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Corser Follows His Heart to Kentucky

Mark Corser, a casual horse owner on the West Coast, found himself with some extra time on his hands after a business conference in Louisville three years ago when an impromptu side trip to Lexington changed the course of his life. Within the span of months, Corser had bought a farm and relocated both his family and his company to the Bluegrass. The first crop of yearlings bred by Corser and his wife Corrina hit the marketplace next week at the Keeneland September Yearling Sale where the couple's manager Eduardo Terrazas will consign a pair of colts in the second session of the auction's Book 1 section Tuesday.

“I had followed racing in England before I moved to the U.S.,” Corser said. “I bought my first horse in 2013 with trainer Adam Kitchingman in California. We really enjoyed it.”

Delineating the precise moment his life altered course, Corser continued, “But the spring of 2018 was when I met Eduardo. I had three days where I was sitting around the hotel with nothing to do. My trainer called me and I told him I was in Louisville and he asked if I wanted to see some of the stallions over in Lexington. So I went over to Coolmore and I saw American Pharoah and Uncle Mo. The trainer called again and he said, 'I have a couple of babies with a guy called Eduardo. Do you want to go look at them?' I thought, 'Well, I've got nothing better to do.' I got there about noon and I think I left at 6 p.m. I just really hit it off with Eduardo. We spent four hours standing in a 30-acre field just watching the babies.”

For his part, Terrazas was expecting a quick visit before getting back to work.

“I got a call from Adam Kitchingman and he told me that he had a friend who was out here in Louisville at some conference and he didn't have anything to do the following day,” Terrazas recalled. “He asked if it was ok if he could come over to the farm and just show him some horses. I figured it would be one of those 20 or 30-minute deals where you let him pet some babies and he goes on his way and you keep on doing your work. Next thing I know, six or seven hours later, he is still here. And I can't get rid of him. By the time he got done, he told me, 'Will you help me if I want to get involved in this?'”

Terrazas did his best to discourage his English guest.

“Basically I told him, if you think this is an easy game, you are wasting your money,” Terrazas recalled. “This is a game for people who have disposable income. Because 90% of the time, it doesn't happen. Sometimes the horse you think is the best one, when it comes to sales time, he doesn't X-ray or he doesn't scope or something happens to him. Sometimes it just doesn't pan out. There are so many variables that we don't have any control over it. The highs in this business are beautiful. It's the greatest thing in the world if you are in the winner's circle with one of your homebreds or if you sell a high-price horse. But the lows can be brutal.”

Terrazas came up with a plan that he thought would satisfy Corser.

“I told him, 'If I can't talk you out of it, let's just dip your toes in the water before you jump in,'” Terrazas said. “He said, 'That's fair.' And then he just kept sending me real estate stuff. He kept asking, 'Do you know this farm? Do you know this farm?'”

Some four months after his initial visit to Lexington, Corser traveled back to Kentucky with his wife to scope out both farms and schools for their two young daughters. Corser knew just how to sell his wife on the move.

“It was really easy,” Corser said. “We flew in on Thursday and landed at Blue Grass Airport. We threw all the suitcases in the car and the first thing I did before going to the hotel was take her to Eduardo's. It was a beautiful summer's night. She saw all the foals following her and she just fell in love with the place. We went to look at schools and she really loved the schools. We looked at four or five farms and it was the last farm that we looked at and she fell in love with it. We ended up doing a deal. And Eduardo just shook his head. We moved out here a year later and now we've got 13 mares on the property and we have our first real babies that we've bred ourselves.”

It wasn't just his wife and kids who needed to make the move East. Corser is founder and CEO of CM Process Solutions, a food processing equipment company. The origin of the company is almost as serendipitous as his purchase of the family's new Kentucky home.

“I came over here in 2008 to do business for the employer that I had been working for in the UK for 10,” Corser said. “After three months, the economy took a hit in the UK following the crash and he wanted me to come home. He fired me over the phone and left me in America. The only way I could stay was looking at setting up a business of my own. That's what we did. We had a couple thousand dollars in our pockets and we made it work. When people talk about the American dream, I believe it. I'm fully vested in it. I've seen it happen for myself.”

CM Process Solutions will complete its transition in the next few weeks.

“We relocated from California and we brought some employees over,” Corser said. “We just finished building a 25,000 square foot home for the existing business in Winchester. It's been a three-year process. We are probably going to move in in about two weeks.”

Corser Thoroughbreds, which started out with 160 acres on Bryan Station Road, will expand to over 300 acres with the recent acquisition of neighboring property.

“Eduardo will probably comment on that, too–'I told him to get 40 acres and now he has 300-odd acres,'” Corser said with a laugh. “The plan is to have 20 to 22 mares, but quality mares. I want to breed at a quality level. We will sell and keep the odd one that we fall in love with. This year we bred to Curlin twice and we bred to Justify and we bred to Quality Road and Candy Ride (Arg) and Gun Runner. I am pretty good friends with [bloodstock agent] David Ingordo and we bought our first stallion share, we bought a share in Gift Box. We have immersed ourselves in it and hopefully it will pay off.”

Corser Thoroughbreds will offer a pair of Book 1 yearlings at the Keeneland September sale.

“I am a little bit nervous because the one thing I've learned is you've got to have the goods and buyers can be a little finicky,” Corser admitted of the upcoming sale. “But that's Eduardo side of the business. I don't get involved in that. He selects the horses that we purchase and he selects the babies we purchase. And he selects the mares we will breed.”

Terrazas, who served as stallion manager at Overbrook Farm and at Taylor Made Stallions before starting his own operation in 2005, has plenty of confidence in his two Book 1 offerings.

First to go through the ring will be a colt by Speightstown (hip 210) out of multiple stakes winner Trini Brewnette (Milwaukee Brew). The Corsers purchased the mare with the now-yearling in utero for $195,000 at the 2019 Keeneland November sale. She is a daughter of Canadian champion Dancing Allstar (Millennium Allstar) and a half-sister to champion Summer Sunday (Silent Name {Jpn}).

“The Speightstown is a beautiful colt,” Terrazas said. “He is typical of the sire with a lot of body, a very strong and fast-looking horse. He is very well-put together. I have a soft spot in my heart for him because he was the first foal for Mark and Corrina as breeders.”

The chestnut colt will be making his second trip through the ring after RNA'ing for $200,000 at last year's Fasig-Tipton November sale.

“We went out there to try and gauge a number on the horse,” Terrazas said. “I don't know about anybody else, but I didn't have a really good year last year in the sales. We got hit by the COVID and a lot of buyers didn't make it. So we are here trying again in what we hope will be a stronger market.”

Also selling Tuesday is hip 283, a colt by Uncle Mo out of Borealis Night (Astrology), who was purchased in utero for $285,000 at Keeneland November two years ago.

“The Uncle Mo colt to me is a dream horse,” Terrazas said. “He is a first foal out of an Astrology mare that I bought for Mark. I really always liked that family and this mare was such a beautiful mare. He is one of those horses–I try not to get Mark's head too big–but ever since last March when I went to look at him, I noticed how he was coming together and blooming and he has continued doing that for us. As far as a physical, he's everything I would buy.”

After their original mare purchases, the team has tinkered with its approach and is focusing on continually upgrading the quality of the broodmare band. At last year's Keeneland November sale, Corser purchased Peace Corps (Violence) (hip 89), in foal to Into Mischief, for $500,000 and Charge Back (Take Charge Indy) (hip 566), in foal to City of Light, for $330,000.

“After we bought our first three, we decided we didn't have to buy anything after that,” Terrazas said. “Going forward, we decided, 'Let's not buy anything that is not better than what we have at the farm already.' So we went out and acquired three or four last November. We went to $500,000 for a mare in foal to Into Mischief and I am very happy with what came out. Hopefully we have the firepower to go to the sales and leave open the option, if we can't sell one, that it is a horse that you'd want to race yourself. You always have to have that option, in my opinion.”

While Corser lets Terrazas worry about the sale, he and his family are relishing their new life in the Bluegrass.

“There is no better time that I enjoy than going out with my two girls and watching the babies,” Corser said. “I have a 6-year-old daughter and an 11-year-old daughter and both of them ride. My 6-year-old will go out before she goes to school and we have a horse that she'll go and see every single morning. They give them all names. So this year we have Sprinkles, Cupcake and we have a Gun Runner named Bob. He is out of my 11-year-old daughter's favorite mare and she calls him Bob. They all get named and then we have to go through the hassle of parting with them.”

The whole operation can be attributed to bad timing, according to Terrazas.

“He came here around Derby week or thereabouts and he came at the wrong time,” Terrazas said. “We are in this big field with all of the mommas and the babies and he's getting nibbled by all these little babies. I wish he would have come in February when it's 10 below zero and nobody wants to be out. But it was meant to be.”

Despite his protestations, Terrazas is clearly relishing the new partnership.

“We have a lot of fun,” he admitted. “I love him, he's family to me. And we have grown pretty close, his family and my family. We are always joking around and visiting each other.”

For his part, Corser is keeping modest ambitions. Asked what goals he had set for the operation, he said with a chuckle, “Just to break even.”

He continued, “Just to get in the winner's circle and have a photo is a great reward.”

The Keeneland September sale begins next Monday, with the first of two Book 1 sessions commencing at 1 p.m.

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This Week in Review: Can Gunite Break the Curse of the Hopeful

There's no doubt that Gunite (Gun Runner) is a quality horse and he secured an important win Monday at Saratoga in the GI Hopeful S when upsetting the highly regarded colts Wit (Practical Joke) and High Oak (Gormley). But is he a GI Kentucky Derby winner? If the last 43 runnings of the Hopeful mean anything, the answer is no.

The Hopeful is the first Grade I race for 2-year-old males run each year on the NYRA calendar and always brings together groups of horses who were impressive winners in Saratoga or someplace else. Every year, the field represents what seems to be unlimited potential.

That would suggest that a win in the race is a ticket to stardom as a 3-year-old, but that has not been the case for a long time. The last time a Hopeful winner won the Kentucky Derby was way back in 1978 when Affirmed swept the Triple Crown. Since then, only 11 Hopeful winners have made it to the Derby and only three have done so since 2005. None of those three finished in the money.

The 2004 Hopeful winner was Afleet Alex, who finished third in the Kentucky Derby in 2005 before winning the GI Preakness S. and the GI Belmont S. Sixteen years since he last raced, he is the last Hopeful winner to have had any sort of impact in any of the Triple Crown races.

That wasn't always the case. First run in 1901, the Hopeful has produced seven Kentucky Derby winners and three Triple Crown winners (Affirmed, Secretariat, Whirlaway). Foolish Pleasure, Secretariat and Affirmed combined to give the Hopeful three Derby winners over a six-year period. Hall of Famers like Man o'War, Nashua and Native Dancer also used the Hopeful as a springboard to stardom during the 3-year-old seasons and beyond.

There's no secret when it comes to what is happening here. Two-year-olds are trained and campaigned much differently than they were during the days of Affirmed. The Hopeful was the sixth start of Affirmed's career, which began May 24, and it was his fourth stakes win. His pre-Hopeful campaign even included a ship to California, where he won the GII Hollywood Juvenile Championship. By the time he got to the Hopeful, he was already a seasoned horse.

Fast forward 44 years and the horses who compete in the Hopeful usually have had no more than two prior starts. While they have talent, they also win the Hopeful because they are precocious and fast. Eight months later in the Kentucky Derby, the rest of the class has usually caught up to them if not passed them.

None of this is to say that the Hopeful is a ticket to nowhere. The 2020 winner Jackie's Warrior (Maclean's Music), who typifies the type of horse that now excels in the Hopeful, is a Grade I winner at three, in the thick of the race for champion sprinter, and has emerged as a valuable sire prospect. That probably wouldn't have happened if he had not been managed beautifully by Steve Asmussen. Asmussen didn't pretend to have something he didn't. He gave Jackie's Warrior only one shot to prove that he was a Derby horse and the result was a distant third in the GIII Southwest S. That was the last time he ever raced around two turns and he has been on a tear ever since. Had Asmussen pressed on and tried to make the Derby there's no telling what might have happened with Jackie's Warrior.

Gunite, who was Asmussen's third straight winner in the Hopeful, will no doubt be given the opportunity to show if he's a viable Triple Crown horse. Being by Gun Runner, maybe he can do it. It's just more likely than come Derby week 2022, he'll be eyeing something like the GII Pat Day Mile S.

Mattress Mack Scores at Monmouth

It's impossible not to root for Jim McIngvale.

When Hurricane Ida hit Louisiana last week, there he was again, traveling from Houston to Louisiana with badly needed supplies for those hard hit by the hurricane. He also opened his Houston furniture store as a safe haven to dozens of families who needed shelter. A humanitarian, he never fails to come to the recsue when his part of the globe is hit by a violent storm.

Eight days after Ida struck and with the situation getting more back to normal, McIngvale could turn his attention back to racing.

While the offspring of Runhappy (Super Saver) are having a much better year than they did in 2020, McIngvale had yet to come up with a top son or daughter of his stallion of his own. That all changed Saturday at Monmouth when Runup (Runhappy) won the $200,000 Sorority S., the first stakes win for a McIngvale-owned offspring of Runhappy. She didn't beat the best field and managed to get an uncontested lead, but she improved and showed enough in her first start around two turns to suggest that even better days are ahead.

“She runs a lot like her dad,” McIngvale said via text.

Let's hope so. It would be a ton of fun to have McIngvale connected to another good horse.

Thoughts on Handle Numbers at Saratoga and Del Mar

For both Saratoga and Del Mar, the 2021 meets were ones to remember, highlighted by record wagering.

The final all-sources handle for Saratoga was $815,508,063, a 15.6% increase over last year and the first time Saratoga had eclipsed the $800 million mark. At Del Mar, the average daily handle was a record $18.38 million for the meet. The total handle was $569.98 million.

That's great news for Saratoga and Del Mar, which have never been more popular. It would stand to reason that both meets should peak at sometime, but it just doesn't happen.

The hope for racing is that Del Mar and Saratoga are creating new fans, ones that will keep betting once racing shifts to Santa Anita and Belmont. But that doesn't appear to be the case as racing's overall handle has been more or less stagnant for years. That means that what is happening is that Saratoga and Del Mar are simply grabbing a bigger share of the pari-mutuel wagering market every year.

Racing has found out that it's not hard to get people to turn out for and bet on high-quality short meets, like Saratoga, Del Mar and Keeneland. But the Thursday afternoon at Belmont, Santa Anita, or just about anywhere else, remain a tough sell and something the sport continues to need to work on.

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Kentucky Downs Turf Pick of the Day for Sept. 8

Steve Sherack and Brian DiDonato give their best bet for each day of racing during the FanDuel Meet at Kentucky Downs. $100 Win/Place format; highest bankroll at the end wins.

Steve Sherack: Monday's Results – Setting the Mood was fourth.

Race 5 – Reward Night has looked like a graded stakes horse in the making since switching to grass in his last two starts for Ian Wilkes. Rallied nicely–albeit into a hot pace–to finish a very useful third sprinting over the Ellis lawn July 9, then broke through with a visually impressive maiden score at this distance Aug. 6, coming home in a field-best :22.33. Still room for improvement as the son of Will Take Charge takes on winners for the first time here. Selection: #8 Reward Night (5-1).

Brian DiDonato: Monday's Results – Button Boy finished third.

Race 5 – This looks to be a really wide open race with lots of legitimate contenders. I'll take a bit of a flyer on lightly raced but well-bred Bugle of War (War Front). He's been off since finishing one spot behind recent Queen's Plate winner Safe Conduct in a Gulfstream allowance in March, and he probably needs to get a little faster to win this, but he figures to take a natural step forward with expected maturity in the time away. His maiden-breaking romp came at 1 1/16 miles, so this one-mile trip might be to his liking compared to his two nine-furlong attempts. Accomplished trainer Eddie Kenneally has had a quiet year by his standards, but he's been heating up of late with a Grade I win at Arlington and win rate close to 20% at the Ellis meet as of this writing. Selection: #3 Bugle of War (12-1).

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Wiretaps Reveal Alleged Dopers’ Bravado, Ignorance and Fears

Newly disclosed transcripts of intercepted phone conversations involving alleged doping co-conspirators Jason Servis and Jorge Navarro reveal both an initial brazenness against getting caught and an utter ignorance about some of the substances the two now-barred trainers were purportedly injecting into their racehorses.

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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