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Trial Groupings Reset for Defendants in Alleged Doping Conspiracy

In the wake of nine defendants in the alleged nationwide horse-doping conspiracy case having changed their pleas to “guilty” in recent months, a Nov. 4 status hearing reset the trial groupings for the remaining defendants, with those trials all now anticipated to commence in the first half of 2022.

Judge Mary Kay Vyskocil of United States District Court (Southern District of New York) also ordered that all remaining motions to suppress evidence that are pending on the docket are to be considered denied, noting that her written opinion on that decision is forthcoming.
Trial Group I shall now consist of defendants Seth Fishman and Lisa Gianelli. They had been previously advised their trial will commence on or about Jan. 19, 2022.

Group II shall consist of defendants Rick Dane Jr. and Rebecca Linke. On Thursday, the judge told them to expect to face a trial in the latter part of the first quarter of 2022.

Group III defendants Jason Servis, Erica Garcia, Michael Tannuzzo and Alexander Chan will be tried together at a date that has not yet been set. On Thursday, the judge ordered the prosecution and defense attorneys to get together over the next week to hash out a proposed schedule for the filing of related briefs, after which a trial date can be established by the court.

The now-barred trainers Servis and Jorge Navarro are the two highest-profile defendants in the case.

Navarro has already pled guilty to one count of conspiring to administer non-FDA-approved, misbranded and adulterated drugs, including PEDs that Navarro believed would be untestable and undetectable.

Navarro faces five years in prison at his December sentencing, and has admitted in open court that he doped the now-deceased elite sprinter X Y Jet and other graded stakes stars of his stable over a period of years. Navarro's plea deal also stipulates that he must pay $25.8 million to a list of victims that has not yet been made public.

Servis was the trainer of the former $16,000 maiden-claimer Maximum Security, who crossed the wire first in the 2019 GI Kentucky Derby but was disqualified for interference.

As evidence against Servis's alleged felonies, the feds have purportedly recorded him in numerous wiretapped phone conversations discussing with Navarro the doping regimens of top horses in his care, including administering injections of PEDs to Maximum Security.

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Domestic Spending and United Out of Breeders’ Cup

MGISW Domestic Spending (GB) (Kingman {GB}) and MGSW United (Giant's Causeway) have both been scratched from the Saturday's GI Breeders' Cup Turf at Del Mar, according to tweets from the Breeders' Cup. This moves GISW Bolshoi Ballet (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) and champion Channel Maker (English Channel) into the field off the also eligible list.

The 4-1 second choice on the morning line, Domestic Spending was withdrawn by trainer Chad Brown after developing swelling in his left, front leg.

“When I came in this morning, he unfortunately had some new and acute inflammation in his left fore,” Brown said. “He's sound, but I'm not comfortable with it and I want to do more diagnostics on this horse and it's just unfortunate timing. We want to get him back to Kentucky and do some evaluation on this limb and see what's causing it and how much time we need. The more I looked at it, the more I didn't like where the inflammation is.”

Trainer Richard Mandella reported that United was out of the race due to a swollen suspensory.

“He'd shown a little swelling over the past four or five days, so we scanned the leg as a precaution and the result was negative,” the Hall of Famer said. “Today, we gave him a good, strong gallop and the swelling returned. We scanned him again and it was clean. We're not going to take any chances with him.”

Mandella continued, “He's been going pretty steadily for the past two and a half years. The good news is that we'll just give him a rest and bring him back next year.”

United's owner, Jaime Roth of LNJ Foxwoods, tweeted, “At times a brutal sport. Devastated most for United and the [Richard] Mandella barn, but also for my family and his fans/supporters. I can confidently say United was going to fire a huge race. His last work one mile in 1:37.20 was phenomenal, one of the best of his career. Trying my best to be positive and focus on amazing race moments we've been lucky enough to enjoy. Love you big boy, you'll be back soon.”

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NYRA Announces 2021-22 Aqueduct Winter Meet Stakes Schedule

The New York Racing Association has released the 2021-22 Aqueduct winter stakes schedule, which includes 46 stakes races on offer worth nearly $6 million in purses. The 56-day Aqueduct winter meet begins Thursday, Dec. 9 and runs through Sunday, Mar. 27. Live racing will generally be conducted Thursday through Sunday through the end of February with a holiday break set for Dec. 20-29 and the addition of a special Presidents' Day card Monday, Feb. 21. March will then feature a Friday-Sunday schedule of live racing through the conclusion of the winter meet.

As previously announced, and in accordance with New York City requirements, fans seeking to enter Aqueduct must demonstrate proof of COVID-19 vaccination. Aqueduct will re-open to the public Thursday, Nov. 11, Opening Day of the 18-day 2021 Aqueduct fall meet, which runs through Sunday, Dec. 5. Admission to Aqueduct, which will be open to the public on live race days only, is free of charge. The gates will open daily at 11 a.m. First post during the Aqueduct fall and winter meets is 12:30 p.m.

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Clarkland’s Nancy Mitchell Dies at 83

Nancy Mitchell of Clarkland Farm died peacefully Nov. 3 at the Kentucky homestead that has been in her family since 1774. She was 83.

Blood-Horse first reported Mitchell's passing. In lieu of flowers, the family has requested donations in Mitchell's honor to the Alzheimer's Association or Central Kentucky Riding for Hope.

Running Clarkland for nearly a half-century alongside her husband, Fred, and daughter, Marty Buckner, Nancy and the team have been major consignors at Kentucky sales for decades.

Clarkland has bred, raised and sold many top-class runners, including the two-time champion sprinter Housebuster, the champion older mare North Sider, and the English champion 2-year old Wind and Wuthering.

But it was the 2006 buy of a mare called Leslie's Lady for $100,000 who was carrying a foal by Orientate at the Keeneland November sale that turned out to be Clarkland's most memorable bloodstock move during the Mitchells' tenure.

“She is the best mare we will probably ever have,” Fred Mitchell told TDN in 2018. “Nancy picked her out.”

Although Leslie's Lady's top accomplishment on the racetrack was winning a stakes at Hoosier Park and none of her four foals were standouts at the time, the colt she produced in 2005, the year before Clarkland purchased her, turned into the Grade I winner and now-prolific stallion Into Mischief.

Leslie's Lady in 2010 produced four-time Eclipse Award winner and three-time Breeders' Cup heroine Beholder. In 2015, she foaled Mendelssohn, who topped the 2016 Keeneland September sale at $3 million and later won the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf and G2 UAE Derby.

Leslie's Lady's last foal to be offered at auction, America's Joy, set a new price record for a filly when she hammered for $8.2 million at the 2019 KEESEP sale. Unraced, the 3-year-old was euthanized in August 2021 after suffering a career-ending injury in a workout.

Now 25, Leslie's Lady was retired from breeding this past spring. Her penultimate foal, Marr Time (Not This Time), was retained to race by Clarkland, and upon winning her debut at Keeneland Oct. 28, she was named a 'TDN Rising Star'.

Marr Time was named with a nod to Nancy Mitchell's ancestor, John Wesley Marr.

“He was an old guy that never changed his clocks,” Fred Mitchell told TDN back in June. “He stayed on Central Standard Time year-round. He would say, 'When the sun changes and my horses and I know that the time changed, I'll change. But not 'til then.'”

Nancy Mitchell grew up at Clarkland. The 400-acre farm northeast of Lexington had been granted to her ancestor, Lt. James Clark, for his service in the mid-18th Century French and Indian War. The present ownership of Clarkland is descended from James Clark to Nancy Mitchell and two sisters.

In addition to success as breeders and sales consignors, Clarkland has prided itself in being good stewards of the land, being among the Kentucky Thoroughbred farms that have joined in the Development Rights Program that preserves Bluegrass farmland.

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