Tag: TJC Integrity

Thoroughbred trainer Michael Tannuzzo, barred from racing after his indictment in the 2020 federal racehorse doping case, appears to be ready to change his plea, according to the Thoroughbred Daily News.

A federal judge has granted Tannuzzo a July 7 hearing to allow him to explain the desire to change his initial “not guilty” plea.

With 11 horses in his care in New York at the time of his arrest on March 20, 2020, Tannuzzo made headlines the next day for claiming that the New York State Gaming Commission should not have suspended his license, telling the Daily Racing Form it was his friendship with fellow indicted trainer Jorge Navarro which made him appear guilty “by association.”

(Read more about Tannuzzo's claims here.)

Since then, however, Navarro changed his plea to guilty and is now serving a five-year prison sentence.

Tannuzzo's trial was set to begin on Sept. 12, 2022.

Read more at the Thoroughbred Daily News.

The post Federal Doping Case: Indicted Trainer Michael Tannuzzo Granted Hearing To Change Plea appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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Xavier McGrapth, 25, of Versailles, Ky., has been sentenced to 25 days' home incarceration in an animal cruelty case that left two dozen horses in various stages of neglect and two dead. On June 22, Bourbon County District Judge Mary Jane Phelps handed down the sentence in the case, which included 13 counts of second-degree animal cruelty.

McGrapth, who had offered boarding and breaking services to predominantly out-of-state clients, has also been ordered to pay owners of the neglected horses $8,651.91 starting in August with payments of $500 per month. He is also prohibited from owning or working with horses for two years.

McGrapth advertised his services on Facebook under business names McGrapth Breaking and Training and Whispering Creek Thoroughbreds, offering breaking and training for young horses and broodmare board.

Phelps credited McGrapth for entering his guilty plea to the charges, saying it was unusual for a defendant to “claim responsibility and give wide discretion to the court to decide their sentence,” according to a report from The Blood-Horse.

But prosecutors pointed out that in fact, McGrapth hasn't always been forthcoming about the issues with the horses in his care. The neglected and dead horses were discovered only after one of McGrapth's clients made a visit to the facility he leased on Brentsville Road. When clients began peppering him with questions about the situation, prosecutors said McGrapth didn't resurface for 25 days.

Read our original reporting on the case here.

Had Phelps chosen to hand McGrapth the maximum sentence for the charges, which are Class A misdemeanors under Kentucky law, he could have gone to jail for one year.

In a pre-sentencing document, McGrapth's attorney attributed the horses' neglect, in part, to McGrapth's inexperience.

“Mr. McGrapth has had a few different jobs working with horses in the past; none of those positions dealt with him learning how to properly run a business, much less dealing with clients when they fail to make timely payments directly related to the care of their horses,” read the report, which stated his June 2020 foundation of Whispering Creek was his first time owning an equine business. “This should lead a potential client to question, should they begin a business relationship with someone so new to the equine industry?”

The document blames McGrapth's clients for falling behind in payments, which led him to be late in paying the rent on the facility, which he leased from horseman Steven Johnson. When McGrapth's bills continued to go unpaid, McGrapth said Johnson told him he couldn't come back on the property. McGrapth's attorney said McGrapth “naively believed that the horses were being adequately taken care of” in his absence.

McGrapth's attorneys and Judge Phelps agreed that McGrapth would be unable to pay any restitution if he were sent to jail, and for that reason a short period of home confinement and continued employment was most beneficial to his former clients.

The post McGrapth Sentenced To House Arrest In Animal Cruelty Case appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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After seeking to ban him from its racetracks, the New York Racing Association (NYRA) announced on Friday that the organization has reached a confidential settlement agreement with controversial trainer Marcus Vitali.

“The New York Racing Association, Inc. (NYRA) and trainer Marcus J. Vitali have reached a settlement agreement resolving and discontinuing the administrative proceeding brought against Mr. Vitali on September 10, 2021, which sought his exclusion from participating in racing or training activities at Aqueduct Racetrack, Belmont Park and Saratoga Race Course. The agreement requires the terms of the settlement to remain confidential,” said Pat McKenna, vice president of communications at NYRA.

McKenna declined further comment, and Vitali attorney Bradford Beilly did not return a message seeking more information.

The Daily Racing Form's David Grening cited industry sources who indicated Vitali will not be able to race or stable at NYRA tracks for multiple years.

The dispute between Vitali and NYRA was based on NYRA's private property rights, and does not function as an action against his license. In recent years, Vitali has saddled horses at Turf Paradise during the winter months and Presque Isle Downs in the summer.

In a statement of charges released in September, NYRA asserted that Vitali “engaged in conduct that is detrimental to the best interests of the sport of Thoroughbred racing or potentially injurious to the health or safety of horses or riders. Further, as detailed in the respective statements of charges, this conduct warrants revocation or suspension of their right to train horses, enter races, or engage in any racing-related activity at all NYRA properties including Aqueduct Racetrack, Belmont Park and Saratoga Race Course.”

NYRA's statement of charges against Vitali begins: “From between in or about 2010 and in or about 2020, Respondent amassed an extensive record of medication violations, lengthy suspensions, improperly using 'program' or 'paper' trainers during suspensions and obstructing an investigation into alleged wrongdoing. In the past five years, Respondent was denied entry, ejected and/or had license applications denied by regulators of Thoroughbred racing in Florida, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, New York and Delaware; and was sanctioned by the Jockey Club for violating a racing statute, rule or regulation relating to prohibited or restricted drugs, medications or substances seven times in a single year.”

Vitali has made headlines many times over the years, first for numerous therapeutic medication violations, then for avoiding sanctions for positive post-race drug tests by turning in his license in Florida. In 2016, reporting by the Paulick Report revealed Vitali was training horses at Gulfstream Park under the name of Allan Hunter; Vitali and Hunter were subsequently barred from the entry box there and at Tampa Bay Downs. Vitali reapplied for a trainer's license in Florida, where state officials credited him with time served for his medication overages.

The Jockey Club denied Vitali Stud Book privileges for two years, starting January 1, 2017, for being determined to have violated on seven occasions a racing statute, rule or regulation relating to prohibited or restricted drugs, medications or substances in a Thoroughbred on seven occasions within a 365-day period.

Vitali sent out just 29 starters in 2017, mostly at Gulfstream and Gulfstream Park West, but returned with a stronger hand in 2018, with 334 starters, also mostly in South Florida.

In 2019, Vitali's license was suspended for one year when he interfered with a search conducted by Delaware Park security of his employee's dorm, bursting into the room and absconding with an object which was never recovered. Vitali claimed the object was a container of marijuana. His employee at the time said it was an unlabeled vial containing a clear liquid of some type which Vitali asked her to keep in her refrigerator.

In 2020, the Maryland Jockey Club told the Paulick Report that it had given trainer Wayne Potts one week to vacate his barn at Laurel Park, where he keeps 30 horses, after track officials say they discovered Potts was program training for Vitali. Vitali reportedly could not get stalls at racetracks in the area. Maryland officials said they discovered the connection between the two when horses based at Rising Sun Training Center in New Jersey were entered under Potts's name at Laurel and turned up with health certificates that had been altered to white out Vitali's name. A cluster of horses appeared at Rising Sun around that time from longtime Vitali clients, primarily from Florida.

After Potts was told to vacate Laurel, Vitali applied for a training license in Illinois afterwards but was unsuccessful in receiving one. The horses formerly based at Rising Sun ran at Arlington Park and Hawthorne under trainer Dino DiZeo. Many of the same group from Rising Sun posted workouts at Turf Paradise in the days before Vitali saddled his first runner there.

The post NYRA, Vitali Reach Confidential Settlement Agreement appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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A federal lawsuit accompanied by a request for a temporary restraining order and injunction has been filed in in an effort to block the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority from enforcing rules that are to go into effect July 1.

The suit, filed June 29 in United States District Court for the Western District of Louisiana, names as plaintiffs the states of Louisiana and West Virginia, along with their respective state racing commissions, the Louisiana Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association, Louisiana Thoroughbred Breeders Association, the Jockeys Guild and several individuals from Louisiana who would be “covered persons” under the Authority.

The defendants are the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority, its CEO Lisa Lazarus and the Authority's board members, the Federal Trade Commission that oversees the Authority, and several individuals associated with the FTC.

The complaint lists 12 counts, ranging from anti-commandeering (alleging Congress has commandeered the authority of state racing commissions through the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act that created the Authority); multiple violations of the Administrative Procedure Act; and violations of the Fourth and Seventh Amendments of the U.S. Constitution guaranteeing a right to a jury trial and protection against unreasonable search and seizures, respectively.

Two previous lawsuits were thrown out by federal judges in Texas and Kentucky, including one suit filed by the state of Louisiana and joined by West Virginia. The Louisiana HBPA was part of another similarly rejected lawsuit filed by the National HBPA. Both decisions are being appealed.

New to this lawsuit is the Jockeys' Guild, whose co-chairman, Hall of Fame rider John Velazquez, serves on the Authority's Racetrack Safety Standing Committee that helped draft the rules slated to go into effect July 2. July 1 is the registration deadline for horses and individuals defined by the Authority as “covered” under the Act.

Read the full complaint here

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