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Delta Downs Cancels Racing Under New LED Lighting System

Delta Downs was forced to cancel the remainder of its Friday night program after a third-race spill and will not conduct its scheduled Saturday night program.

The Vinton, La., racetrack, which opened its 2021-22 meet with two afternoon programs on Oct. 13-14, was racing under its new LED lighting system for the first time on Friday when Its a Deal fell at the top of the stretch in the third race. Jockey Jorge Guzman fell heavily to the track.

According to the Equibase chart, Its a Deal walked off after the incident. Guzman's condition is not known.

The racetarck sent out the following Tweet after the cancellation:

**Due to technical difficulties, Delta Downs has cancelled the remainder of its Friday program, races 4-10. The Saturday program has also been cancelled. Live racing resumes at Delta Downs Wednesday, October 20. Post time 12:55 pm.

— Delta Downs Racing (@deltaracing) October 16, 2021

The new lights were necessitated by damage from Hurricane Laura, which hit Louisiana in August 2020 and damaged the tote board and the old lighting system. Friday was to be the track's first night races since February 2020.

The track did not specify why the remainder of Friday and all of Saturday's cards were cancelled, but it is believed jockeys are not happy with the new lighting system and voted not to ride after the third race incident.

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Trial Date Set In Animal Cruelty Case Related To Kentucky Boarding Operation

A trial date has been set in the case of Xavier McGrapth, 24, of Versailles, Ky., in an animal cruelty case stemming from a boarding operation he ran. McGrapth faces second degree animal cruelty charges after he was arrested on April 13 of this year. Bourbon District Court Judge Mary Jane Phelps set a pre-trial hearing date for Jan. 26, 2022 with a jury trial scheduled to follow Feb. 24, 2022.

Earlier this year, about two dozen horses were found at a property McGrapth was leasing off Brentsville Road in various states of neglect. Those horses were largely owned by people who lived out of state and had sent horses to McGrapth for breaking and training or foaling/breeding back. Most owners discovered McGrapth's operation through his Facebook posts as McGrapth Breaking and Training and/or Whispering Creek Thoroughbreds.

A criminal complaint was filed earlier this year alleging 13 counts of second-degree animal cruelty, which is a Class A misdemeanor in Kentucky.

The horses were discovered after one locally-based owner dropped by the property McGrapth leased to check on her pregnant mare and discovered two dead horses in a field near the barn. Additional investigation revealed several other horses in poor body condition. In the days and weeks that followed that discovery, owners and local and state investigators struggled to identify and relocate all the horses entrusted to McGrapth's care. Several told the Paulick Report their horses' racing prospects were seriously damaged as a result of neglect suffered in his care.

McGrapth has entered a plea of not guilty in the case.

Read our previous reporting on this case here.

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Zulueta Enters Guilty Plea, Oakes Asks To Change Plea In Federal Drugs Case

Trainer Marcos Zulueta changed his plea from not guilty to guilty to a charge of drug adulteration and misbranding with intent to defraud during a hearing on Oct. 15. U.S. District Judge Mary Kay Vyskocil presided over the hearing, and set a sentencing date for Feb. 24 for the trainer, whose operation was based in the Mid-Atlantic.

Zulueta faces a maximum of three years in federal prison and fines of up to $100,000, in addition to a forfeiture of more than $47,000. Forfeiture amounts in this federal case have typically been based on the amount of financial gain prosecutors believe a defendant accrued from a crime.

According to a report by The Blood-Horse's Bob Kieckhefer, Zulueta did not provide many details on his crimes beyond admitting to administering drugs to racehorses without prescriptions at Parx. Zulueta said he got the substances from co-defendant Ross Cohen.

Regulatory Roundup: Jose Delgado, Saffie Joseph Jr., Douglas Nunn, Mario Serey Jr. Sanctioned

Regulators in New Jersey and Maryland have issued a number of rulings in recent months for medication violations involving trainers Jose H. Delgado, Douglas Nunn, Saffie Joseph Jr., and Mario Serey Jr.

Two horses were disqualified from stakes wins for medication violations.

The Critical Way's victory in the June 19 Get Serious Stakes at Monmouth Park was taken away after the 7-year-old gelding tested positive for levamisole. Trainer Jose H. Delgado was given a 15-day suspension from Oct. 11-Oct. 25 and he was fined $500.

The Critical Way, who went on to win two subsequent stakes, including the Grade 3 Parx Dash on Aug. 31, is owned by Randal Gindi's Monster Racing Stables. Gindi in 2017 was fined $5,000 for “conduct detrimental to racing” in connection with a cell phone video in which he Jorge Navarro, his trainer at the time, could be heard joking about giving “juice” to horses and Gindi said he bet on them through a bookmaker Navarro recently pleaded guilty to federal charges of drug adulteration and misbranding.

Delgado was suspended an additional 15 days, from Sept. 26-Oct. 10 and fined $500 for a second incident in New Jersey when Glory Roll tested positive for an overage of phenylbutazone in a post-race sample from a June 13 race in which the mare finished fifth as the 3-2 favorite. Glory Roll is owned by Carole Star Stable.

Trainer Douglas Nunn was suspended 15 days from Oct. 16-30 and fined $500 after Team Effort tested positive for flunixin following a second-place finish in a May 31 Monmouth Park race.Team Effort, owned by Winner Circle Stables LLC, was disqualified from purse money in the race. The horse is entered to race Oct. 15 at Meadowlands with David Nunn as trainer.

Trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. was fined $1,000 and the horse Wind of Change was disqualified from his victory at Monmouth Park in the Mr. Prospector Stakes on May 29 after testing positive for aminocaproic acid (better known as Amicar), an adjunct bleeder medication. Wind of Change is owned by Daniel Alonso.

The sanctions against Delgado, Joseph and Nunn were first reported by Bloodhorse.com.

Earlier this year, trainer Mario Serey Jr. was sanctioned in Maryland for two clenbuterol violations. Amen Corner, second in a May 20 race at Pimlico, was disqualified and placed last after testing positive for the bronchodilator. Family Fortune was disqualified from a May 21 win at Pimlico. Serey owns Amen Corner, while Family Fortune is owned by K12 LLC.

For both violations, Serey was fined $500. He received a 15-day suspension that was stayed, provided he does not pick up another Class 3 violation within a 365-day period. Serey served a 165-day suspension in 2019 after receiving a number of clenbuterol positives in Pennsylvania.

All of the positive tests were reported by Industrial Laboratories of Wheat Ridge, Colo. Industrial replaced Truesdail Laboratories of Irvine, Calif., as the official testing lab in a number of states over the past year, including New Jersey and Maryland.

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