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Dutrow Seeks Kentucky License at Tuesday Hearing

Richard E. Dutrow, Jr., who in February regained his license to train horses in New York after sitting out a 10-year revocation imposed by the New York State Gaming Commission (NYSGC), is on the agenda for the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission (KHRC)'s license review committee meeting on Tuesday to try and regain his license in that state.

The 63-year-old GI Kentucky Derby-winning trainer with the long and controversial history of racing infractions has a 1-1-1 record from three starts at Belmont Park since rebooting his career with fresh stock May 6.

Earlier this week, Dutrow was named as the new trainer for the 2022 GI Florida Derby winner White Abarrio (Race Day). An ownership entity for that colt, C2 Racing Stable, had stated the switch was necessary to ensure White Abarrio would be able to campaign in major stakes given the indefinite suspension recently imposed by Churchill Downs Inc., (CDI), upon White Abarrio's former conditioner, Saffie Joseph, Jr.

According to the KHRC meeting notice, the May 30 format will be for the committee to go into closed session “to deliberate regarding individual adjudications. The committee will reconvene in open session to vote on the participants' license applications.”

Dutrow's trainees earned more than $87 million between 1979 and 2013. They won multiple graded stakes, including three Breeders' Cup races and the 2008 Kentucky Derby with Big Brown. He often topped the trainer standings at New York tracks during the 2000s decade.

Around that same time, Dutrow's official rap sheet maintained by the Association of Racing Commissioners International began to swell with violations related to an array of equine pharmaceuticals.

Between 2000 and his attempt to win the Triple Crown in 2008 with Big Brown, Dutrow was cited for 18 drug infractions, ranging from comparably benign violations for overages of legal medications phenylbutazone and Lasix, to more serious charges of using mepivacaine, an anesthetic that can be used to make sore horses feel no pain.

In addition to $20,000 in drug fines, Dutrow racked up a $5,000 penalty for providing misleading information to authorities about a workout, and was slapped with a $25,000 fine in 2007 for having contact with his stable while he was supposed to be serving a suspension.

On Nov. 20, 2010, the Dutrow trainee Fastus Cactus tested positive for butorphanol after a winning effort at Aqueduct. Dutrow's barn was searched and investigators claimed to have found in a desk drawer three syringes filled with a muscle relaxer, xylazine.

The NYSGC's predecessor agency, the New York State Racing and Wagering Board, revoked Dutrow's license on Oct. 12, 2011.

Dutrow battled that revocation for two years, both at the racing commission level and in the courts. His suspension officially commenced Jan. 17, 2013. Later that year he filed a failed federal lawsuit seeking monetary damages and a reinstatement of his licensure.

In 2017, Dutrow filed for and was granted Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection, claiming he had zero income and total liabilities of $1.76 million.

In 2018, a collective of supporters launched an online petition calling for the NYSGC to allow Dutrow to be allowed to return to training. The petition was signed by a number of Hall-of-Fame trainers and jockeys, but it failed to sway the commission.

In 2020, Dutrow's legal team tried a different route by applying for a license in Kentucky. Appearing before the KHRC's license review committee, former NYSGC steward Stephen Lewandowski testified on Dutrow's behalf, alleging that the syringes found in Dutrow's barn in 2011 were planted. Fellow trainer Dale Romans also vouched for Dutrow, as did the noted equine surgeon Dr. Larry Bramlage.

That 2020 KHRC committee voted not to grant Dutrow a license without stating its reasoning. At the time, TDN reported that the committee's chairperson, Ken Jackson, said during the meeting that it was the committee's policy not to comment on its rulings once they had been made.

The KHRC license review committee did, however, allow Dutrow to withdraw his application so he could avoid having a denial of licensure on his record.

Dutrow has since paid a $50,000 NYSGC fine, his term of revocation in New York ended on Jan. 17, 2023, and he now has a valid New York license in hand.

According to the KHRC website, the current members of the license review committee are Lesley Howard (chair), Paul Brooker (steward designee), Jamie Eads, Greg Harbut and George Haydon.

Dutrow is one of four trainers on the agenda. The others are Patricia Brewer, David Ward and Francesca de la Flor.

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Lord Miles Won’t Go in the Preakness

Lord Miles (Curlin), who was ordered scratched from the GI Kentucky Derby by the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission (KHRC) because he is part of the Saffie Joseph, Jr. stable, will bypass the GI Preakness S. and is unlikely to run in the GI Belmont S., Joseph said Friday. A day earlier owner Peter Vegso had told the TDN that both the Preakness and Belmont were under consideration.

The decision came after Lord Miles worked four furlongs in :49.50 Friday morning at Palm Meadows.

“He had a good work but the Preakness was never really a priority,” Joseph said. “That's where we're at with him. The Belmont comes into play because it would give us more time. We will work him twice more before making any decisions, but I might want to look at other races.”

Lord Miles was set to enter the Derby off an upset win in the GII Wood Memorial at 59-1.

Though the KHRC ordered all of Joseph's horses entered Derby week to be scratched and he was banned indefinitely by Churchill Downs, Joseph said he did not anticipate having any problems running in other jurisdictions. Churchill and the KHRC made their rulings after two horses Joseph trained died of unknown causes in the lead-up to the Derby.

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All Post-Race Samples for Derby and Oaks Cleared

The Kentucky Horse Racing Commission (KHRC) has received the post-race sample results from the runners in the May 6 GI Kentucky Derby and May 5 GI Kentucky Oaks, according to Kristin Voskuhl, a spokesperson for the Public Protection Cabinet, which oversees the KHRC. All samples have been cleared, as indicated by the laboratory results from the University of Kentucky.

The Derby had 18 runners and was won by Mage (Good Magic), while the Oaks, won by Pretty Mischievous (Into Mischief), had 14 total runners.

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Lazarus Outlines HISA Approach To Churchill Deaths

Lisa Lazarus, the CEO of the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority (HISA), has written an open letter to industry participants, addressing the measures HISA plans to implement in the wake of a spate of fatalities during the first week of the Churchill Downs meet leading up to and including Kentucky Derby day. The statement, in its entirety, reads:

Fellow racing participants,

I wanted to take a minute of your time to share an update on HISA's role related to the events of last week along with a perspective on what's to come.

Our first priority is to support efforts to better understand, to the degree possible, the root causes of the deaths last week at Churchill Downs.

Here's what you can expect from the team at HISA and our counterparts at the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission (KHRC) in the coming weeks:

The KHRC is leading an Equine Catastrophic Injury Review to investigate the circumstances of and potential contributing factors to each of the fatalities that occurred. The investigations are already under way, and involve, at a minimum, interviews with the horses' connections and security personnel and review of the horses' racing, training, veterinary and pre-race exam inspection records as well as video surveillance. This is in addition to the mandatory necropsies that will be performed to further inform our collective understanding of the circumstances as outlined by HISA's Racetrack Safety Program. All findings will be submitted to HISA upon the completion of the review.

HISA will conduct its own, independent investigation of each fatality to inform whether additional steps need to be taken. HISA's investigation will include the following:

A review of the records pertaining to each horse which died, including the necropsy report, Vets' List history, past performances, exercise history, treatment records, pre-race inspection, and video records;
A review of Churchill Downs equine fatality rates from the recent period, the same period the year prior, and the most recently concluded year; as well as training fatality data;
A review of racetrack maintenance records, surface measurements, and testing data;
Interviews with the Regulatory Vet, Attending Vet, track management officials, and other relevant third parties.

HISA's findings, including the determination of whether any rule violations occurred to refer for potential enforcement proceedings, will be made public following the investigation's conclusion.

The findings associated with these investigations will also be recorded and aggregated along with other industry-wide data for in-depth analysis to eventually establish a baseline for determining with greater clarity factors that may contribute to risk of injury.

While these changes take time and do little to address the immediate and pressing concerns we share as an industry, we have operational safety rules in place that by most accounts are making a difference. And soon, we'll take another critical step toward an improved, more modern sport when the Anti-Doping and Medication Control (ADMC) Program resumes on May 22 under the Horseracing Integrity and Welfare Unit (HIWU).

For the first time in the storied history of Thoroughbred racing, there will be one set of uniform, consistent rules across all racing jurisdictions. Under the ADMC Program there will also be greater efficiency for all participants and real consequences for those who seek to break the rules for their own benefit and to the detriment of the horses under their care. The rules also create a rational, fair system for adjudicating penalties and taking into account environmental and other accidental contamination.

There is no doubt that the combination of the Racetrack Safety Program and the ADMC Program will make our sport safer for the horses entrusted to our care.

As we move forward from this collective low, I hope it is together, united with a renewed commitment to what matters most: the safety of our horses and our riders. We owe it to them to get this right. And we owe it to them to do it now.

Yours in racing,
Lisa Lazarus
HISA CEO

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