Tag: The Biz

Five years after it was filed and seven years after it began, the 43-count animal cruelty case against former trainer Maria Borell has been dismissed with prejudice by a Mercer County District Court Judge.

Borell's attorney, Russell Baldani, filed a tendered order last week proposing that the case be dropped, and it was signed by Judge Jeff Dotson on July 20. That order also removed the court's bond restriction that Borell not be responsible for the care of any horses in the commonwealth of Kentucky, and suggested that her $7,500 bond be held in escrow by Baldani and paid to Thoroughbred Charities of America.

Cases dismissed “with prejudice” may not be brought back to court.

Borell posted a statement expressing her relief that the case has come to a close.

“Seven years. Seven years and it's finally over.  Saying it out loud, it seems impossible that it has been that long. Life stood still for me. To all of my past clients, my friends, my attorney Russ Baldani, everyone that has stood behind me through this battle, I love you and appreciate you more than you can ever imagine. Thank you for keeping me strong enough to never give up and to keep fighting. The outpouring of congratulatory messages and calls I received yesterday with plans for my future in racing was astounding. For the first time in years, my heart is full.

The internet is the harshest of all judges and juries. People that have never even met you, judge you, rather than using rational, logical thought processes with the facts that are presented. The way I have always said things that happened with my father's farm is the truth.

After everything happened, I was deprived of making a living and it took time to get resources together to fight the false accusations. I retained my first attorney in 2018. The date of the first motion recorded in Mercer County was October 2018. The years to follow were rifled with court delays and Covid. Mercer County did the right thing by dropping the charges and not wasting taxpayers' money on a trial: the facts for any culpability on my part simply were not there. I had no connection with the property in Mercer County, including the employees, care, and oversight of the horses. I was living and training horses 1,000 miles away in Florida for 7 months prior.

Those who know me, know I would never knowingly harm any animal. No animal in my personal care has ever been mistreated in any way. I am happily forfeiting my bail money to Thoroughbred Charities of America in thanks for helping all Thoroughbreds then, now, and in the future.”

Borell and her father, Charles Borell, were both charged with animal cruelty after 43 neglected horses were found in 2016 on a Mercer County farm that was leased in the elder Borell's name. Charles Borell entered an Alford guilty plea in the case – meaning he did not admit to committing a crime but conceded there was enough evidence to convict him. Prosecutors dropped 34 animal cruelty charges in exchange for his guilty plea on nine counts. He was put on probation for two years.

Maria Borell did not appear in court on the charges until last year, when she entered a not guilty plea. According to her attorney, she has not been living in Kentucky since late 2015.

The animal cruelty charges were misdemeanors, which meant that prior to her voluntary return to the state to enter a plea, she could not be extradited on the warrant.

Maria Borell trained Eclipse Award-winning sprinter Runhappy for most of his 3-year-old campaign in 2015, when he won the Grade 1 King's Bishop (now H. Allen Jerkens Stakes) at Saratoga and the G1 Breeders' Cup Sprint at Keeneland. She was dismissed the day after the Breeders' Cup by owner James McIngvale and closed out the year with a G1 victory in the Malibu Stakes at Santa Anita.

The post ‘Seven Years And It’s Finally Over’: Animal Case Against Maria Borell Dropped By Kentucky Judge appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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The Horseracing Integrity & Welfare Unit (HIWU) reminds horsemen and veterinarians that Covered Horses are subject to testing at any time, including following routine timed workouts (Post-Work testing). Testing following workouts is not limited to Vets' List workouts.

Please note that Post-Work samples are not collected after all routine timed workouts. Trainers will be notified of selection, and sampling will be performed, within one hour of the completion of the workout.

The following substances are prohibited in Post-Work samples:

• Banned Substances
• Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDS)
• Corticosteroids
• Local anesthetics
• Analgesics
• Intra-articular injections containing any substance are prohibited within 7 days of a routine workout, i.e., if the injection(s) is/are administered on Saturday, the horse cannot breeze until the following Saturday.
  • A withdrawal interval of longer than 7 days may be necessary in consideration of factors such as the number of joints treated and dose of the administered corticosteroid, as well as the administration of corticosteroids by other routes (including, but not limited to oral, intramuscular, and topical).
• The stacking of NSAIDS or corticosteroids is also prohibited.
• The regulation of Banned Substances, NSAIDS, local anesthetics, and analgesics in Post-Work testing mirrors Post-Race testing.
• For routine timed workouts, the following corticosteroids are regulated based on established Screening Limits in blood: Betamethasone, Dexamethasone, Isoflupredone, Triamcinolone, and Methylprednisolone.
• All other Controlled Medications, including furosemide, are permitted to be present in a Post-Work sample, regardless of the horse's age or class.

Horsemen and their veterinarians are encouraged to consult the published Detection Times when considering treatments in advance of a routine timed workout.

More information about the differences in testing and procedures between routine timed workouts and Vets' List workouts can be found here.

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Every year at this time the horse trailers begin arriving at Del Mar, filled with some of the most beautiful and expensive racehorses the world has to offer. This year they began rolling off the I-5 onto Jimmy Durante Boulevard and into the stable area July 13 and there's been a steady flow every day since as Del Mar prepares for its 84^th summer of racing just north of San Diego in Southern California.

When it's all said and done, racing officials expect there to be about 1,950 horses on the grounds during the duration of the meet which begins Friday and continues to Sept., 10. That's about the same number as last year, which set new high water marks for field sizes.

“Seems like you always get some cancellations,” racing secretary David Jerkens says, “or someone doesn't bring as many horses as they were assigned but I think we'll be right around that number.”

In 2021 there were 1,980 horses on the grounds at this time and in 2020, the year of COVID, there were 1,810. Jerkens says they like to keep the number at around 2,000.

Glen Hill Farm returns to Del Mar with a string of horses this summer. They raced in Southern California for many years before moving operations back east. This year they return with what Jerkens calls some serious runners.

“Obviously, there's a lot of options around the country,” Jerkens says, “and we're glad they chose us. Last couple years we've made an effort to get our stakes schedule and our purse structure out by early March, so we're thrilled to have Glen Hill back.”

Jerkens also credits the “Ship & Win” program for luring new barns to Del Mar. New trainers at the seaside oval this year include Rohan Crichton from Gulfstream Park and East Coast-based Jonathan Thomas. Meanwhile, many trainers, who were new to Del Mar last year, are returning this summer. Todd Fincher, Robertino Diodoro, Jeff Engler and Patrick Biancone return along with the several trainers who sent a string of horses down from Northern California.

Del Mar's average field size was 9.14 in 2022 and, while no official record has been kept over the years, most of the veterans at the track don't ever remember seeing a number that high. It's something that Jerkens would love to repeat but he's looking for something more in 2023.

“It's more than just field size,” Jerkens says, “it's quality of stakes races. Last year we saw a bump in field size in stakes races and given the market and what you see around the country, I thought that was pretty remarkable. We had only one day where we had under eight runners a race. It was the Friday after Labor Day, we were off the turf so we had a plethora of scratches.”

Jerkens doesn't want to tempt fate when talking about last year's numbers. He realizes it was a special meet.

“When you look into the numbers from last year, everything just kind of fell into place,” Jerkens notes. “That being said, last year is last year. Every meet is different. You have a game plan before the meet. There are just a lot of things that went right last year from a 'filling races' standpoint.”

The post Del Mar’s Jerkens Hoping ‘Full House’ In Stable Area Helps Carry Momentum Over From 2022 appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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The Horseracing Integrity & Welfare Unit has provisionally suspended Parx Racing-based trainer Joseph Taylor after two of his horses tested positive for banned substances, according to the HIWU website.

HIWU reports that on June 18, Lymarie Arroyo's Cajun Cousin tested positive for methylphenidate and clenbuterol after finishing second in a $10,000 claiming race for fillies and mares at the Bensalem, Pa., track. Barbara Geraghty's Classy American tested positive for the same two banned substances after a second-place finish in a Parx starter allowance on June 20. Both were trained by Taylor.

Cajun Cousin subsequently won  a $10,000 claiming race at Parx on July 12 before the positive test from June 18 was reported. She was claimed July 12 by trainer Michael V. Pino for Smart Angle LLP. According to the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority's Anti-Doping and Medication Control (ADMC) program, Rule 2262 (c) (5), a claim shall be voided if “the horse has a positive test for a prohibited substance.”

Both Cajun Cousin and Classy American are provisionally suspended.

The ADMC program lists methylphenidate as a stimulant that lacks FDA approval for use in horses. The drug, sold under various brand names, including Ritalin, is used in human medicine to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and narcolepsy.

Clenbuterol is listed among HISA's controlled medications as a Beta-2 agonist and bronchodilator that is sold under the brand name Ventipulmin (though the HIWU notice called clenbuterol a “banned” substance). It is a Class B drug approved for treatment of horses on a vet's list under specific dosing requirements. Horses are required to stay on the vet's list for a minimum of 21 days following their last dose and have official workout and clearance testing before racing eligibility may be reinstated.

Taylor was leading trainer at Parx in 2019, winning 103 races from 467 starts in just his third full year of training. A former assistant to Tony Correnti, Taylor got his start with harness horses at Liberty Bell Park in the 1977. He's saddled a total of 328 Thoroughbred winners from 2,011 starts for career earnings of $9,722,780. Taylor has won 13 races from 85 starts in 2023. His most recent runner was at Penn National on July 13.

During his provisional suspension, Taylor's horses are required to be moved to other trainers to be eligible to race.

 

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