On Sept. 17 at Charles Town Races in West Virginia, a pair of odds-on favorites won their respective races by open lengths. According to the Thoroughbred Daily News, both horses have since been disqualified after showing trace levels of the synthetic opioid fentanyl and eutylone, a stimulant known as “bath salts.”
However, Charles Town stewards will not seek further punitive measures for the positives against the two horses' trainers, explaining in a ruling dated Oct. 22 that the test rules were likely due to environmental contamination. The standard penalty for a first offense Class 1, Category A positive test would be a one-year suspension and a $10,000 fine.
The Jack Hurley-trained Morality Clause (2-5 odds) won the second race on Sept. 17 by 15 1/2 lengths, and the Timothy Kreiser-trained Take Me Home (7-10 odds) won that day's fourth race by 7 1/2 lengths. Due to COVID restrictions, the ruling said, Kreiser shipped his horse into Hurley's barn to run, and both horses were handled prior to their races by the same stable employee.
“Mr. Kreiser could not enter the backside so Take Me Home ran out of the barn of Jack Hurley,” the ruling said. “Mr. Kreiser and Mr. Hurley were not acquaintances but were brought together by a mutual owner.”
That stable employee, unidentified in the ruling, refused a drug test and has since been summarily suspended.
Read more at the Thoroughbred Daily News.
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