On Thursday, Chan asked for and was swiftly granted a Dec. 5 change-of-plea hearing in United States District Court (Southern District of New York), at which he will likely either plead guilty to or enter into a possible plea-bargained agreement instead of going to trial.

That will leave Servis alone to face the jury when his trial begins Jan. 9.

The nationwide sweep in March 2020 has already resulted in numerous prison terms, but Servis has always been the most prominent name among the indicted individuals. He amassed gaudily high win percentages during the 2010s decade prior to getting arrested on three felony drug misbranding and conspiracy to commit fraud charges.

According to a trove of wiretap evidence (plus implicating testimony from plea-bargaining defendants who are already imprisoned) Servis allegedly doped almost all the horses under his control in early 2019, including MGISW Maximum Security, who crossed the wire first in the GI Kentucky Derby, but was DQ'd for in-race interference. One of Servis' elixirs of choice was allegedly SGF-1000, the adulterated, misbranded and purportedly performance-enhancing drug (PED).

Chan is alleged to have assisted by performing injections and hiding the charges from billing and veterinary records. It is possible that he could implicate Servis at his plea change hearing.

That's what Kristian Rhein, a veterinarian formerly based at Belmont Park, did to both Servis and Chan 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.

“I, along with Jason Servis, were leaders and organizers [of others who performed allegedly criminal actions], which included my associate, Dr. Alexander Chan…” Rhein told Judge Mary Kay Vyskocil at his 2021 plea change.

Rhein got the maximum sentence of three years imprisonment for his crimes.

Vyskocil, who sentenced Rhein, is the same judge who will hear Chan's plea change on Monday.

Rhein, Chan and Servis at various times during 2019 were recorded on wiretaps discussing aspects related to Servis's alleged doping regimen. At times the two veterinarians rationalized to each other and to Servis that if the administered substances couldn't be detected via racing commission testing, then they weren't considered illegal.

Chan had filed a motion in August 2021 to suppress the use of those wiretapped calls as evidence, but the court denied his motion.

One conversation between Chan and Servis from Aug. 14, 2019, went like this, according to court documents:

Servis: Well, is it okay to use that?

Chan: Use what?

Servis: The SGF.

Chan: Yeah, like New York rules, there is nothing like against, like it's, you know, like it says unless it's not specifically written in there then it's seven days, you know. So like, it's not illegal.

According to the original indictment, “Chan and Rhein coordinated the sourcing and administration of SGF-1000, and engaged in efforts to secretly distribute and administer adulterated and misbranded PEDs and to counsel racehorse trainers and/or owners on the use of such substances, including the covert administration of such substances to avoid detection by the FDA and state regulatory authorities. They did so in furtherance of Servis and other trainers' efforts to administer adulterated and misbranded PEDs, for the purpose of secretly enhancing race performance.

“In connection with that scheme, Chan provided false billing records that did not reflect drugs Chan had injected into racehorses under Servis' control, and falsified his own prescription records as to which of Servis' racehorses received a particular prescription drug, concealing from potential investigators the true nature and means of administration of the PEDs that Chan provided and administered at Servis' direction,” the indictment stated.

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Which raises a question: why is he fighting this when it makes far more sense to go to the government and cut a deal that will result in less prison time?

Has Servis not been paying attention? So far, the government is undefeated, unscored upon and running up the score. They have gotten a number of people to plead guilty, including Jorge Navarro, who is rotting away in prison. Seth Fishman and Lisa Giannelli fought and took their cases to court and in both cases the jury didn't have time to order lunch before convicting them. Judge Mary Kay Vyskocil, who is one tough cookie, has never shown so much as an ounce of sympathy for the dopers, alleged and otherwise.

Not that any of this should come as a surprise. Going to federal court and winning a criminal case brought by the federal government is nearly impossible. According to a survey by the Pew Research Center, 90% of those indicted in federal cases in 2018 pled guilty. Eight percent of all cases were dismissed and 2% went to trial. The end result is that in 2018, only 320 of 79,704 total federal defendants went to trial and won their cases, at least in the form of an acquittal.

The government's m.o. is to build cases against defendants that are so solid that a conviction is all but assured. That's the case with Servis. They say they have numerous wiretapped phone conversations in which he talks about drugging his horses. In one, he was allegedly caught saying that he gave the drug SGF-1000 to virtually all of the horses under his care. In court, when pleading guilty, veterinarian Kristian Rhein implicated Servis, testifying that he sold him illegal, performance-enhancing drugs. The prosecution has done an excellent job.

What, then, could possibly be Servis's defense? I can't even begin to think of one. I'm not a lawyer, but isn't this the very definition of being caught red-handed?

Then there's the matter of legal fees. Servis has hired a big-time lawyer in Rita Galvin, who represented former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo in his battle over sexual harassment charges. The meter has been running for a long time and there's no doubt that Lawyer Galvin gets a hefty fee for her services.

The longest sentence handed out so far has been the five years given to Navarro. But for Servis, it could be far worse. In a superceding indictment issued in November, 2020, the charges of mail and wire fraud conspiracy were added to the original charges of drug adulteration and misbranding. The maximum sentence for drug adulteration and misbranding is five years. The maximum sentence for wire and mail fraud is 20 years. Now facing a possible sentence of 25 years, the 65-year-old Servis may well spend the rest of his life in prison.

If he takes the case to trial, the government has no incentive to go easy on him. If he loses, he is going to go to prison for a long time. The 25 years, or something close to it, is a possibility. That's why he needs to cut a deal. Why not ask that the mail and wire fraud charges be dropped and agree to plead guilty to the drug adulteration and misbranding charges?

Yes, Servis is innocent until proven guilty. Yes, he is entitled to his day in court. But he's heading down a path that is no doubt going to dead-end in his being convicted. Does he not realize this? Did he, after so many years of allegedly doping horses and not getting caught, come to think he is a bulletproof? This is not going to end well for him.

Short Fields in Stakes Races

Six graded stakes races were conducted Saturday and four of them had five-horse fields. The other two were the GIII Peter Pan S., which featured eight runners, and the GIII Beaugay S., which had a field of seven. The average field size for the six races was 5.83.

The most glaring example was the GI Man o'War S. It had all the elements that normally attract decent sized fields. It's a Grade I, the purse is $700,000 and it's a grass race. Still, after a scratch, only five runners went to the post.

This is an on-going problem and it's getting worse all of the time. You're even seeing a race like the GI Apple Blossom H., worth $1 million, attract only five horses.

The foal crop keeps falling and the top horses have never raced more infrequently. But there's been no adjustment when it comes to stakes racing. We're left with a situation where there are too many stakes races and not enough horses to fill them. It might be a tough ask to ask tracks to eliminate a meaningful number of their stakes races, but that's exactly what needs to happen.

Alabama-Bred Siblings Duke It Out

You probably haven't been paying much attention to the Alabama breeding program, which has been hanging on by a thread since the Birmingham Turf Club closed years ago. But there still is such a thing as an Alabama-bred and with no racing in the state they occasionally show in special races carded just for them in Louisiana. That was the case Saturday night at Evangeline Downs, which produced a racing oddity. Three of the five starters in the $25,000 race were full-siblings. Two Mikes N Doc G, Liken It and Kellys the Boss are all by Doc N Bubba G out of the mare Ausbrook and were bred by Kent and Lisa Gremmels. They finished behind Foolish Steve (Mosquiot). Among the brothers and sisters, Two Mikes N Doc G fared best, finishing third.

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The announcement from Equibase that handle on U.S. racing in 2021 set a nine-year high with over $12 billion bet was understandably well received. During a year where an awful lot went wrong for the sport, at least the wagering numbers were healthy.

But, and sorry to rain on the parade, we need more information before we can celebrate.

How much was bet is only part of the story. We need to know where the bets were made and by whom. If the increase was the result of such things as added TV exposure for the NYRA races on Fox Sports or sports bettors gravitating to racing or an overall increase in the sport's popularity, then this is a very positive story. But if the added handle was the result of high-volume players who use computer programs to make their bets increasing their level of wagering in 2021, then the picture is an entirely different one. We just don't know.

“It's better that the numbers go up rather than down, but what is the context on this realistically?” said Pat Cummings, the executive director of the Thoroughbred Idea Foundation, who estimates that computer-assisted wagering (CAW) players account for 35% of the total handle in the U.S. “These numbers get put out there in this broad context and that's all it is. So anyone that wants to take a victory lap on them can take a victory lap on them. But they are totally lacking an understanding of the greater detail of the business. It would be like saying you lost 20 pounds during the year, but ignoring the fact that your cholesterol went up 100 points. It's impossible to quantify how good or, potentially, how bad this is.”

This is pari-mutuel wagering, where the successful bettors feast off of the unsuccessful ones. It's their money that they are winning, not the house's money. With the CAW phenomenon, betting on the horses has turned into a matter of the whales vs. minnows or the CAW bettors vs. everyone else. The whales have been gobbling up the minnows, and after a while all the minnows will be gone. This is a serious threat to the long-term viability of the sport. If the CAW players bet more than ever in 2021, well, that's a big problem.

In a perfect world, there would be transparency and we would know exactly where the handle is coming from. How much was bet on-track or at brick-and-mortar OTBs or simulcasting outlets, with ADWs like NYRA Bets and TwinSpires, and how much was bet by the CAW players?

We're never going to find out. Based on the estimate that 35% of all bets made in the U.S. were made by CAW players, that means the computer players wager at least $4 billion a year. With a few exceptions, tracks and other wagering outlets will never turn away their business and neither will they divulge any pertinent information. That's understandable. The CAW customers want to maintain their privacy and the tracks and betting outlets don't want competitors to know their business.

Perhaps the gains made in betting in 2021 had nothing to do with CAW players. We just don't know. It would be nice if we did.

Field Size Shrinks Again

The Equibase year-end release of racing's economic indicators also included the nugget that average field size in 2021 was 7.3 starters per race. That was a 7.2% decline from 2020 and a 2.08% drop from 2019. While those drops alone aren't alarming, it was the smallest average field size since the Jockey Club started keeping records in 1950. As recently as 2011, the average field size was 8.04. This isn't good and there is nothing to suggest it will get better any time soon.

Peruvian Trainers Hits 10,000 Milestone

Trainer Juan Suarez won five races on Saturday at Hipodromo de Monterrico in Lima, Peru to become the first trainer worldwide to have 10,000 career winners. Entering Sunday, Steve Asmussen had 9,592 winners.

Over the last five years, Suarez is averaging 315 wins a year, while Asmussen is averaging 390. That means Asmussen will likely chip away at Suarez's lead but could spend years trying to catch him. The main advantage Asmussen has is his age. He is 16 years younger than Suarez and will surely outlast him.

The Flightline Watch

Trainer John Sadler has yet to decide where budding superstar Flightline (Tapit) will run next after his ultra-impressive win in the GI Runhappy Malibu at Santa Anita. But he has ruled out a start in either the G1 Saudi Cup or G1 Dubai World Cup. Sadler has mentioned the GI Metropolitan H. and the GI Pacific Classic as possible starts for Flightline.

Kristian Rhein and the “Assloads” of SGF-1000

Kristian Rhein, a suspended veterinarian formerly based at Belmont Park, was sentenced last week to three years in prison for his role in the conspiracy to dope horses that also involves Jason Servis and Jorge Navarro. Rhein was caught on a wiretap bragging that he sold “assloads” of the prohibited medication SGF-1000 not just to Servis but to other trainers.

Rhein isn't the first drug distributor or manufacturer to plead guilty and, surely, every one of them were peddling their drugs to a lot more than just Servis and Navarro and the other trainers who have been indicted. A check of Rhein's records alone could yield dozens of names of trainers who were using SGF-1000 and, therefore, cheating.

Will there be more indictments, maybe many more, to come? I'm beginning to think that it's not going to happen, that the FBI and the Department of Justice are ready to move on to matters more important to them than horse racing. But that shouldn't mean the story ends there. Will any state racing commissions investigate, ask the FBI to share their information, interview Rhein and the others? It's horse racing. Probably not.

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Kegley, 41, had pleaded guilty in July 2021 to one count of drug adulteration and misbranding. He had admitted in open court at that time that as sales director for the Kentucky-based MediVet Equine, he sold SGF-1000 and other products to trainers and veterinarians, knowing that there was “no medical prescription for those products” and that the substances were “not manufactured in an FDA-approved facility [nor] approved for sale by the FDA.”

Kegley's Jan. 6 prison sentence was six months shy of the maximum allowable term under federal sentencing guidelines. Just 24 hours previous to his sentencing, the same judge in the same court had handed down a maximum sentence for similar charges to Kristian Rhein, the defendant who is both Kegley's business associate and brother-in-law.

On Jan. 5, Rhein, a suspended veterinarian formerly based at Belmont Park who married Kegley's sister, got sent to prison for three years by Judge Mary Kay Vyskocil in United States District Court (Southern District of New York).

Prosecutors had previously acknowledged in a sentencing recommendation that Kegley should get a somewhat lighter sentence than his brother-in-law because of Rhein's standing as a veterinarian.

“Unlike Kegley, Rhein was a licensed veterinarian who predominantly treated racehorses; as such, Rhein was a more sophisticated actor than Kegley, and well-acquainted with the various legal regimes governing the sale and distribution of an adulterated and misbranded drug,” the government stated in its sentencing recommendation. “Likewise, Rhein, unlike Kegley, personally administered SGF-1000 to racehorses, concealed bottles of that drug, instructed others to do the same, and falsely billed customers for SGF-1000 under a false billing code.”

As a condition of Kegley's plea-bargained sentence, he was required to forfeit $3,310,490, which is a sum equal to the amount of the illegal substances seized by the government. But a court order accompanying the sentence stated that Kegley will only have to pay $192,615 if he does so within two years of his release from prison. If Kegley does not pay that amount by that time, he will be liable for the full sum.

One admitted doper of Thoroughbreds, the former trainer Jorge Navarro, last month got sentenced to five years in prison for administering myriad alleged PEDs, including SGF-1000.

Another barred trainer under indictment for alleged doping, Jason Servis, is scheduled to face trial in early 2022. Prosecutors have produced numerous intercepted communications involving Servis discussing using SGF-1000 on “almost every” horse under his care, including the disqualified 2019 GI Kentucky Derby winner Maximum Security (New Year's Day).

In one wiretapped call from July 16, 2019, Rhein and Kegley discussed how Servis and his associates were “buying literally as much” SGF-1000 as Rhein was able to source from MediVet.

It was further alleged that MediVet later in 2019 attempted to trick the Racing Medication and Testing Consortium (RMTC) into delisting SGF-1000 as a prohibited substance after Kegley's firm had already “reaped millions of dollars in revenue” by selling it illegally.

According to the government's evidence, MediVet and its associates emphasized “the potent effects of SGF-1000,” which were supposedly derived from “an innovative formulation consisting of Regenerative Proteins, Cytokines, Peptides, potent Growth Factors and Signaling Molecules derived from Ovine Placental Extract.”

Court documents filed by the feds had stated that SGF-1000 was explained to trainers as being similar to a vasodilator that would “increase stamina, performance, and overall health.” The materials even listed the growth factors that were purportedly found in SGF-1000, including some that were explicitly prohibited in many major racing jurisdictions.

The feds also alleged that despite what Kegley, Rhein, and other MediVet representatives claimed when they were parroting the company's marketing materials, no one pushing the product really had any accurate idea of what was in it.

“Notably, Kegley and his coconspirators did not know the precise contents of SGF-1000 until at least in or about August 2019–years after MediVet had started marketing and selling the drug,” court documents stated. “But [they] believed that no matter the component parts of the drug, it would enhance a horse's performance.”

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Judge Mary Kay Vyskocil imposed the maximum-allowable prison term under federal sentencing guidelines Jan. 5 in United States District Court (Southern District of New York).

According to the court order filed in conjunction with his sentencing, Rhein is to report to a to-be-determined prison

Mar. 7. Vyskocil recommended that he serve his term in the medium-security Otisville, New York, facility about 60 miles north of his Long Island residence.

As part of his plea agreement, Rhein also must forfeit to the U.S. the criminally gained proceeds that are directly traceable to his offense, which he agreed totaled $1,021,800. He had previously been ordered to pay at least $671,800 of that amount before or on his sentencing date.

Rhein also must pay $729,716 in restitution to an undisclosed list of victims, the names of whom were filed under seal and thus inaccessible to the general public.

When Rhein spoke in open court back in August to change his plea to “guilty” on one count of drug adulteration and misbranding, he directly implicated five others, most notably co-defendant Jason Servis, the now-barred trainer who was his regular client and allegedly administered purportedly performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs) like SGF-1000 to practically every Thoroughbred under his control.

Rhein, 49, began his veterinary career in 2002 and soon specialized in racehorse treatment. He started a practice at Belmont Park in 2015. In 2017, he partnered to form a bloodstock services company, Empire Thoroughbreds.

Five of 27 defendants named in the original indictment have now been sentenced after pleading guilty to charges in the federal government's prosecution of an alleged “corrupt scheme” to manufacture, mislabel, rebrand, distribute, and administer PEDs to racehorses all across America and in international races. Trials for the remaining defendants, including Servis, are scheduled to commence in 2022, possibly as early as this month.

Scott Robinson, a former veterinarian, was the first to be sentenced in March 2021. In addition to his 18 months in prison, he had to forfeit $3.8 million in profits.

In June, Sarah Izhaki was sentenced to time already served plus three years of supervised release for selling misbranded versions of Epogen.

In September, Scott Mangini, a former pharmacist who had pled guilty to one felony count related to creating custom drugs for racehorses, got sentenced to 18 months in prison. As part of a plea agreement, prosecutors also demanded a forfeiture order from Mangini in the amount of $8.1 million.

In December, the barred trainer Jorge Navarro wept in court after Vyskocil handed down a maximum-allowable sentence of five years imprisonment. Navarro had pled guilty to one count of conspiring with others to administer non-FDA-approved, misbranded and adulterated drugs, including PEDs that Navarro believed would be untestable and undetectable.

Navarro has also been ordered to pay $25.8 million in restitution to the owners, trainers and jockeys he defeated from 2016 to when he was arrested in March 2020. That money–if Navarro ever has the resources to pay it–is to be deposited into an escrow fund that theoretically would get disbursed to racetracks to use in the form of compensatory purses.

Michael Kegley Jr., the former sales director for MediVet Equine, the Kentucky-based company that marketed and sold SGF-1000, will be the next guilty-pleading defendant to be sentenced by Vyskocil, on Jan. 6.

According to court document field by federal prosecutors, Rhein and Kegley worked in tandem to extoll “the performance-enhancing benefits of [SGF-1000] to racehorse trainers.” Like Rhein, Kegley's maximum possible sentence has been calculated to be three years in prison.

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Rhein was one of 27 people charged in a widespread doping scheme of Thoroughbred racehorses on Mar. 9, 2020 that included trainers Jason Servis and Jorge Navarro.

United States Attorney Damian Williams, in papers filed with Judge Mary Kay Vyskocil in her court in the Southern District of New York, wrote, “The parties' stipulated Guidelines sentence is the statutory maximum sentence of 36 months' imprisonment. In light of the Section 3553(a) factors discussed below, that is the appropriate sentence in this case, and one necessary to serve the goals of sentencing. The Government respectfully submits that the stipulated Guidelines sentence of thirty-six months' imprisonment is sufficient, but not greater than necessary, to serve the legitimate purposes of sentencing set forth in Title 18, United States Code, Section 3553(a).”

Williams's sentencing recommendation sums up their case again Rhein as such: “Rhein, a licensed racetrack veterinarian who predominantly catered to racehorse trainers exploited the deference typically offered to licensed veterinarians in order to peddle SGF-1000-in which he held a financial interest-which was not approved by the Food and Drug Administration (“FDA”) or created pursuant to “good manufacturing practices,” and the administration of which did not comply with applicable racing rules. Rhein actively marketed, sold, and administered SGF-1000 for the non-medical purpose of illicitly improving racehorse performance. That is, Rhein doped horses in an effort to scam others through a prolific fraud. Rhein, through his veterinary practice, further illegally distributed the prescription drug clenbuterol, providing it to trainers in bulk to administer to their horses, without issuing valid prescriptions for that drug, or otherwise  administering that drug due to a medical need.”

The submission further states that “Rhein and his co-conspirators did not know the precise chemical contents of SGF-1000, yet marketed the product as one containing growth factors, and believed that, irrespective of its contents, it would enhance a horse's performance and be untestable on standard drug tests.”

Rhein has agreed to forfeit a total of $1,021,800, $671,800 of which is due at or before the time of sentencing, which represents the value of the distributed drugs. He has also agreed to pay restitution to other “victims of the offense,” the filing reads, in the amount of $729,716, the total amount of payments he received from owners by concealing his billing for the drugs by billing for acupuncture, among other things. Williams writes that the Government intends to submit a proposed restitution order and a schedule of victims at or before Rhein's sentencing.

Williams's submission details Rhein's attempts to conceal his activities from doping controls.

He writes, “Notably, beginning at least in June 2019, Rhein grew concerned regarding mounting regulatory scrutiny of SGF-1000, and shared this concern with others at MediVet. On June 5, 2019, Jason Servis informed Rhein that Maximum Security had received a dose of SGF-1000 shortly before an unannounced drug test, and Rhein quickly reassured Servis that the drug would not test positive. Rhein stated to Servis: `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. . . . [I]'ve had at least three different times it's been tested on horses that I have it the day before and nothing. Not a word. . . . There's no test for it in America. There's no testing. There's nothing. There's nothing you did that would test.' Rhein—despite not knowing the precise contents of SGF-1000 at that time—nonetheless assuaged Servis's concerns, not by saying SGF-1000 was legal or permissible (which it was not), but by saying SGF-1000 would not be detectable on a drug test. In Rhein's mind, it was immaterial whether he was following the letter of the racing rules or the law, because he believed neither he nor his customers would ever get caught. The following day, Rhein and Servis resumed their discussions of SGF-1000, and Rhein noted his belief that `somebody squealed' regarding his use of that drug.”

As the scrutiny from authorities became greater, Williams writes, “Rather than cease sales of SGF-1000 in the face of this scrutiny, approximately one week after others at MediVet sounded the alarm regarding potential federal charges, Rhein discussed with Kegley how they could tweak the labeling of SGF-1000, so as to make it appear innocuous. Rhein specifically related his suggestion: 'we gotta think of re-branding if it goes sideways.' Rhein brainstormed calling SGF-1000 by a new name: “What was the (expletive deleted) name that somebody told me? It was a good name. It was kinda cheesy, but (expletive deleted) it was a good, it was a one-word name, like . . . you know like . . . like Encore, something like that. . . . Repair . . . RepairRx. Like Repair Treatment . . . And what you do is you just say it's a preventative. It's preventative.” Despite the fact that SGF-1000 is an injectable drug whose precise contents were then-unknown to Rhein, Rhein agreed with Kegley that it should be described as a `dietary supplement for equine.'”

After Rhein learned in 2019 that Servis had been approached by law enforcement, and after the New York Gaming Commission specifically banned it, MediVet representatives provided information to the Racehorse Medication Testing Consortium (RMTC) which did not report the positive findings for low levels of ace promazine and other drugs. “While Rhein was grappling with the existential threats to his sales of SGF-1000, he continued his equally illicit practice of distributing prescription clenbuterol to trainers without issuing valid prescriptions, and concealed that conduct by issuing fraudulent bills concealing costs of clenbuterol that were paid by racehorse owners,” Williams writes.

Rhein pleaded guilty on Aug. 3, 2021. No date for sentencing has been set.

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In fact, just last week, the feds disclosed intriguing documentation about SGF-1000, the adulterated and misbranded purportedly performance-enhancing drug (PED) that was an elixir of choice for now-barred trainer Jorge Navarro, who admitted to injecting it into his horses when he pled guilty in August to one felony drug count. SGF-1000 allegedly also served as “juice” for fellow ruled-off conditioner Jason Servis, but he's still fighting his felony doping charges, even after being implicated by other defendants and allegedly being caught on intercepted phone calls discussing his wide-ranging use of PEDs.

The new intel about SGF-1000 arrived Nov. 15 in the form of a sentencing report for Kegley submitted by the government in advance of his Jan. 6 appearance in United States District Court (Southern District of New York), when he will learn his potential prison fate.

Both Kegley and Rhein are facing maximum three-year terms of incarceration. Rhein's sentencing is Jan. 5, and his report from the government is due Nov. 24.

Kegley is the former sales director for MediVet Equine, the Kentucky-based company that marketed and sold SGF-1000. Rhein is a now-suspended veterinarian formerly based at Belmont Park who has admitted that he and Servis were “leaders and organizers” of a network of associates who performed criminal actions related to doping. The feds also allegedly have Rhein taped on an intercepted phone call bragging that he sold “assloads” of SGF-1000 to racetrackers.

Soon after the arrests of 27 defendants on Mar. 9, 2020, we learned about Servis's alleged conversations with Rhein from June 2019 in which the trainer expressed fears that his purportedly doped MGISW Maximum Security would trigger a positive for SGF-1000. Rhein assured him Max wouldn't, because “they don't even have a test for it in America.”

And this past September, when prosecutors released a separate trove of wiretapped evidence, it was further disclosed that MediVet later in 2019 allegedly attempted to trick the Racing Medication and Testing Consortium (RMTC) into delisting SGF-1000 as a prohibited substance.

The government's sentencing submission from Nov. 15 fills in some previously unknown blanks about how SGF-1000 was marketed, pitched, and positioned during this time frame to maximize sales and avoid scrutiny.

$200 a bottle…but it worked

By the time SGF-1000 had landed in the crosshairs of federal prosecutors in early 2019, MediVet had already “reaped millions of dollars in revenue,” the court document stated. Part of the reason the company was able to rake in enormous profits had to do with bypassing the costs of the rigorous drug approval and registration process required by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

“Unlike legitimate drug manufacturers, MediVet spent no funds on studies to demonstrate to the FDA the safety and efficacy of SGF-1000,” the submission stated.

Working in tandem, Kegley and Rhein “both extolled the performance-enhancing benefits of the drug to racehorse trainers.”

Up until the spring of 2019, marketing material for SGF-1000 was routinely provided to purchasers and was readily available on MediVet's website. According to the government, its sellers emphasized “the potent effects of SGF-1000,” which were supposedly derived from “an innovative formulation consisting of Regenerative Proteins, Cytokines, Peptides, potent Growth Factors and Signaling Molecules derived from Ovine Placental Extract.”

The submission further stated that SGF-1000 was explained to trainers as being similar to a vasodilator that would “increase stamina, performance, and overall health.” The materials even listed the growth factors that were purportedly found in SGF-1000, including fibroblast growth factor and hepatocyte growth factor.

“Of course, many jurisdictions prohibited the use of such growth factors on racehorses, particularly where the growth factors are component parts of drugs that are not approved by the FDA, and administered solely to improve a horse's recovery and race performance,” the submission stated.

“Despite the advertised effects of, and ingredients in SGF-1000, the drug's appeal was rooted in the fact that it was undetectable in a horse's system through standard drug screens used in the racing industry, which Rhein repeatedly touted when discussing the drug,” the document continued.

The feds also alleged that despite what Kegley, Rhein, and other MediVet representatives claimed when they were parroting the company's marketing materials, no one pushing the product really had any accurate idea of what was in it.

“Notably, Kegley and his coconspirators did not know the precise contents of SGF-1000 until at least in or about August 2019–years after MediVet had started marketing and selling the drug,” the submission stated. “But [they] believed that no matter the component parts of the drug, it would enhance a horse's performance.”

So too, apparently did trainers. That's why they shelled out $200 a bottle for SGF-1000.

After Servis phoned Rhein on June 5, 2019, to allegedly tell him that Maximum Security had received a dose of SGF-1000 right before an unannounced drug test, “Rhein grew concerned regarding the potential for regulatory scrutiny of SGF-1000, and shared this concern with others at MediVet,” the sentencing submission stated.

The filing continued: “A few weeks later, on July 9, 2019,  Rhein and others affiliated with MediVet convened a conference call in which they discussed the potential for increased scrutiny of the drug. During that call, a participant mentioned that the federal government had prosecuted a racehorse trainer, Murray Rojas, for doping horses, citing it as an example of a case where drug use on racehorses had been pursued by governmental authorities beyond state racing commissions.

“Following the drumbeat of events indicating heightened suspicion of SGF-1000, Rhein and Kegley strategized regarding the best way to divert people's attention away from SGF-1000.

Rather than cease their sales of that drug, Kegley and Rhein instead discussed how they could tweak the labeling of SGF-1000, so as to make it appear innocuous,” the sentencing submission stated.

“You're right, it might help to re-brand it,” the feds allegedly recorded Kegley saying on a wiretap. “We won't mention the word 'growth factor' in any way shape or form…. We can even put on the box, you know, 'dietary supplement for equine.' That way it's not–no one even has to question if it's FDA-approved or not. It's strictly a supplement.”

RMTC Trickery

By the summer of 2019, the push was on at MediVet to try and convince the RMTC that this “supplement” was so harmless that it should be delisted as a banned substance.

“On August 8, 2019, a MediVet representative received a report from Industrial Laboratories reflecting a negative finding (at that time) for certain growth factors,” the court document stated.

Yet that same test did detect, among other prohibited substances, “low levels of acepromazine, levamisole, detomidine, pyrilamine, lidocaine, MEGX, xylazine, and caffeine.”

MediVet's reaction to this disturbing news?

According to the sentencing submission, it was “to request that the negative and positive findings be split into two separate reports. On Sept. 10, 2019, MediVet, through counsel, conveyed the negative findings to the RMTC, while withholding the positive findings.”

Around the same time, MediVet was feeling heat from regulators in New York who were zeroing in on SGF-1000 as an allegedly abused PED.

“In September 2019, MediVet's sales of SGF-1000 hit a significant hurdle,” the sentencing submission stated. “The New York Gaming Commission issued a notice in which it reiterated its longstanding prohibition against the use of growth factors and growth hormones on racehorses, but also specifically named SGF-1000 as a prohibited drug of the type that contained growth hormone or growth factors.”

Yet still, the court document explained, “Kegley and Rhein continued to market and sell SGF-1000” while MediVet “altered the promotional material for SGF-1000 to divert attention and mislead anyone who was unfamiliar with the prior marketing materials description of SGF-1000.”

So whereas the packaging and label for SGF-1000 in July 2019 described it as consisting of “regenerative placental proteins” and being “made in Australia,” by October the drug's description “had been altered to remove any reference to Australia, and was instead described as a 'homeopathic placental extract.'”

Yet by Oct. 14, 2019, MediVet had already learned “that a subsequent test of SGF-1000 did result in findings reflecting the presence of a specific growth factor,” the document stated.

And by the time Kegley and Rhein were arrested five months later, “the website for SGF-1000 had been scrubbed clean, removing any reference to growth factors, and much of the description regarding SGF-1000” itself.

“In short, even after Kegley and others at MediVet had reason to pause and take stock of the illegality of SGF-1000, they nonetheless continued to sell the drug,” the submission stated.

“With full knowledge that SGF-1000 was banned in New York, that a racehorse trainer had been criminally charged for doping, and that law enforcement was beginning to scrutinize the use of SGF-1000 specifically…Kegley and Rhein worked together and with others to deceptively label that drug, and to continue to sell the drug to those in the racehorse industry seeking a competitive advantage,” the document stated.

“Given the proliferation of websites that offer potent PEDs to those in the racehorse industry, similar to that operated by MediVet, a significant sentence is warranted to send a strong signal to others thinking of engaging in such criminality that there will be consequences for their crimes.

“Many actors in the racehorse industry have grown indifferent to, and dismissive of, the notion of obtaining illegal drugs to dope racehorses for profit, and assume that no serious ramifications will follow if they are ever caught,” the submission summed up.

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According to a previously unreleased collection wiretapped calls made public last week by federal prosecutors, Servis and Navarro didn't always know the names of some the illegal pharmaceuticals they purportedly administered to their horses. Nor were they always clear on exactly what those substances were or what they did.

But the two trainers who amassed gaudily high win percentages during the 2010s decade prior to getting arrested on doping conspiracy charges in March 2020 seemed to agree on one certainty—that those illegal concoctions worked remarkably well to make Thoroughbreds run faster.

“He sent me something with amino acid right last year. And I [expletive] gave it to this horse,” Navarro allegedly said in a Jan. 25, 2019, wiretapped call, one of many secretly recorded by law enforcement officials. “This [expletive] galloped. Galloped!”

But the alleged doping scheme might have been working too well. Two months later, when Servis's bravado had started to give way to fear, Servis allegedly told Navarro in another wiretapped call that he was “scared to death” because “the horses are running like crazy.”

Navarro's response was to laugh and reply, “You're killing them, buddy!”

Another set of intercepted calls that spring—after Servis's trainee, Maximum Security, crossed the wire first in the 2019 GI Kentucky Derby but was DQ'd for interference—depicts Servis as continually wanting validation from Kristian Rhein, a now-suspended veterinarian formerly based at Belmont Park, that SGF-1000 was “untestable” by regulators.

Rhein, according to the wiretaps, not only provided Servis with that reassurance, but he also allegedly disclosed how he hid PED charges on bills to clients and knew of Olympic-level sport horses that were clearing international drug tests after using the very same pharmaceuticals.

On Aug. 11, 2021, Navarro cut a deal with federal prosecutors in which he admitted to doping and pled guilty to one count in the years-long conspiracy in exchange for having a similar second count against him dismissed. One week earlier, Rhein had pled guilty to one count of drug adulteration and misbranding for use in the covert doping of Thoroughbreds. At that court hearing he directly implicated Servis, who was his regular client.

Servis is still fighting his drug conspiracy charge. On Aug. 3, the same day that Rhein implicated him, Servis' and other co-defendants filed a motion to get the government's wiretapped calls thrown out as evidence.

When federal prosecutors on Sept. 2 filed paperwork in support of allowing the wiretaps, the 155-page document contained the widest release yet of intercepted call transcripts. TDN is publishing them here in chronological order, edited for clarity.

March 3, 2019: Navarro and Michael Tannuzzo, a now-barred trainer, allegedly discuss modeling a doping program on a horse based on one Navarro used on his star sprinter, X Y Jet.

Navarro: What I'm going to do is tap his ankles, put him in a series every week with SGF. I'm just trying [to get] my vet to give me a good price, man, because I want to [expletive] tap every week.

Tannuzzo: You're going to tap him every week?

Navarro: Yeah, with SGF that's what I did with X Y Jet. I'm going to call my vet up north, my surgeon, to see how he did it to X Y Jet and that's it. Don't worry man, you're in good hands. Don't worry.

Tannuzzo: You're talking about the HGF, not the SGF.

Navarro: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Whatever. The SGF whatever. The thing that you sent me the
syringe.

Tannuzzo: Yeah.

Navarro: Yeah, yeah. And [this undisclosed horse] is getting one of those SGF 1000 whatever. He's getting one today.

March 5, 2019: Navarro and Servis allegedly discuss PEDs, and made their first mention (to each other) of a drug that they also referred to as “SGF.”

Navarro: And if you know something new, if you know about something new, don't forget about your man, okay? Don't forget about your man.

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.

An undated interception from around the same time frame between Servis and Navarro involves Navarro's alleged provision of an irregular (as opposed to “regular”) version of clenbuterol for Servis.

Servis: You got my message yesterday, right?

Navarro: Yeah, yeah, I got it.

Servis: I mean…

Navarro: But also the head of security was looking for me, he's a good friend of mine, so I think he was going to tell me too [It is not disclosed which racetrack they are referring to].

Servis: Okay.

Navarro: Just…just…just follow everything he does, cause he could be a [expletive].

Servis: Okay.

Navarro: All right. The only thing, any medications, pills and stuff, you have to have it
under lock.

Servis: That was the only thing we didn't have cause [unintelligible] didn't go in today. [Unintelligible] said [unintelligible] got to have everything locked up.

Navarro: Yeah. Yes, that's the only thing, and I have cases of GastroGard. I…he confiscated all that three years ago, but he gave it right back to me, cause I had an attorney and everything that I was going to sue him and, ah…Like generic GastroGard, so everything has to be labeled.

Servis: He gave [unintelligible] a bunch of [expletive] about generic acid. I got [an] expensive colt that went to Palm Beach Equine. They want omeprazole with, uh, something else in it.

Navarro: Yeah, yeah, yeah. He could be a [expletive] about that. He could be a [expletive].

Servis: I mean, Jorge, [unintelligible] time to bullshit around about regular clenbuterol. Them horses, the three win the other day, they are just on regular.

Navarro: Yeah, well I…

Servis: You know how long.

Navarro: Well it came in already. I have it at home, but [expletive] I'm afraid. I'm afraid to bring it over.

Servis: No, I'm scared to death right now.

Navarro: Ha, ha, ha!

Servis: The horses are running like crazy.

Navarro: Buddy, you're killing them, buddy. You're killing them.

Servis: But I ain't doing it. I'm [expletive only using] just regular [clenbuterol]…But when the dust settles I'd like to get some [irregular clenbuterol].

On June 5, 2019, Servis allegedly calls Rhein to discuss concerns with drug testing, namely the possibility that the New Jersey Racing Commission would discover Servis's use of SGF-1000.

Servis: You got a minute?

Rhein: Sure, sure, sure.

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.

Servis: It will probably come up with [dexamethasone] probably, right?

Rhein: Yeah, that's it. It will be dex. It will be dex. It will be like—that's it. And I've had them, I had them pull some stuff, and I was like, “Oh, [expletive], I wonder what
will happen?” Nothing. Nothing. I mean and the guy said SGF doesn't even test close, thank god. But the only thing will be the AZM and you can just say he
was like hives or something, but…

Servis: Right. But they're not even going to ask me about it.

Rhein: They won't, even.

Servis: Because you're allowed to have that anyways. Dex, I mean.

Rhein: He's allowed. He's allowed. So [unintelligible] I don't know. I've done it. I've had it tested. Jockey Club did it, and I've had at least three different times it's been tested on horses that I gave it the day before and nothing. Not a word.

Servis: Yup.

Rhein: There's no test for it in America. There's no testing. There's nothing.

Servis: Okay, that's fine.

Rhein: There's nothing you did that would test.

Servis: So Monday they took Max and they got three other horses. Actually, they got two. They were looking for [Sunny Ridge] and I told them he's at Belmont. I think they got him today, Henry [Argueta] said. But they took a 2-year old filly that ran the other day and finished fourth. Um, and I'm thinking, “Why the [expletive] would they want to take her?” But maybe they are just doing random or maybe looking for clenbuterol. I don't know.

Rhein: Yeah, that's what I am wondering. I'm wondering if it's clenbuterol they are
looking for.

Servis: Right, because [at] Parx you are not allowed to have it on the grounds.

Rhein: That's really an odd thing and that horse, I guarantee, has never had any [expletive like] that. I mean, I know because I met the guy inadvertently when The Jockey Club took a box of the SGF. They took it and I met the guy, and I met the guy down at the conference, and he goes, “The Jockey Club.” And he saw the hat that I had on was the same [equine pharmaceutical] company, and he goes, “Oh, man I just tested a box of that stuff.” And I go, “What stuff?” And he goes “MediVet. You've got a hat on—SGF. Yeah, Jockey Club sent it to me out in California. Yeah, it came back as just a bunch of collagen. Nothing interesting [unintelligible]. These guys think it's got something that can be like a PED.” He goes, “There's nothing in it.” And he was the actual head of the testing lab.

Servis: Yeah, I think you told me.

Rhein: Yeah, so you are golden. And like I said, we have had it done two or three times here. Nothing.

Servis: Okay.

Rhein: [The expletive] I just had that I gave to some horses, and they just took it.

Servis: Well, that's what I'm saying. That horse got it Monday.

Rhein: Yeah.

Servis: And then they come in and test it [unintelligible].

Rhein: No, but they won't. It's—you know, I promise. It's never been anywhere, anyway, anyhow, and I got guys going through [international equine drug testing] that is 50 million times stricter, because these guys are giving it for their horses in the Grand Prix. They give it to them. The Grand Prix jumping. So I have like three horses that are gold medal—well, medal winning—horses in the Olympics, and they are all on it. And they go right through the [testing] box and it's far stricter than anything we got.

Servis: All right, Kristian. Just want to make sure.

Later on June 5, 2019, following his conversation with Rhein, Servis allegedly places a call to another individual (whose identity is not disclosed) regarding falsely listing “dex” on veterinary records to obscure the use of SGF-1000.

Servis: Yeah, so I just want to give you a heads up. So they pulled blood on some horses Monday. One of them is Maximum Security, and then they pulled it again today. Um, and I talked to Kristian [Rhein]. I mean the shots shouldn't be a problem because, you know, it may come up as dex. I don't know if you cover your ass if they want to look at a [veterinary] bill and see if the horse why he got dex or some…I just wanted to give you a heads up with the dex because that horse, you gave it to him Monday, I think, right?

Individual: Yeah, he got the dex Monday.

Servis: Yeah, I don't know if [regulators might question] why did he get dex [if] it's not on the bill, or something.

Individual: Nah. [Unintelligible] put it down. [Unintelligible] put it down. Got it.

The following day, June 6, 2019, Servis and Rhein allegedly continue their conversation about SGF-1000 and the untestable nature of it.

Rhein: On what we were talking about the other day—there is no problem with it. But, like, somebody squealed around here about it.

Servis: Okay.

Rhein: So that is the only thing that we should be cautious of. I got a…I got a couple of…

Servis: That's the SGF?

Rhein: Uh-huh.

Servis: Okay.

Rhein: So somebody squealed. Not that it is testing, or that…there's no…it's untestable. It's that they were crying about it. I don't know why. They didn't tell me who. But somebody is crying about it.

Servis: Okay.

Rhein: So it's just, just that we know. I just wanted to let you know that I, you know…the guy said this is a big, higher-up official. I was like, “What are they? Is it some weird test? Or is something coming back?” And he was like, “No, not at all.”

Servis: Okay. I just, like I said, they pulled blood the same day that he got it, that is what threw me off.

Rhein: Yeah, well, this was the…I'm not worried in the sense of anything going wrong with it because, like I said, the guy already tested it, so it's not that. It's more people crying.

Servis: Right, right.

Rhein: It's more people crying about it and I am sure, as you well hear. Believe me, more people come up to me and bitch and cry about you. They are like, “Oh, he is cheating, he is cheating, he is cheating.” I was like, “Yep, sure.” I said, “They test all of his horses over and over and over again.”

Servis: I know. I hear it all the time.

Rhein: I know you do. So, but…between you and me, because [of] the testing, they called me from the test center here and I was like, “What's up?” They go, “Do you know anything?” So what they called it, they called it “growth hormone.” They were like “You're using some sheep growth hormone.” I go, “No, it has no growth hormone whatsoever in it.” And I said, “It tested as collagen, which is a protein. A fine…there is nothing wrong with it.” I told him the name of the gentleman that [had tested] it in California. I said “His name is [redacted].” He goes, “Oh, I know him.” I said, “The Jockey Club had it tested. They were all freaked out, they thought it was this, they thought it was that.” I said, “So, it has been tested up and down.” And he said, “Listen, somebody dropped a dime on me.” And I was like, “What?” They are like, “Yeah.” So all we need to do…I'm not going to say anything to anything else. I'm just going to tell [co-defendant veterinarian] Alex [Chan] and people like that. Like it is not on any of our bills. It never is.

Servis: What about is [the drug] on your truck?

Rhein: No, nah. I don't take it on my truck. I just, when they call for, it I just have it. Come and get it.

Servis: Well, if you want us to back off, I mean, I have no problem with that.

Rhein: No, no, no, no, I mean, I'm going to find out some more. I just wanted you to know. I mean, I'm not worried. I am not worried because it has been tested, you know? And the person that just called me is the guy who tests. So I'm not worried about that. We do it further out. I mean all those things. So I am not trying to be clever or tricky or anything. This guy said “Listen, I am letting you know.” And I said…

Servis: Right, somebody dropped a dime on you.

Rhein: Put it this way: They have no test, period, but we don't get close. We never do. I mean I don't get close with it.

Servis: Yeah, we are 10, 12 days.

Rhein: Exactly. The rules of New York say anything outside of seven days is anything that is not listed. And this is truly listed as a biologic. So if they really want to fight, guess what? A biologic in New York is forty-eight hours [withdrawal time].

Servis: Right.

Rhein: Because that's all it is.

Servis: The only thing I was concerned with is, is it FDA approved?

Rhein: Well, no, no. Not that I know of.

Servis: That's the only thing I was thinking, I don't…does it have to be?

Rhein: Well, no, because, no. I mean, there is so many things. That is the beauty of being a veterinarian. As a veterinarian you are allowed to use any drug that you think would be…and this is not even considered a drug. It has no drug in it, it is literally just a purified protein from a sheep's placenta.

Servis: Right.

Rhein: So, I was like, look this isn't a drug, this isn't manufactured. So the Federal Drug Administration, they wouldn't approve it anyway, just because it is not a drug. Yeah, so, I just want to beware. I am not like, “Oh my God!” panicked.

Servis: Yeah, because I use it down here.

Rhein: [Expletive]. I love the stuff. I mean, you should see like, tendons.

Rhein: He [an undisclosed individual about whom Servis had previously complained, presumably a trainer] is such a little bitch. He just is a little sawed-off bitch. I worked for him. I mean, I worked for him. He had me shock-waving horses. He would leave me these notes. They were hidden in his drawer. And then we used to use Deca-Durabolin. I used to use Winstrol, and he was like, “Don't you dare put that on the bill.”

Servis: Wow.

Rhein: I'm like, you know, so this guy, he talks out of both sides of his mouth.

Servis: Yeah, he does. And one day somebody is going to write a [expletive] book. It is going to be a groom or a vet somebody and he is going to hang them all out.

Rhein: Yeah, believe me we could. I was there. I mean, I know these hypocrites. I mean I did all these guys' work. I know who was using and who was not, who needed to, who didn't. I mean. I don't say it lightly, but [expletive], I was doing [vet work for several other individuals]. I had all those barns. I was doing all their lameness. And these guys were the first ones that wanted you to [enhance performance]. “Hey what can we do?”

Servis: Yeah.

Rhein: And then they were like, so…We will be fine. Like I said, it is never on a bill.
It is never on a bill. That is the problem.

Servis: I have been billing it Baycox in Florida and here.

Rhein: Oh, good. Good. No, I think we do…ours are totally innocuous so…and I bill a
lot of mine as like acupuncture. I'm an acupuncturist. I'm a trained…licensed acupuncturist. So, that is for me why I do it. They can't say I am not. I have my advanced degree for equine acupuncture.

On July 10, 2019, Servis and Argueta allegedly discuss concerns about getting caught administering PEDs.

Servis: Be careful man, Henry, with that. Really careful, because…

Argueta: Yes?

Servis: Because we are getting really good.

Argueta: Yeah, no.

Servis: All we need is a problem like that. Oh, with the Derby and [expletive]. Oh my god.

Argueta: Yeah. Then they glad they are looking for us in the tree.

Servis: Yeah, they will.

Argueta: They are going to be in the tree looking for you with their binoculars.

Servis: What?

Argueta: The mounts right after the road.

Servis: Right.

Argueta: They'll be over there. They be there looking for you.

Servis: No they'll be in a van or a car with black windows you won't be able to see in.

Argueta: Ha, ha!

Servis: You know what I am saying. But they can see out.

Argueta: Yeah, but what are they going to see? Nobody going to see nothing. What are they going to see? Nothing.

Servis: Right.

Argueta: We don't do nothing—ha, ha! They can look wherever they want to look.

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The opposing motion was filed Sept. 2nd in the Southern District of New York by U.S. Attorney Audrey Strauss, who writes, “the defendants' motions are entirely without merit and should be denied in full.”

On Aug. 3, lawyers representing Servis filed a motion to have evidence against him that was obtained through wiretaps thrown out. Attorneys Rita Glavin and Michael Considine charged that the government obtained authorization from a court to tap into Servis's phone based on a sworn affidavit from an FBI agent that, they contend, “contained deliberately or recklessly false statements and the material omission of statutorily and constitutionally required information.”

The Servis legal team argued that the wiretap evidence should be thrown out because using it represents a violation of Servis's Fourth Amendment rights. The Fourth Amendment reads, in part: “The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated.”

But the government argues in its opposing motion that law enforcement was led to Servis through an earlier investigation of now-barred Standardbred trainer Nick Surick, of whom they say the ruled-off Thoroughbred trainer Jorge Navarro was his “doping mentor.”

Navarro on Aug. 11 cut a deal with federal prosecutors in which he pled guilty to one count in the years-long Thoroughbred doping conspiracy in exchange for having a similar second count against him dismissed.

“This case arose from an investigation into overlapping and widespread schemes by racehorse trainers, veterinarians, drug distributors, and others to obtain money through lies, deceit, and active concealment of sophisticated doping of racehorses through the use of purportedly `untestable' drugs,” the filing states, adding that the investigation revealed ample evidence of Surick and Navarro's efforts to “obtain, share, distribute, discuss, use, and conceal various  performance-enhancing drugs that they each intended to be, and believed to be, untestable by racing authorities.”

The facts uncovered in that investigation, the filing states, “informed the application for the initial wiretap of Navarro's cellphone and those of Navarro's co-conspirators,” including Servis.

“Initial and renewal interceptions over the Navarro Phone indicated that: (1) Servis was actively assisting Navarro to conceal Navarro's doping practices by `tipping off' Navarro to the presence of racetrack officials; (2) Navarro was willing to confide in Servis regarding his own doping practices and about his own corrupt relationship with an unnamed racetrack security official; (3) Navarro believed that Servis had his own corrupt relationship with a racetrack security official; and (4) Servis further participated in Navarro's doping scheme as a recipient of an unspecified, “[ir]regular” version of Clenbuterol, which Servis wished to obtain after assuring himself that regulators were not scrutinizing the Servis operation too closely,” the government filing argues.

“The scheme being investigated was exceedingly complex,” the filing states. “There were ample intercepted conversations indicating that the drugs distributed amongst a number of the Target Subjects by design would not be on drug tests.”

One such intercepted conversation allegedly occurred on Jan. 25, 2019, between Navarro and another defendant, the now-barred harness trainer Christopher Oakes. Oakes had allegedly created his own customized “drench” by which performance-enhancing drugs [PEDs] were forced directly into a horse's stomach through a tube inserted via the nostril.

In that wiretapped call, Navarro allegedly discussed “this crazy [expletive] Seth [Fishman]” with Oakes, describing an injectable drug that Fishman had allegedly sent to Navarro in 2018: “He sent me something with amino acid right last year. And I [expletive] gave it to this horse. This [expletive] galloped. Galloped.”

Navarro then allegedly asked Oakes for help in obtaining more of that that drug, or another that Navarro could use. Oakes purportedly offered up a different untestable PED that he had developed, allegedly explaining that “this drench I got dude, they can test you all day, night, before, after. [This drench] has got a ton of those branch chain amino acids in it [and there is] zero chance you get caught, [even when administered on] race day.”

Separately, in a Feb. 21, 2019, intercepted call between Fishman and an unnamed racetrack customer, the customer (with no reference to treating a horse for a medical condition) allegedly asked for a blood builder offered by Fishman called BB3.

Fishman later on that call allegedly stated that “building blood is not cheap” because it is “the holy grail [PED] of sports.” Fishman allegedly assured the customer that the blood builder he offered would not test positive, even a few hours after it had been administered.

The government's opposing motion continued: “This discussion, entirely ignored in the Fishman Motion, further underscores that Seth Fishman was not creating and selling substances to comply with applicable racing rules and regulations, but to evade drug testing that would reveal a violation of such rules. Through that evasion, Fishman and his clients attempted to falsely present their horses as eligible to participate in lucrative races, knowing that this was false…”

“Even assuming that drug testing had been widely pursued, drug testing alone would not have revealed the scope of which (untestable) drugs were at issue, which trainers were purchasing drugs from Seth Fishman, or when these trainers were administering these drugs to racehorses in advance of races.

“Indiscriminate drug testing of various racehorses at various times in the hopes of yielding a positive test (ignoring for the moment that the drugs being administered were designed to be undetectable on drug tests) is not `reasonably likely' to have succeeded, or to have obviated the need for a wiretap. In sum, Seth Fishman has provided no justification for why the proposed alternative techniques would be likely to succeed, and not just be `theoretically possible,” the attorneys conclude.

Glavin and Considine are also seeking to have evidence obtained from wiretaps of the phones of Navarro, veterinarian Kristian Rhein and Alexander Chan, a veterinarian who worked with Rhein, suppressed.

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Voss joins publisher Ray Paulick to explain Navarro's plea and the potential prison term and monetary consequences he faces.

Among the questions we've been asked are: What does Navarro's plea mean to some of the other individuals indicted, including trainer Jason Servis? Will any horses from the stables of convicted trainers or treated with performance-enhancing drugs by convicted veterinarians be disqualified from any victories? Will owners of horses who won purses through cheating trainers or veterinarians be on the hook for any monetary damages? Are more criminal indictments expected in the coming weeks or months?

Bloodstock editor Joe Nevills joins the show to review the Lake Huron Stakes win by the Woodbine Star of the Week, Forest Survivor, a 3-year-old Ontario-bred Old Forester colt who hung tough in the stretch after setting fast fractions under jockey Kazushi Kimura.

Watch this week's show, presented by Monmouth Park, below:

The post The Friday Show Presented By Monmouth Park: After Navarro’s Guilty Plea, What’s Next? appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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