Taking Stock: Is SGF-1000 a PED?

[Editor's note: Gary and Mary West are clients of Werk Thoroughbred Consultants, of which Sid Fernando is president and CEO. WTC recommended the 2014 purchase of Maximum Security's dam, Lil Indy, for $80,000 at Keeneland January for the purpose of breeding her to New Year's Day, a stallion owned by the Wests at that time and the sire of Maximum Security.]

“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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Surick Gets 62 Months in Doping Sentence

NEW YORK–Standardbred trainer Nick Surick, who has admitted to doping his own horses as well as assisting Jorge Navarro in that trainer's own doping scheme, was sentenced to 62 months in federal prison Thursday by U. S. District Judge Mary Kay Vyskocil in United States District Court, Southern District of New York in lower Manhattan.

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 Week in Review: Rick Dutrow Has Served His Time

Monday marks an important date for trainer Rick Dutrow and his fight to get back into the sport. It was exactly 10 years ago that he started a horse named Colossal Gift (Songandaprayer) in a claiming race at Aqueduct. Then he was forced to disappear, the result of the New York State Racing and Wagering Board revoking his license for a 10-year period, which has now expired.

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.

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The TDN’s Top 10 Stories of 2022

Another eventful year for horse racing is about to come to an end, which makes this a good time to look back at the TDN stories that were the most widely read during the year. From the heroics of Flightline (Tapit) to the on-going saga of the Horse Racing Integrity and Safety Act (HISA) to the latest developments in the Jorge Navarro-Jason Servis scandal, there was no shortage of important stories. Unfortunately, there were a number of major stories that reflected poorly on the sport, but, our statistics show, those are stories the readers want to read.

   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.

  1. 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.

  1. 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.

  1. 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.

  1. 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.

  1. 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.

  1. 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.

  1. 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.

  1. 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.

  1. 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.”

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