Officials in New Mexico have suspended trainer Raul Velarde Vega for a minimum of five years and fined him $10,000 over concerns about the condition of a horse he entered in a race this spring, according to a ruling dated May 12.
Vega had been summarily suspended earlier this year after his trainee Cause For Love Too was scratched from a race at Sunland Park on March 21. According to New Mexico Racing Commission executive director Izzy Trejo, racing officials became concerned when the filly arrived at the paddock.
Photographs of the filly show that she had significant protrusion of ribs and large wounds with areas of raw skin on her hindquarters, on either side of her tail.
Trejo said that after her scratch in the paddock, Cause For Love Too was sent to the test barn, where staff took photographs to document her condition. Due to an ongoing shortage of regulatory veterinarians at Sunland, the filly had not had a pre-race inspection done the morning of the race, so her appearance in the paddock was the first time officials had seen her that day.
The May 12 ruling indicated that Vega will be eligible to reapply for a trainer's license on or after March 24, 2028. If he does apply at that time, he will be required to go before the commission to get approval for reinstatement, and will be required to retake and pass the New Mexico Racing Commission's trainer's test before reinstatement.
Vega has until May 22 to appeal the decision.
Vega has trained 91 Quarter Horse and Thoroughbred winners from 847 starters in a career that stared in 2013. Last year was his most prolific season, with 205 Quarter Horse starts and 70 Thoroughbred starts. He is a stakes-winning trainer of Thoroughbreds and a multiple graded stakes-placed trainer with Quarter Horses. Last year, Vega ranked 35th in the nation by earnings for Quarter Horse racing.
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