trainer had attempted to assist prosecutors in his case. In a pre-sentencing submission, the government said Surick's sentence should be less than the 72 months recommended by the U.S. Probation Parole Office, but did not specify what length of suspension it felt was appropriate.

While showing a willingness to sign off on a sentence of less than 72 months, Assistant United States Attorney Sarah Mortazavi asked the court not to go too easy on the defendant.

“We do believe that a significant term of imprisonment is warranted here,” she said. “That he attempted to assist us must be weighed against the seriousness of his crimes and that he stood at the top of a conspiracy.”

Citing Surick's efforts to cooperate, his attorney, Timothy Donohue, asked for no prison time and for his client to receive only 12 months of home confinement.

Vyskocil wasn't having any of it.

“Home confinement is not realistic and I hope you did not give Mr. Surick false and unrealistic hopes considering how serious this offense is,” the judge said, chastising Donohue.

Vyskocil said she took Surick's attempts to cooperate into account, but it wasn't enough for her to show him much leniency.

“I have considered your efforts to cooperate and whether or not they warrant a variance in your sentence,” Vyskockil said. “But you provided information that turned out to be misleading. Having weighed your cooperation, the sentence will be well below the sentencing guidelines, but I cannot and will not impose a non-custodial sentence.”

Surick addressed the court and apologized for his actions and said he was working on “turning the page.”

“I am truly sorry for the crimes that I have committed,” he said. “I can't blame anybody but myself. I hurt the sport I love. I owe an apology to the public. They were misled and betting on a product that was not true. I can honestly say that this arrest changed my life. I only knew one thing in life–training horses. I backed myself into a corner and got caught up in the crazy competition to be the best.”

The incidents involving Northern Virgin came up frequently during the sentencing hearing. After the horse was doped, Surick became aware that investigators from the New Jersey Racing Commission were attempting to test the horse. Knowing that if they did test the horse he would be subject to severe penalties, Surick went to great lengths to hide the Standardbred and shipped him out of state. The way he handled Northern Virgin is what led to the obstruction charge.

“Only Mr. Surick was charged with obstruction,” Vyskocil said. “Mr. Navarro was not. It was Mr. Surick's horse and his terrible decision to do what he did with the horse. He moved the horse to other states and went to lengths to hide him.”

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The regulators acted after Dutrow, always a controversial figure, had a horse he trained, Fastus Cactus (Cactus Ridge), test positive for butorphanol in his system after winning the third race at Aqueduct on Nov. 20, 2010. Around the same time, Dutrow's barn was searched and investigators claimed to have found in a desk drawer three syringes filled with a muscle relaxer, xylazine.

“New York's racing industry has no place or patience for Mr. Dutrow,” Racing and Wagering Board Chairman John Sabini said in a statement announcing that Dutrow's license had been revoked.

Dutrow's lawyers were able to delay the matter in the courts for more than two years, but eventually ran out of legal options.

Had Dutrow merely been suspended, he would be back this week. But the process has been complicated by the fact that he had his license revoked. That means he has to start from scratch and re-apply for a trainer's license. Dutrow's attorney Karen Murphy said the application has yet to be submitted, but will be done shortly. The Dutrow legal team has grown and now includes Chris Boehning, a high-profile attorney with the firm Paul Weiss.

Murphy believes that it's just a matter of time until Dutrow is allowed to return.

“He's going to get licensed,” he said. “I can't imagine that if somebody served their penalty and paid an extraordinary fine [$50,000] like he did that they wouldn't let him back. He has served his time, he has paid his fine and he has conducted himself in an exemplary manner while he's been away. So far as how Rick has conducted himself, there hasn't been one smudge.  I don't know on what grounds they could deny him a license.”

Murphy estimated the process will take “a couple of months.”

But will it be that easy?

Racing is now regulated in the state by the New York Gaming Commission, which has made a number of controversial rulings of late that have had many scratching their heads. Dutrow is a polarizing figure and there are no doubt some important people who would rather he never train again. Even though the 10 years is up, with this commission there are no guarantees his application for a new license will be approved.

In the meantime, Dutrow, who declared bankruptcy in 2017 and has not worked since his license was taken away, will have to wait, exactly what he has been doing for 10 years. Will there be a another chapter to his training career? The answer is near.

Surick Named Names

With prosecutors having submitted a pre-sentencing report last week regarding convicted drug cheat Nick Surick some of the questions revolving around the former Standardbred trainer were answered.

Surick, who has admitted to drugging his own horses, as well as assisting Jorge Navarro in his doping program, will be sentenced Thursday. He is facing up to six years in prison but the government has signed off on a lesser sentence because Surick cooperated with prosecutors and offered to testify against others. Ultimately, the government felt that Surick's testimony could not be used against others because his credibility came into question when he told investigators that veterinarian Dr. Rebecca Linke injected a Standardbred he trained named Northern Virgin with EPO. Linke was able to prove she was not around the horse at the time he was drugged. The government has accepted the possibility that Surick was not lying and, rather, had trouble recollecting the exact circumstances of the Northern Virgin incident. Because Surick had tried to assist investigators, the U.S. Attorney's Office has stated its willingness to accept a lighter sentence than what he would have been given had he not cooperated. Surick's lawyer Timothy Donohue has asked the court to sentence his client to just 12 months of home confinement.

That's what we know. What we don't know is who else Surick implicated beyond those who were named in the March, 2020 indictments. The pre-sentencing submissions from both Surick's attorney and the governor confirmed that the former trainer turned over information on individuals whose names have never surfaced. Those names were originally included in the pre-sentencing reports, but were redacted.

That raises many questions. Who did he name? How many people did he name? And did he finger people in the Thoroughbred industry, the Standardbred industry or both?  Would the government have gone after those people had Surick not fouled up the Linke matter, bringing his credibility into question?

Unfortunately, those questions may never be answered. Beyond the more than two dozen people indicted nearly three years ago, the government has shown no appetite for continuing its investigation and going after a new set of alleged drug cheats. And even if the names were released there would be no guarantees that the government could build a case against those individuals, when the case could come down to Surick's tainted word versus the word of someone he implicated.

Surick has not been heard from, but through Donohue we have learned more about his mind-set. Why did he become a serial cheater? The answer is troubling.

“He rationalized his misdeeds with the idea that 'everyone was doing it,'” Donohue wrote.

Does any of this mean he should be given a break? That will be left up to U.S. District Court Judge Mary Kay Vyskocil, who has been unwaveringly tough on all the drug cheats that have entered her courtroom, never once showing any signs of leniency. So maybe Surick will be sentenced to a long stint in prison. Unfortunately, it looks like he will be taking his secrets with him.

The post The Week in Review: Rick Dutrow Has Served His Time appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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   Here are the most widely read stories of 2022:

1. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals Finds HISA Unconstitutional

by TDN Staff. 162,916 views.

It was mid-November and HISA was just a month and half away from taking over the functions of drug testing and enforcing medication rules for the entire sport. The wind was at its back, at least until a bombshell ruling in a federal court. The United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit ruled that the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act (HISA) is unconstitutional because it “delegates unsupervised government power to a private entity,” and thus “violates the private non-delegation doctrine.” It was a major blow for HISA and, in time, may prove to be the beginning of the end when it comes to efforts to unify the sport under one umbrella group responsible for regulating many vital aspects of the game.

2. Chris Oakes Sentenced to Three Years

by Bill Finley, 138,313 views.

As has been the case since the indictments in the doping scandal were announced in March of 2020, TDN readers could not get enough of coverage of this story. In March of 2022, standardbred trainer Chris Oakes was sentenced to three years in prison after pleading guilty to one count of misbranding and drug adulteration with intent to defraud or deceive. Oakes was not only doping his own horses, but worked closely with Navarro and provided him with performance-enhancing drugs. Though the subject was a harness trainer, the story of Oakes's sentencing was easily the second most read TDN story of 2022.

3. Owner Hits Jackpot With First Horse

by Bill Finley, 41,777 views

Not everything the TDN reported on in 2022 was about scandals or a matter of gloom and doom. The third story on the list was a feel-good story about 83-year-old owner Pat Kearney. Kearney got involved in the sport late in life and the very first horse he purchased turned out to be Kathleen O. (Upstart), who won the GII Gulfstream Park Oaks and the GII Davona Dale S. “It has been an amazing, exciting, energizing experience,” said Kearney, who races under the name of Winngate Stables.

4. Chad Brown Arrested in Saratoga on 'Obstruction of Breathing' Charge

by Bill Finley, Mike Kane and Sydney Kass, 29,360 views.

Perhaps the most shocking story of the year occurred in August when future Hall-of-Fame trainer Chad Brown was arrested and charged with criminal obstruction of breathing. It was alleged that Brown choked and then pushed a former girlfriend down some stairs who had entered his house uninvited. Brown later pled guilty to the lesser charge of harassment, which allowed him to avoid any jail time.

5. Flightline Retired to Lane's End

by TDN staff, 26,262 views

After Flightline won the GI Breeders' Cup Classic there was a flicker of hope that he would race in 2023 as a 5-year-old. But, in the end, the realities of the economics of the sport made it so that he was far more valuable as a sire than as a racehorse and his connections announced his retirement less than 24 hours after he won the Classic.

6. Green Light Go Euthanized After Belmont Workout

by TDN staff, 23,849 views

No one wants to see a horse have to be euthanized, particularly one who enjoyed success on the racetrack. Green Light Go (Hard Spun), who won the 2019 GII Saratoga Special S., had to be put down after breaking a sesamoid bone in his right foreleg during a workout at Belmont in April.

7. Parx Investigation Finds Contraband Suspensions Expected

by Bill Finley, 20,635 views

It was the weekend of the GI Pennsylvania Derby at Parx, but not all the news was made on the racetrack. Investigators set up shop at the Parx backstretch gate, checking cars and individuals for illegal contraband. They uncovered a number of syringes and caught a jockey possessing a battery. Two trainers and the jockey were suspended.

8. 2022 Kentucky Race Dates Set

by T.D. Thornton, 19,444 views

With the rise in purses in Kentucky, it's no wonder that this story, which reported on the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission awarding of dates for 2022, was the eighth most-read story of the year in 2022.

9. Trainer Doug O'Neill Suspended 60 Days

by TDN staff, 18,946 views

In November, O'Neill was suspended 60 days, fined $10,000, and put on probation for one year stemming from a medication positive by his starter Worse Read Sanchez (Square Eddie) at Golden Gate Fields May 1.

10. After McCarthy Spill, Migliore Points to the NY Stewards

by Bill Finley, 18,779 views

There are a lot of people, retired jockey Richard Migliore among them, who believe the New York stewards are too lenient when it comes to penalizing jockeys for rough and careless riding. After Trevor McCarthy went down in a spill in November, fracturing his collar bone and pelvis, Migliore called out the stewards.  “It's irresponsible on the part of the rider but they are not being held accountable,” Migliore said. “When that happens, it's human nature. The more you can get away with, the rougher it's going to get. The stewards need to really crack down and lay down the law. No more nonsense.”

The post The TDN’s Top 10 Stories of 2022 appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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The sentence was the result of a plea agreement with federal prosecutors that dropped one felony charge of distributing misbranded and adulterated drugs in exchange for Garcia admitting her guilt in two “substantive” misdemeanor violations of Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act regulations.

Judge Mary Kay Vyskocil of United States District Court (Southern District of New York) also fined Garcia $2,000 and ruled that she must be under supervised release for a year after getting out of prison.

Garcia's sentence falls on the lighter side of those meted out to most other convicted defendants in the wide-ranging international racehorse doping scandal that first came to light in March 2020.

Navarro himself, for example, is serving five years in prison, and other convicted veterinarians in the case got sentences between three and 11 years.

Prosecutors had argued for a two-year prison term, the maximum sentence under federal guidelines for those crimes.

Garcia had argued for a sentence of probation only, urging the court to take into account that she is the primary caretaker and sole provider for an 11-year-old daughter.

In part, the comparatively lenient sentence was based on the feds being willing to cut Garcia a plea break because she withdrew from the Navarro conspiracy in April 2019 after “supporting her employee's decision to report a sick [Navarro-trained] horse to regulatory authorities as required by law,” prosecutors wrote in a sentencing submission.

“In hindsight, I realize how stupid and careless I was,” Garcia wrote in her own sentencing submission. “I don't blame Jorge or anyone else for what has happened to me. I take full responsibility for my actions and continue to pay the ultimate price.”

But the feds stated that even though Garcia stopped working for Navarro about a year before the sweeping series of arrests and indictments, she still had to be punished for injecting the purported PEDs, some of which prosecutors said she had no idea what they were or what their supposed medical value was.

“Garcia injected horses with adulterated and misbranded drugs at Navarro's request, for the purpose of facilitating Navarro's corrupt goals of improperly doping horses to compel them to race beyond their natural abilities,” the federal sentencing submission stated.

“Even after withdrawing from the Navarro conspiracy, Garcia offered for sale and sold adulterated and misbranded drugs to others for further distribution and administration,” the government wrote.

“Garcia, as a veterinarian, provided cover for her crimes by giving the appearance that her use of medications was legal and medically necessary. By doing so, Garcia exploited the deference typically afforded to licensed veterinarians and abdicated her duty of care to the horses,” the feds stated.

“Those crimes involved Garcia's participation in a years-long scheme to administer unnecessary and potentially dangerous drugs to racehorses. Those drugs included: (1) a drug described as a blood builder, 'Monkey'; (2) a drug advertised as containing growth factors and further described as having performance-enhancing effect on horses, SGF-1000; (3) a drug from an unknown manufacturer with unknown ingredients that Garcia agreed to inject into horses' joints, called 'red acid' [and] (4) a compounded bronchodilator intended to be even more potent than Clenbuterol,” the feds stated.

“At the time Garcia agreed to administer these drugs–and during the course of the offense conduct–Garcia believed these drugs to have performance-enhancing effects, and was otherwise ignorant of their precise ingredients and how they were manufactured,” the feds summed up.

In open court in August 2021, Navarro admitted to administering illicit substances to the stakes stars of his stable, specifically citing X Y Jet, War Story, Shancelot and Sharp Azteca as examples.

The feds had been prepared to present as evidence at a trial that Garcia, in at least one wiretapped phone conversation, was the one who stuck a needle into Shancelot to send “Monkey” coursing through his system three days before the colt's racing debut.

On Feb. 13, 2019, the feds stated, Navarro raised the issue of Shancelot with Garcia and asked if she would “grease the monkey.”

Garcia responded, “Got it.”

Navarro then confirmed whether Garcia “ha[d] enough monkey,” prompting Garcia to check. “Uh, I think I have, I don't know if I have two shots. It will be damn close. Let me see. Yeah, yeah, I do.”

On Feb. 16, 2019, Shancelot would win his career debut at 12-1 odds at Gulfstream Park.

The improbably fast sprinter would win his next two starts, too, including unleashing a massive 121 Beyer Sped Figure in a 12 1/2-length romp in a Saratoga Race Course Grade II stakes.

Shancelot's jaw-dropping speed figure represented the highest Beyer by any 3-year-old sprinter in the three-decade published history of those numbers.

“To Dr. Garcia's knowledge, none of the horses she treated were harmed or suffered any ill effects,” her attorney wrote in the sentencing submission. “But of course this does not justify her behavior. She understands the very real health risks of giving unlabeled and non-FDA approved substances to animals.”

Garcia's lawyer also told the judge in the sentencing submission that even while being caught up in the doping scandal, Garcia has rebuilt her career as her court case played out, transforming from a racehorse practitioner to a small-animal veterinarian in Florida.

Garcia's attorney wrote that, “She is a force for good in her community where she runs a low-cost spay and neuter program and is among a handful of doctors able to treat exotic pets and perform surgery on goats and other farm animals.”

Vyskocil's order stated that, “The Court recommends the defendant be housed in the Fort Lauderdale area to facilitate family visits.”

Once the Bureau of Prisons designates her facility, Garcia is to report on Mar. 20, 2023.

The post Garcia, Navarro’s Florida Vet, to Serve 10 Months in Prison appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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The disclosure was revealed late Friday afternoon in an otherwise routine court filing asking for an extension of time to file motions in Servis's upcoming trial, which has a Jan. 9 start date.

“The Government and counsel for defendant Jason Servis are currently in discussions regarding a potential pre-trial disposition, which may obviate the need for trial,” wrote United States Attorney Damian Williams in his letter to the court.

The request for extra time was granted by Judge Mary Kay Vyskocil of United States District Court (Southern District of New York).

The Dec. 2 filing also referenced a change-of-plea hearing that same judge had granted the day before to the New York-based veterinarian Alexander Chan, who is accused of his own trio of felony charges related to injecting purported performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs) into Servis's horses and then hiding the charges from billing and veterinary records.

Chan, as part of his plea change, could very well implicate his former client, Servis, during his Dec. 5 hearing.

That's what another veterinarian who worked for Servis, Kristian Rhein, did in August 2021 when he changed his own plea to guilty on one felony count within the federal government's sprawling prosecution of an allegedly years-long conspiracy to dope racehorses. Rhein got the maximum sentence of three years imprisonment for his crimes.

Chan and Servis were scheduled to be tried together next month.

“In light of the foregoing, the parties respectfully contend that a brief adjournment of the upcoming deadline [to file motions] will facilitate the parties' ongoing efforts to reach a resolution short of trial,” Williams wrote to the judge.

The feds have already disclosed they have a trove of wiretapped evidence involving Servis speaking about his doping regimens to Rhein, Chan, and the now-imprisoned trainer Jorge Navarro, who in December 2021 was sentenced to five years behind bars for his rampant criminal usage of equine PEDs.

Some of those secretly recorded phone conversations involved the MGISW Maximum Security, who crossed the wire first in the GI Kentucky Derby, but was DQ'd for in-race interference.

One of the elixirs of choice for both Servis and Navarro was SGF-1000, a custom-made, purported PED intended to promote tissue repair and increase a racehorse's stamina and endurance beyond its natural capability. The two trainers discussed this PED in an intercepted call on March 5, 2019. The transcript reads as such:

Servis: I'll tell you what, Jorge. I'm using that [expletive] shot. What is it, SGF?

Navarro: Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. I got, uh, I got more than 12 horses on that so I'll let you know, okay?

Servis: I've been using it on everything, almost.

Navarro: Jay, we'll sit down and talk about this [expletive]. I don't want to talk about this [expletive] on the phone, okay?

Servis: All right. You're right.

On June 5, 2019, a call between Servis and Rhein went like this, according to the feds:

Servis: Are you by yourself?

Rhein: Yeah, yeah, yeah. I just walked out of the barn.

Servis: Hey. So they've been doing some out-of-competition testing, which I have no problem with. Um, they took Maximum Security Monday and they came back again today. But Monday he got the KS. I just want to make sure we are all good with that.

Rhein: Wait, what did he get?

Servis: I'm sorry, I said “KS.” The, you know, your shot. The…

Rhein: Oh, the SG.

Servis: Yeah, that stuff.

Rhein: Yeah-no, no, no. The Jockey Club tested it, and I met the guy who tested it way back when. It comes back as collagen. They don't even have a test for it.

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