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Irish Government Committee To Conduct Hearings On Racehorse Doping Allegations

An Irish parliamentary committee will be conducting the first of three hearings on Thursday, July 8, looking into the allegations of racehorse doping made by leading trainer Jim Bolger, who said in a June interview with Paul Kimmage of the Irish Independent, “There will be a Lance Armstrong in Irish racing.”

Representatives of Horse Racing Ireland, the Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board and the Irish Racehorse Trainers Association are expected to testify during the hearings, which continued on July 13, with two separate sessions.

Bolger was invited to testify but declined on the advice of his lawyer. The trainer, whose recent successes include Poetic Flare's victory in the Group 1 St. James's Palace Stakes at Royal Ascot, also declined to state who in Irish racing he believes are doping their horses. “They can rest assured I know who they are,” Bolger told the Independent. “Like, if I had responsibility for rooting out cheats, I've have them rooted out in six months.”

In the wake of Bolger's inflammatory interview, Denis Egan, the longtime chief executive of the Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board – the organization that felt the brunt of the trainer's criticism – announced that he his leaving his post in September at the age of 60. Egan has said his decision to take an early retirement has nothing to do with Bolger's comments. He has been with the regulatory board (previously known as the Irish Turf Club) for 26 years, 20 of them as its chief executive.

Bolger's concerns with doping trace back to the 2012 seizure by Irish customs officers of Nitrotain, a steroid manufactured in Australia. The packages were addressed to veterinarian John Hughes, who was found to have imported more than 500 pounds of Nitrotain over 10 years. Hughes received a five-year ban from racing. Bolger contends the regulatory board didn't fully investigate where the Nitrotain was going or follow up on a list of trainers they discovered when they searched Hughes' residence.

Jackie Cahill, who chairs the Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine, stated: “The Committee has agreed to a series of meetings to discuss the concerning commentary around the integrity of the horseracing industry in Ireland and possible drug use in the sport. We have taken the opportunity to invite the relevant individuals, bodies and organizations in to discuss the recent, very concerning, commentary on the matter and giving them the time and place to debate the issues and highlight their own concerns.

“We are global leaders in the horse racing industry, and any question around its integrity or the possibility of drug use could be extremely damaging,” Cahill added. “Breeders, jockeys, owners, and trainers are dependent on the viability of the sport in Ireland and the good name of the industry around the world. The Committee hopes that these meetings will bring clarity to the situation.”

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Monmouth Park Announces Purse Increases, Additional September Dates

Monmouth Park, located in Oceanport, N.J., will increase purses across the board starting July 17 and is adding three live racing days on Fridays in September, racing secretary and director of racing John Heims announced on Saturday.

The purse increases take effect the day of the $1 million TVG.com Haskell Stakes, the track's showcase race.

The Nownownow Stakes for 2-year-olds going a mile on the turf will see the biggest purse boost, increasing to $500,000 from $150,000. Named for the 2007 winner of the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf at Monmouth Park, the second edition of the Nownownow Stakes will be the closing day feature on Sunday, Sept. 26.

Maiden special weight races and allowance races will see a purse increase of 20 percent, with claiming races over $12,500 getting a 10 percent increase and claimers that go for $12,500 or less seeing a five percent purse increase.

Purses for all non-state bred stakes races that are currently $75,000 will go to $100,000 while Jersey-bred stakes races that are now $75,000 will be increased to $85,000.

“We're thankful to Gov. Philip Murphy and to the leadership in the state Senate and Assembly who continue to support racing in New Jersey,” said Dennis Drazin, the Chairman and CEO of Darby Development LLC, the operators of Monmouth Park. “A supplemental appropriation was passed and signed into law, and with rain preventing us from writing more races during the early stages of the meet, we have $5.5 million to spend on purses to support the Monmouth Park product as a result.

“We believe it was important to make the announcement at this time so horsemen can plan for the balance of the meet. We feel these increases will further strengthen what is already a quality product.”

Several other stakes races will see purse boosts as well. The Sapling Stakes (Sunday, Sept. 5) and the Sorority Stakes (Monday, Sept. 6), fixtures for 2-year-olds on the Monmouth Park racing calendar, will each get a $100,000 purse bump to $200,000.

The Grade 3 Monmouth Oaks on July 31 will now carry a purse of $250,000, a $50,000 increase. The Grade 3 Iselin Stakes on Aug. 21 will see the same increase from $200,000 to $250,000.

Monmouth Park's original schedule called for live racing on Saturdays and Sundays only for the final three weekends of September. Friday day cards will now be added to those weekends.

Monmouth Park will conduct live racing from Friday through Monday over the Labor Day weekend Sept. 3 through 6.

Following a one-year hiatus due to COVID-19, the Monmouth-at-Meadowlands meet will return with nine live Thoroughbred cards in October. Those all-turf programs in East Rutherford will see significant purse increases as well. The purse structure for that meet will be announced when the racing dates are finalized.

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Pennsylvania: Chuckas Now Says Barn Raids Resulted In ‘Nothing Of Substance’

In late May, Tom Chuckas, the director of Thoroughbred horse racing for the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture, reported to the Pennsylvania Horse Racing Commission that a series of barn raids resulted in a “significant amount of contraband.” This week, Chuckas has changed his tune, reports the Thoroughbred Daily News.

“In the last months, enforcement action was taken both at Penn National and at Parx,” Chuckas said June 29. “That enforcement action consisted of…vehicle searches, barn searches, vet trailer searches. In addition, we did out-of-competition testing both at Penn National and at Parx, and the preliminary results from these investigative enforcement actions is very, very minor infractions. Nothing of substance.”

Between those two meetings of the PHRC, Parx Hall of Fame trainer Ricardo Vega, who trains as Richard Vega Racing Stable, was summarily suspended after multiple loaded needles and syringes were found in his tack room at Parx during the raid described by Chuckas.

The PHRC issued the summary suspension on May 24, following the raid. The next day, three of Vega's horses were stewards' scratches from the May 25 race card at Parx. A board of stewards hearing was held on May 27, where officials voted to uphold the summary suspension issued earlier in the week.

The summary suspension cited two violations of state code — one that prohibits the possession of hypodermic needles, syringes, or injectable substances by non-veterinarians, and another that states “a licensee shall not, alone or in concert with another person, engage in inappropriate, illegal or unethical conduct which violates the Commission's rules and regulations of racing, is inconsistent with the best interests and integrity of racing or otherwise undermines the general public's faith public perception and confidence in the racing industry.”

Vega has not started any horses since May 19 at Parx, but is reported to be appealing his suspension.

Read more at the Thoroughbred Daily News.

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NYRA: Baffert Ban Necessary To Protect Horses, Riders And Ensure Integrity

The United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York should not grant Bob Baffert a preliminary injunction that would permit the embattled trainer to race or stable horses at tracks operated by the New York Racing Association, attorneys for NYRA and The Jockey Club argued in court filings submitted on June 30.

Baffert filed suit against NYRA on June 14, nearly a month after the racing association notified the Hall of Fame trainer that he was temporarily banned from racing or stabling at NYRA tracks while the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission conducts its investigation into the post-race drug positive for Baffert-trained Medina Spirit, who crossed the finish line first in the May 1 Kentucky Derby. Baffert is seeking a temporary and permanent injunction against the ban while claiming his 14^th Amendment Constitutional rights to due process were being violated.

As defendant in the case, NYRA filed a memorandum of law in opposition to Baffert's motion for preliminary injunction. The Jockey Club filed a brief as amicus curiae, or friend of the court, claiming that its role as keeper of the Stud Book gives it a “unique interest in ensuring that when Thoroughbreds enter the breeding shed (where they determine the future of the breed through progeny), they do so with records uninfluenced by the effects of medication.”

Both court filings struck the same note, countering Baffert's argument that he will suffer irreparable harm as a result of his ban from Belmont Park and the upcoming high-profile meeting at Saratoga in upstate New York where a number of graded stakes are run.

The Jockey Club produced statistics from Equibase showing that Baffert, during the period from 2011-20, made a total of 134 starts at NYRA tracks, representing 3.23% of his total 4,146 North American starts over those years. He's averaged five starts each year during the Saratoga meet.

The Jockey Club brief dismisses Baffert's claim that the NYRA ban has “damaged his reputation and prompted a 'mass exodus' of owners” from his stable because of their horses' inability to race at Saratoga while under his care.

“The source of damage to Mr. Baffert's reputation is not the NYRA temporary suspension; rather, the cause is a record of repeated drug testing failures, including most recently after American racing's most famous and highly visible race, the Kentucky Derby,” attorneys for The Jockey Club contend.

The Jockey Club brief also points out that Baffert's complaint only cites one owner transferring a horse or horses to another trainer and does not specify whether that transfer was a result of the NYRA ban, a two-year suspension imposed by Churchill Downs racetrack or “his record of substance violations.”

NYRA's filing states that Baffert balked after being given an opportunity to respond to a May 17 letter from David O'Rourke, the racing association's CEO and president, outlining the reasons for the racing and stabling ban. “NYRA expects to make a final determination regarding the length and terms of your suspension based on information revealed during the course of the ongoing investigation in Kentucky,” O'Rourke wrote. “If you wish to present to NYRA any information, data or arguments concerning this matter, please do so within seven business days from receipt of this letter.”

“Rather than avail himself of this opportunity,” the NYRA court document in response to the lawsuit states, “plaintiff filed this action nearly a month later and now moves for a preliminary injunction … plaintiff's nearly month-long delay in seeking this preliminary injunction undercuts the sense of urgency need to remedy his alleged harm.”

NYRA also counters Baffert's claim that the racing association is unable to suspend him from its tracks because it does not own the grounds on which the tracks are located. “Settled law holds that NYRA had both the common law and regulatory right to exclude anyone, including a licensed trainer, who engages in conduct detrimental to the best interests of racing,” the court filing claims. “Moreover, plaintiff's assertion that NYRA violated his due process rights is incorrect. NYRA was not required to provide plaintiff an opportunity to be heard before issuing a temporary suspension because NYRA's decision was based on probable cause that plaintiff's actions warranted suspension and was necessary to protect the safety of the racehorses and their riders, and required to ensure the integrity of the sport.

“NYRA is obligated to protect its investment, brand and reputation, and supervise activities at its racetracks in a manner that fosters the public's confidence in the safety and honesty of the sport.”

NYRA's response includes a statement from Robert Williams, an attorney and executive director of the New York State Gaming Commission, outlining the rights of exclusion by racetracks in the state and/or stewards working at those tracks.

A second declaration, from Professor Pierre-Louis Toutain, a PhD in pharmacology, states that betamethasone, the corticosteroid detected in Medina Spirit's post-race sample, has a “potent anti-inflammatory effect,” even at picogram levels (the original finding for Medina Spirit was 21 picograms per mililiter). Citing multiple scientific papers, Toutain concludes that “a plasma concentration of 21 pg/mL is significant for betamethasone, a substance which can locally or systemically increase the performance of a racehorse with or without clinical manifestation of inflammation.”

A hearing on the motion for injunctive relief is scheduled for July 12.

Jockey Club brief

NYRA memorandum

Baffert vs. NYRA complaint

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