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Trainer Richard Vega Handed Two-Year Suspension

Trainer Richard Vega has been hit with a two-year suspension by the Pennsylvania Racing Commission after a May 25 backstretch raid at Parx allegedly turned up a number of needles and syringes in his tack room.

Paulick Report was the first to report on Vega's suspension, which was handed down June 29 and does not expire until June 28, 2023.

According to a ruling posted on the Pennsylvania Horse Racing Commission's website, during the search of Vega's tack room investigators found 21 loaded syringes, 18 needles, one intravenous filled bag and one intravenous catheter. The ruling did not specify what, if anything, was found in the syringes and the racing commission's Director of Thoroughbred Horse Racing Tom Chuckas did not return a phone call seeking comment. As in most states, in Pennsylvania, only licensed veterinarians may be in possession of needles and syringes, no matter what drugs or medications might be found in them.

Vega's attorney Alan Pincus told the TDN Tuesday that he had filed an appeal in Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court seeking a stay of the suspension. If the stay is granted, Vega could be allowed to continue training.

The search of Vega's tack room was part of a wide-ranging investigation in which cars coming in and out of the stable area were checked, 66 out-of-competition tests were performed and six barns and six tack rooms were searched. To date, Vega is the only Parx-based trainer to have been suspended.

Vega was summarily suspended following the raid and has not started a horse since May 19.

So far as the severity of the infraction goes, Chuckas has sent a mixed message. Shortly after the raid and during a meeting of the commission, Chuckas said that a “significant amount of contraband” had been found and said what was found were “items that have no business on the backside.” But, a month later, Chuckas, during another commission meeting, said that raids at both Parx and Penn National found “nothing of substance.”

“[Vega's] due process was horribly violated,” Pincus said. “And Mr. Chuckas made comments saying there was nothing of any substance found. As soon as the judge makes a ruling I will have plenty more to say.”

Vega has been enshrined in the Parx Hall of Fame and has won 1,115 races during a career that began in 1992. His starters have earned $19,519,981. He emigrated from Cuba in 1980 and began his career on the track as a groom in Florida. His clients have included Sal DeBunda, who is the president and general counsel of the Pennsylvania Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association (PTHA) and is a member of the state racing commission.

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Battula Banned 2 1/2 Years, Fined $7,500 for Monmouth Drug Confiscation

Aparna Battula, the jockey-turned-trainer who has not started a horse since New Jersey Racing Commission (NJRC) investigators confiscated 83 injectable medication vials and 36 needles from her Monmouth Park tack room July 29, 2019, had her training license suspended 2 1/2 years and was fined $7,500 in a post-appeal commission ruling on those violations during the board's May 19 meeting.

Commissioners voted 4-0 to impose a penalty that was slightly stiffer than the two-year ban and $6,500 fine recommended by a New Jersey administrative law judge (ALJ) after Battula had appealed her original suspension.

But the new penalty pales in comparison to the nine-year suspension and $18,500 fine the Monmouth stewards originally voted to impose in a June 2020 ruling against Battula.

During Wednesday's NJRC meeting, executive director Judith Nason said the commission had withdrawn one charge at the appeal stage “because a confirmatory test for a substance came back negative.” The Asbury Park Press subsequently reported that the purported drug had been initially believed to be erythropoietin (EPO), which carried a five-year suspension and $5,000 fine. Nason also said the ALJ merged several other counts into one for the purposes of determining penalties.

Nason read into the record that testing confirmed the other confiscated vials contained flunixin, dexamethasone and methocarbamol. Nason said that Battula had admitted in interviews with investigators that the illicit pharmaceuticals were hers, and Nason said the trainer had admitted to injecting one horse, Banker's Island (Shackleford), with banamine and ACTH at Monmouth prior to the raid on her stable.

When caught with the contraband, Battula had been about to start a 15-day ban resulting from a separate dexamethasone positive incurred May 19, 2019, at Monmouth.

“Although the final decision accepts most of the ALJ's findings and conclusions, it rejects the ALJ's use of the criminal merger doctrine and her recommended penalties,” said NJRC chair Pamela Clyne, reading the proposed motion prior to the vote. “The final decision finds that the appropriate penalties for possession of the vials, needles and drugs are a one-year and six-month suspension and a $5,000 fine.”

Clyne continued: “The final decision also adopts the ALJ's imposition of a one-year suspension and a $2,500 fine for injecting the horse at Monmouth Park in July 2019. Considering the trainer's penalty history, which includes two other drug positives, the final decision concludes that the appropriate penalties in this matter are suspensions totaling two years and six months and fines totaling $7,500. Finally, the final decision also clarifies that the rule prohibits possession of the injectable bottles as well as possession of the prohibited drugs that may be in them.”

Battula's attorney had argued that the drugs were planted by a disgruntled former employee.

Battula, who was 31 at the time of the violations, had only been training since 2015, with a 7-13-14 record from 75 starters and earnings of $250,541. Prior to that she was a jockey between 2011 and 2013.

According to a 2013 Horse Illustrated profile, Battula, a North American Racing Academy attendee, had been the first female from India to earn a jockey's license in America after having attained a bachelor's degree in biotechnology in India.

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Baffert Handed Temporary Suspension From NYRA Tracks

The New York Racing Association, Inc. (NYRA) today announced the temporary suspension of Bob Baffert from entering horses in races and occupying stall space at Belmont Park, Saratoga Race Course and Aqueduct Racetrack.

“In order to maintain a successful Thoroughbred racing industry in New York, NYRA must protect the integrity of the sport for our fans, the betting public and racing participants,” said NYRA President and CEO Dave O'Rourke. “That responsibility demands the action taken today in the best interests of Thoroughbred racing.”

On Sunday, May 9, 2021, Mr. Baffert publicly acknowledged that the Kentucky Derby winner Medina Spirit tested positive for betamethasone, a banned corticosteroid that would trigger a disqualification and loss of purse money should a split sample return the same finding. The Kentucky Horse Racing Commission is required to await the split-sample results before rendering a final determination in the matter.

In addition to the ongoing investigation into Medina Spirit's victory in the Kentucky Derby, NYRA has taken into account the fact that other horses trained by Mr. Baffert have failed drug tests in the recent past, resulting in the assessment of penalties against him by thoroughbred racing regulators in Kentucky, California, and Arkansas.

During the temporary suspension, NYRA will not accept entries or provide stall space to any individual employed by Bob Baffert Racing Stables.

NYRA expects to make a final determination regarding the length and terms of Mr. Baffert's suspension based on information revealed during the course of the ongoing investigation in Kentucky, such as the post-Kentucky Derby test results of Medina Spirit.

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O’Neill Fined, Suspended for Lidocaine Positive

Trainer Doug O'Neill has been fined $7,500 and handed a 10-day suspension, starting Monday, Mar. 8, for a positive Lidocaine finding in a past-race sample from last October, as first reported in the Los Angeles Times.

According to the Times, O'Neill negotiated a settlement agreement with the California Horse Racing Board (CHRB) requiring him to serve only 10 days of a 30-day suspension, on the proviso he doesn't incur any further medication violations for a year.

The positive concerned Howbeit (Secret Circle), second at Santa Anita Oct. 9, who was found to have a metabolite of Lidocaine, an anesthetic, in his post-race sample.

On Twitter Sunday, O'Neill acknowledged the fine and suspension, writing, “I take 100% responsibility for the miniscule (parts per trillion) amount of Lidocaine detected in one of my horses post-race. As the trainer of the horse, the buck stops with me.

“Lidocaine is prevalent in numerous over-the-counter medications used to relieve pain and itching caused by minor sun burns or other burns, insect bites and the like. Lidocaine is an ingredient in human creams.

“I know with certainty that I have never administered Lidocaine to any of my horses, ever, and that this has to be an environmental contamination. The amount involved would not affect a horse's performance.”

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