Tag: TJC Integrity

Two jockeys who were among the first to be sanctioned for riding crop violations under the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority received stays of their one-day suspensions and fines pending appeals.

Diego Herrera received a one-day suspension, $250 fine and three violation points for striking Wizard of Westwood seven times – one more than the limit under HISA Rule 2280  (page 457 at this link) – in a July 3 race at Los Alamitos in Cypress, Calif. Ryan Curatolo received the same penalties for going one strike over the limit aboard Today Matters at Los Alamitos on July 8. Both are Class 3 violations under Rule 2282.

Both suspensions, issued by California Horse Racing Board stewards applying HISA rules, were to be effective on Del Mar's opening day, July 22.

According to HISA regulations, a jockey may use the crop a maximum of six times on the hindquarters in increments of two or fewer strikes and must wait at least two strides before additional strikes. The rider may also tap the horse on the shoulder with the crop while both hands are on the neck and holding the reins, show or wave the crop to the horse without physical contact, or “use the crop to preserve the safety of horses and riders.”

Class 3 violations are for one to three strikes over the limit; Class 2 four to nine over the limit; and Class 1 ten or more over the limit. Class 2 violations result in $500 minimum fine, three-day suspension and loss of purse to the owner. Class 1 violations result in minimum $750 fine, five-day suspension and loss of purse.

If a jockey compiles multiple violations, suspensions increase according to Rule 2283

Attorney Bing Bush filed appeals on behalf of both riders on July 11, saying Curatolo and Herrera applied the extra strike for “safety purposes.”

Curatolo's mount “was racing down the stretch when he began to shy and hesitate in a potentially dangerous manner, being afraid of the tire tracks from the starting gate that were engraved in the racing surface,” Bush wrote in the appeal. “To ride safely for the horse, himself, the other horses and jockeys in the race, (Curatolo) used his crop to urge his horse not to hesitate in a potentially dangerous manner, but to continue momentum in a forward direction.”

Herrera's mount “was veering outwards in a very dangerous manner,” Bush contested in that rider's appeal. “To ride safely for the horse, himself, the other horses and jockeys in the race, (Herrera) used his crop properly to urge his horse not to veer out in a dangerous manner, but to straighten his path of travel.”

Today Matters won his one-mile maiden claiming race by five lengths under Curatolo after holding a lead of three lengths at the eighth pole, according to the Equibase chart. The gate was placed just outside the sixteenth pole.

Herrera's mount, Wizard of Westwood, dead-heated for a win with President Z in a five-furlong maiden special weight race for 2-year-olds. The two horses battled throughout, with President Z gaining a narrow advantage at the eighth pole, according to the Equibase chart. The chart footnotes stated that Wizard of Westwood “drifted out a bit near the eighth pole.”

Bush filed the appeals July 11. On July 15, Authority chairman Charles Scheeler signed orders granting the request for stays of the penalties pending appeal.

No date was on the order, but Bush said it was his understanding the appeals would be held the week of Aug. 8. There are different options, according to HISA regulations (page 4029 at this link), on how appeals are heard, including appearance before an Authority-appointed National Stewards Panel.

The post Two California Jockeys Receive Stay Of HISA Riding Crop Penalties, Pending Appeal appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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Owner/trainer Juan Carlos Vazquez, who was recently handed a suspension by Pennsylvania officials running into 2025, is appealing that ruling but will not be permitted to train while he awaits the outcome of his appeal.

On July 7, stewards issued a ruling citing Vazquez for violating the commission's regulations against animal cruelty in the case  of Shining Colors. The 5-year-old mare was shipped by Vazquez from Belmont to Parx despite being in poor condition due to chronic laminitis. Upon her arrival at Parx, veterinarians determined the only humane option was euthanasia.

The July 7 ruling suspends Vazquez through Jan. 26, 2025 because that is when his current license there would normally be up for renewal.

At the time of Shining Colors' death, Vazquez was already in the process of appealing two suspensions for drug positives from races held in 2021 and was given a stay in those cases, allowing him to continue operating. He requested a stay in this case too, but Thomas Chuckas, director for the Bureau of Thoroughbred Racing at the Pennsylvania Horse Racing Commission, denied that request.

In a ruling dated July 14, Chuckas wrote that in Vazquez's July 11 request for supersedeas that Vazquez “failed to make any showing, let alone a strong showing, that he is likely to prevail on the merits of his appeal” which is one of the guidelines given to the executive director when considering a request for a stay, among other legal issues.

In evidence given at the stewards' hearing into the horse's death, Chuckas wrote that “an independent veterinarian conducted a blind review of the necropsy report and testified that he could not believe Shining Colors actually shipped on a trailer and that someone would have known about the severity and chronicity of Shining Colors' lameness. In his professional medical opinion there was no justification for the horse traveling in her condition and considered it negligent and inhumane to do so.”

In November 2021, Vazquez trainee Ekhtibaar shipped in to run at Belmont Park and was discovered dead in the van at Gate 6. According to the New York State Gaming Commission's database, the cause of death remains unknown.

Vazquez has a lengthy violation history, with 125 records relating to violations in the database ThoroughbredRulings.com dating back to 2006, although it is important to note that some violations generate multiple records in this database if stewards issue subsequent rulings rescinding or modifying previous ones. Track management at Delaware Park and Laurel Park banned Vazquez from those properties in 2015.

The post Vazquez Appealing Animal Cruelty Suspension, But Pennsylvania Commission Denies Stay Request appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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Dr. Seth Fishman, the Florida veterinarian snared in the federal government's sweeping horse doping investigation, was sentenced July 11 to an 11-year prison sentence in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

The sentence is the longest meted out in the case that led to charges against 31 individuals, including prominent trainers Jorge Navarro and Jason Servis. Fishman is the 11th to be sentenced, which includes Navarro. Most of the others have pleaded guilty and await sentencing. Servis faces trial next year.

Fishman, who has been behind bars since his conviction five months ago on two counts of conspiracy to commit drug adulteration and misbranding, appeared in court in prison garb and addressed the court before being sentenced. Prosecutors say that over 20 years Fishman supplied illegal performance drugs to hundreds of trainers, including Navarro, who pleaded guilty last year and was sentenced to five years in prison.

“I really have to apologize for what I did,” the 51-year veterinarian said. “There's no excuse for my behavior.”

In a rare admission, Fishman conceded violating the law and conspiring with others.

“I should have never pushed the envelope and helped trainers,” he said.

He told Judge Mary Kay Vyskocil he now lacked any desire to “practice medicine” on animals.

“I have no desire to make another substance for a racehorse again,” Fishman said as his family looked on from the gallery.

Fishman concluded his brief remarks by telling the judge that whatever sentence she imposed, “10, 15, or 20 years, I just want to be a better person.”

He showed no emotion as the sentence was handed down.

In addition to his prison time, the veterinarian will be held jointly responsible for $25 million in restitution along with Navarro and other co-conspirators.

The restitution represents Navarro's total purse winning during from 2016 to 2020.

In addition, Fishman must forfeit $13.5 million, which is what he earned from his business of manufacturing and distributing his performance-enhancing substances which prosecutors say were designed to evade detection in post-race testing.

His sentence also includes a $250,000 fine. Prosecutors introduced evidence showing that Fishman's business earned millions of dollars a year.

Vyskocil told Fishman's by his actions misled racing regulators and drug regulators, as well as others.

“You misled competitors of your clients and the betting public,” she said.

She told him that as a veterinarian, “you enjoyed a special position of trust and you abused that trust.”

The judge said the PEDs Fishman manufactured were harmful to racehorses because they were designed to push them beyond their natural abilities.

She said that in addition to putting at risk horses that were doped with his PEDs, Fishman put at risk the other horses who ran in the race and jockeys who rode those horses and could have been hurt if a horse broke down.

She noted that Navarro paid Fishman credit in a text after winning the 2019 $2 million Dubai Golden Shaheen Sponsored by Gulf News (G1) at Meydan Racecourse with X Y Jet and that the horse died less than a year later.

“To say there was no risk to horses is just not accurate,” she said.

Vyskocil told Fishman that his motive was greed and that up until the sentencing there had been a complete lack of remorse on his part.

Vyskocil said an 11-year sentence was warranted given the sentences of defendants.

She also said she hoped it would act as a general deterrence.

“I know this case has been followed extensively in the racing industry. It is my hope that the sentence acts as a general deterrent to those who might be engaging in the same scourge of criminality.”

Prosecutors had recommended a sentence of 10 to 17.5 years. Fishman faced a maximum of 20 years in prison under federal sentencing guidelines.

Prosecutor Sarah Mortazavi told Vyskocil that a significant sentence was warranted given that Fishman had shipped his illegal PEDs all over the country to hundreds of trainers.

“It was all designed to help a competitor get an illegal edge,” she said.

During her remarks she said Fishman's claims at trial that as a veterinarian he cared about animals was a “self-serving myth.”

Fishman attorney Maurice Sercarz appealed to the judge for a sentence of less than 10 years.

He said Fishman should be given leniency because of his client's psychiatric disabilities, which he said were “substantial.”

He said Fishman suffers from acute anxiety, depression and had been diagnosed with a bipolar disorder.

Fishman missed the last two days of his trial after being admitted to a psychiatric hospital.

The proceeding ended with Vyskocil telling Fishman that she heard what he said and that he wanted to be a better person.

“Hopefully you'll be getting well,” she said. “You do have some demons.”

The Thoroughbred industry's leading publications are working together to cover this key trial.

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