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15 Riders Suspended By West Virginia Racing Commission For False Medical Documents

Fifteen jockeys have received suspensions from the West Virginia Racing Commission after stewards determined they “presented false and altered” documentation of required medical examinations.

Eric Barbaran, Ricardo Mejias, Luan Silva Machado, Fernando Salazar Becerra, Juan Leon Velez, Brandon Tapara, Eder Luis Martinez, Luis Hernandez, Sonny Leon, Logan Holbrook, Angel Serpa, Jose Leon, Odhair Mayta, and Jose Davila were all suspended 15 days for the offense. Their suspension dates differ slightly, beginning between Sept. 7 and Sept. 10 and finishing between Sept. 21 and Sept. 24.

Rider Eddie Jurado was suspended 210 days and fined $2,500 because stewards said he “also admitted to producing and/or delivering fictitious documents (copies of physical examinations to 14 other jockeys to perform their work duties at Mountaineer Park. Jurado's suspension runs through April 4, 2022.

All riders are denied access to commission-sanctioned grounds for the duration of their suspension.

According to commission executive director Joe Moore, the commission has not been notified that any of the riders are appealing the rulings.

Herbie Rivera, the Jockeys' Guild representative for Mountaineer riders, said the track, like many others, requires proof of a standard physical at the start of the meet. Most riders can have them done through the appropriate channels for $50 to $70. The rules of racing in West Virginia mandate that riders submit proof they have passed a physical exam within 12 months in order to participate as jockeys, and a baseline concussion test. There are no specific COVID-19 requirements related to the physical, according to the state's rulebook.

Rivera said about half the tracks in the country require a physical at the start of the meet, and that he believes there's no good reason not to comply with the rule. He was surprised the stewards handed down such long suspensions.

“They would tell them their name and then they'd show up with [the document],” he said. “I made sure I went to every rider who was going to have a hearing and sat down with them. I told them, 'It is what it is. You made a mistake.'

“I didn't think they'd be this harsh, but I have a lot of respect for the stewards. The only thing I can do is make suggestions.”

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Bourbonic Gets Class Relief in West Virginia Derby

Calumet Farm's Bourbonic (Bernardini), overmatched in two legs of the Triple Crown after scoring a Grade II upset this spring, will step a few rungs down the class ladder Saturday when invading Mountaineer Park for the track's signature race on the calendar, the GIII West Virginia Derby.

Breaking his maiden by open lengths for a $50,000 tag Dec. 6 at Aqueduct, the homebred repeated in a starter/optional claiming spot there Jan. 17 and was runner-up in a sloppy Parx allowance/optional claimer Feb. 23. Ambitiously spotted by Todd Pletcher off that run in the GII Wood Memorial S., the dark bay rewarded his trainer's confidence with a shocking last-to-first run to get up at 72-1. Unable to factor when 13th in the GI Kentucky Derby, he improved slightly when fifth in the GI Belmont S. June 5, but was still beaten double-digit lengths.

Brad Cox starts a pair of improving sophomores, most notably Twin Creeks Racing Stables' Warrant (Constitution). Graduating second out at six panels Feb. 16 at Fair Grounds, the homebred missed by a nose in a Keeneland allowance/optional claimer Apr. 3 before filling the same slot behind subsequent GIII Matt Winn S.-winning barnmate Fulsome (Into Mischief) in the Oaklawn S. May 1. Suffering a seemingly impossibly wide trip in the Texas Derby last out May 31 at Lone Star, the chestnut proved his resolve, surging late to a three-quarter length success.

The horse he wore down that day, Mr. Wireless (Dialed In), returned to win impressively in the GIII Indiana Derby July 7 at Indiana Grand and has been given the 9-5 morning-line preference here. A victory would give trainer Bret Calhoun back-to-back West Virginia Derby trophies after he scored with Mr. Money (Goldencents) in 2019 (the race was not held in 2020 due to the pandemic).

Other contenders in the seven-horse group include Bourbon Thunder (Quality Road), third at 30-1 against elders in a Saratoga allowance for trainer Ian Wilkes July 15, and Cox's other entrant Kinetic Sky (Runhappy), who most recently chased a sizzling pace before prevailing by 1 1/4 lengths in a Churchill allowance/optional claimer June 26.

The post Bourbonic Gets Class Relief in West Virginia Derby appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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Mountaineer Jockey Puts Goggles To Good Use In Winning Race

Baytown Valleygirl was racing to the outside of favored Golden Hughes at the top of the stretch in the fifth race on the June 30 program at Mountaineer Park in Chester, W.Va., when the 2-year-old Klimt filly's rider, Odhair Mayta, lost control of his whip, which fell to the track.

Luis Rivera, aboard Golden Hughes, began urging his mount with left-handed encouragement, and she appeared to put her head in front briefly.

After losing his whip, Mayta gave his filly a hand ride, but then approaching the sixteenth pole ripped the goggles off of his head with his right hand and immediately began slapping the filly on the shoulder and showing her the goggles between strikes. She poked her head in front and edged away gradually to win by a neck.

It was the first victory in six starts for Baytown Valleygirl, trained by Paul McEntee for Wagner Racing and McEntee Racing. Mayta was winning for the 17th time in 99 starts at Mountaineeer this year, putting him sixth in the rider standings.

This wouldn't be the first time that a resourceful jockey used goggles to encourage a mount. In 2015, Jose Lezcano was cleared by the New York State Gaming Commission for using his goggles on a mount after dropping his whip. A steward who said Lezcano violated two rules was overruled by a 5-0 commission vote, according to a report in Bloodhorse.com.

West Virginia Racing Rules state that “no electrical or mechanical device or other expedient designed to increase or retard the speed of a horse, other than the riding crop approved by the stewards, shall be possessed by anyone, or applied by anyone to the horse at any time on the grounds…whether during a race or otherwise.”

Are goggles an “expedient”? We'll leave that one up to the stewards.

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Jockey Agent Billy Johnson Passes: Teamed With Leading Riders Deshawn Parker, Luis Quinones

Jockey agent Billy Johnson died Thursday in East Liverpool, Ohio, just across the Ohio River from West Virginia's Mountaineer Park, where he helped Deshawn Parker become the No. 1 rider in the country by wins in 2010 and '11.

Johnson, who was in his late 50s, had been plagued with health issues in recent months.

“It's a sad day. He is family to me,” said Parker, who said he and Johnson worked together for about 20 years, parting ways in 2017 when Parker moved his tack to Indiana. “He helped raise my kids. We'd spend Thanksgiving and Christmas together and hung out all the time.”

Parker recalls growing up in Cleveland and when he was 14 or 15 years old playing on the same softball team with his father, state steward Daryl Parker, and the Johnson brothers, Billy and Thoroughbred trainer Gary.

“I've known him for so long,” he said.

Parker said Johnson helped him win more than 30 riding titles at Mountaineer Park and they earned another together at Sam Houston in 2015 after testing the waters in Texas.

Johnson worked on the backstretch and eventually the racing office at Ohio racetracks. Fellow agent Jimmy McNerny worked alongside Johnson in the Beulah Park racing office and said Johnson left to become an agent in the mid-to-late '90s. McNerny followed him a couple of years later and now is agent for Parker, who won the 2020 Indiana Grand riding title.

“He's one of the best agents I've known,” said McNerny.

Parker led all North American riders with 377 wins in 2010 and 400 in 2011. After Parker left for Indiana, Johnson teamed up with Luis Quinones to win the 2018 and '19 Mountaineer titles and finish third and second by North American wins in those respective years.

Quinones was voted Santa Anita's George Woolf Memorial Jockey Award by his fellow riders in February 2020. “He was a big influence in helping Quinones getting that award,” McNerny said. ”Most of the riders who vote don't know anything about Mountaineer or Mahoning Valley, where Quinones rode. Billy really campaigned for him.”

When Quinones was sidelined by injury earlier this year, Johnson brought Luis Colon to the West Virginia track. Colon and Johnson's other rider, Charle Oliveros, are currently 1-2 in the standings.

“He did a great job,” Parker said. “And everybody liked Billy. He's just one of those guys. Never a bad word about him. Even if he spun the trainers, he would smooth it out so they weren't upset with him. He tried hard for everybody.”

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