“If things don't function properly, might it be in your personal life, in your business, or in your country, you should know that you've got a problem. If you don't know that you've got a problem, then you've really got a problem. And problems are like cancer. If left unattended they will grow.” – Frank Stronach
Thoroughbred racing has a problem. Standardbred racing has a problem. Quarter Horse racing has a problem. And I'm not sure enough people in those endeavors know it. That means they've got a real problem. And those problems for all of horse racing will grow if nothing is done to address them.
The wide-ranging federal investigation into horse doping of Thoroughbreds and Standardbreds exposed serious problems that were not being addressed by racetracks or state racing commissions. The feds didn't bother to look into Quarter Horse racing. Perhaps it was because Quarter Horse racing had become so rotten and corrupt they didn't know where to begin.
With last week's guilty plea by disgraced trainer Jason Servis on one felony and one misdemeanor count, all of the cases rolled out in an indictment unsealed on March 9, 2020, are pretty much closed – except for the sentencing of a few defendants, including Servis. The feds have compiled a winning percentage in court that even Servis and another disgraced, convicted Thoroughbred trainer, Jorge Navarro, would have envied.
The FBI round-up of these cheaters, whose actions led honest owners and trainers to lose money and in some cases leave the business, was cheered widely. Millions of dollars have been ordered by the justice system to be repaid by these crooks, but it's not clear yet who is in line to receive any funds or whether they will ever see a nickel. Horseplayers, many of whom were convinced certain trainers were using the “juice,” were robbed, too, but their only satisfaction will be in knowing that some of those who did the crime will now do the time. The horses who died at the hands of these dopers were the biggest victims.
These criminals were not bit players.
Ten days before his arrest, Servis sent out Maximum Security to win the world's richest horse race, the $20-million Saudi Cup. A month earlier, Maximum Security's co-owner, Gary West (who owned the horse with associates from Coolmore Stud), hoisted an Eclipse Award trophy into the air after the horse he bred in partnership with his wife, Mary, had been named champion 3-year-old male of 2019.
This probe reached the very pinnacle of racing and is one of the biggest sporting scandals every uncovered.
Despite losing Maximum Security's apparent victory in the Kentucky Derby because of an interference disqualification, Servis enjoyed his best earnings year ever in 2019, winning over $11 million in purses while scoring with 29 percent of his starters. That put him in eighth place by money won in North America. (Percentage-wise, 2018, was even better for Servis, who recorded a strike rate of 32 percent.)
Navarro in 2019 won the biggest race of his career, the $2.5 million Golden Shaheen at Meydan racecourse in Dubai, putting that horse's career earnings over $3 million. That was Navarro's best year from an earnings standpoint as well, with $6.8 million in purses won (16th in North America) from a winning percentage of 28 percent. (Like Servis, Navarro enjoyed an even higher strike rate in 2018, winning at a gaudy 34 percent clip.)
Both Navarro and Servis dominated at Monmouth Park, with Navarro winning seven consecutive training titles there. It probably didn't hurt that Servis trained for Dennis Drazin, the CEO of Darby Developments that operates the Jersey Shore track. In fact, Drazin gave Servis his first starter as head trainer in 2001 and supported him until the end. Honest trainers never had a chance.
Navarro is in prison, serving five years. Servis is awaiting sentencing.
Owners who support cheating trainers but pretend to know nothing are part of the problem, too. Wittingly or not, they are enablers who should know better.
North American Standardbred racing's second and third winningest trainers in 2019 also ran afoul of the FBI and both have pleaded guilty. Nick Surick, who won 367 races in 2019, ranked second by wins in North America according to the United States Trotting Association; Rene Allard won 339 races, third by wins and also by money won with nearly $5.9 million in purse earnings. Allard has been sentenced to 27 months in prison and Surick could face more time behind bars than that.
Seth Fishman, the South Florida veterinarian who flooded drugs into both breeds, was a jet-setter who routinely flew to Dubai to treat racing camels, in addition to horses. Fishman, instead of pleading guilty, took his chances in front of a jury, which found him guilty for his role in what prosecutors called a 20-year scheme to manufacture, market, and sell “untestable” performance enhancing drugs. He is serving 11 years in prison.
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If you appreciate our work, you can support us by subscribing to our Patreon stream. Learn more.These are just a few of the original 30 indicted. According to longtime racing executive Charles Hayward, this investigation has yielded more than 50 years of jail time and $61 million in fines and restitution. And for each person indicted, there are many, many more that likely could have the same fate if the FBI wanted to use its resources to drive more scoundrels out of horse racing and into jail.
Hayward recently wrote a brilliant piece about the state of affairs in racing today, stating his case for why the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority is absolutely vital for the future of the sport.
Hayward went back to March 2020 and republished some of the statements from horse racing executives following the arrests of Servis, Navarro et al. He then added his own comments in response to what they said then.
Some excerpts:
Ed Martin, president of the Association of Racing Commissioners International: “Today's indictments are good news in that they demonstrate the multiple layers of enforcement and the tools available, including wiretaps, that exist to police the sport.”
Hayward's response: “Wow! There was no demonstration of the multiple layers of enforcement and the tools available. If Stuart Janney and The Jockey Club with an assist from Jeff Gural (Meadowlands owner), and the investigative work done by 5 Stones intelligence had not invested millions over a five-year period there would have been no indictments.”
Alan Foreman, chairman of Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association: “This is a bad news good news story … the good news is the industry is capable of rooting this kind of conduct out.”
Hayward's response: “Alan Foreman is one of the best legal minds in the industry but this comment truly misses the mark. … State regulators, state racing commissions and the national horsemen's organization were not capable of rooting out this kind of conduct and the result was completely failing the racing industry. Sadly, I believe that Servis and Navarro would still be winning races if The Jockey Club had not engaged 5 Stones intelligence to investigate and make a compelling case to get the FBI and the U.S. attorney involved.”
Hayward also quotes Eric Hamelback, president of the National Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association, who said the news of indictments was “extremely troubling” and that the HBPA “strongly” opposes the “behavior in this indictment.”
Well, that's nice.
Less than two years earlier, in June 2018, Hamelback testified before the U.S. Congress in opposition to legislation aimed a setting up a national regulatory structure designed to be more effective at cleaning up horse racing's problems and make the sport safer for its equine and human participants.
Problems? What problems? Hamelback told Congress there are no problems in horse racing.
Citing the same laughable statistics as ARCI's Ed “Pure as Ivory Soap” Martin, Hamelback said racing is 99.9 percent clean.
“Data maintained by the state racing authorities compiled by the Association of Racing Commissioners International shows conclusively that doping of racehorses in the U.S. is rare,” Hamelback testified. “The job we are doing is being done very well.”
Oh, really?
Hamelback and other members of the fellowship of the status quo, do not believe racing has a problem. And that, as his longtime former boss Frank Stronach said, is a real problem.
The National HBPA leader goes by the name @EricTheTiger on Twitter. Maybe he should change it to @EricTheOstrich.
That's my view from the eighth pole.
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