Former trainer Marcos Zulueta was sentenced to 33 months in federal prison and one year of supervised release at a hearing in U.S. District Court on Feb. 24. Zulueta, who was part of the March 2020 arrests in connection with a horse doping ring, had entered a guilty plea in October 2021 to one count of drug adulteration and misbranding.
Prosecutors and defense counsel had previously agreed that the maximum range for a prison sentence that would be considered for Zulueta's sentence was 30 to 36 months. Zulueta's attorneys submitted a pre-sentencing report suggesting that the total prison time should be less than that range, but did not outline an alternate desired sentence.
Zulueta had a criminal history which included a DUI charge and two other charges not described in documentation filed with the court.
According to his attorneys, Zulueta, 53, was born into poverty in Cuba and did manual labor and worked with horses there to support his family. He immigrated to the United States in 1994 and continued to support family back home through similar jobs in this country. He began training Thoroughbreds in 2011 and maintained win percentages in the high twenties and low thirties for most of his career, which stopped with his arrest in 2020.
Zulueta's attorneys filed a number of character reference letters on his behalf, some of which came from connections of his in the racing industry, including owner Albert Lupcho, Jr., jockey Frankie Pennington, owner Vivian Hernandez, and veterinarian Dr. Art Stitzer.
“Never once did I have to look at or treat a horse for him due to neglect or poor judgment on his part,” wrote Stitzer. “They were fed well, bed well and happy horses. Marcos also would never allow owners to push his horses if they were not able or ready to compete as many trainers allow their owners to do. Marcos would simply tell them, 'No.' His judgement was always in the best interest of the horse.”
Prosecutors say Zulueta and former trainer Jorge Navarro (who received a five-year federal prison sentence in December after entering a guilty plea) often exchanged performance-enhancing drugs and information about their effects. In the government's pre-sentencing report, prosecutors included a few passages of transcripts from wire taps that had not previously been introduced into the public-facing court file.
Among other things, the intercepted conversations described the trainers' use of liver medication “from Panama” which prosecutors indicated was intended to speed the metabolism of PEDs. The wiretaps also depict Navarro and Zulueta discussing their use of blood builders, including one they refer to as “the Monkey.”
In a conversation from April 2019, Zulueta tells Navarro that he has been told by the unidentified person selling Monkey that “The Monkey is breaking down the horses … it's breaking down … it's breaking down the horses. It's making their blood very thick.”
The two agree that Zulueta could reduce the dose he was giving horses, but Zulueta apparently did not stop using the drug, as he is shown ordering more via text message in subsequent weeks and months.
It's not the only moment in which the pair discussed the welfare implications PEDs could be having for the horses in their care.
This conversation followed Navarro's request of Zulueta that the latter acquire him a bottle of “blocker” to use on X Y Jet ahead of a race in Feb. 2019:
NAVARRO: Do you like—do you like the product, Marcos?
ZULUETA: I love it. I'm doing the tapping seven days prior anymore. I'm tapping two or three days—two or three days before, man.
***
I love it. I love it. I…look, I have horses that are—that are limping.
NAVARRO: Well, I don't have—I don't have limping horses. But have you seen—have you seen the difference, Marcos?
ZULUETA: Of course I'm seeing the difference, man.
In a call from January 2019, the pair also discuss the injection of something they refer to as “the orange stuff” which both had noticed caused profuse sweating in horses after administration. In the same call, Zulueta discussed splitting a dose into an IV administration and one “to the back.”
ZULUETA: You have to be—you have to be careful. What types of steroids are you giving them?
NAVARRO: The—the Benidel [PH]
ZULUETA: No, stop—stop that shit. Stop that shit.
NAVARRO: Yes, but—but—but I have never had a problem, Marcos.
ZULUETA: My horses don't get the tums [PH]. Look, I give them five to the vein, and five to the back.
NAVARRO: Look, uh, when—when do you give them that stuff, eight or four hours prior?
ZULUETA: [OV] Four–
NAVARRO: [OV] – [UI] – the Lasix?
ZULUETA: –Four—four—four with the Lasix
Later, Navarro says “It's fine like that but only when he is racing at home.”
Zulueta also acknowledged the risks involved with drenching horses, the common terminology for delivering substances via a nasogastric tube. Zulueta recalled he had tried performing a drench himself and accidentally sent the liquid into the horse's lungs, nearly killing the animal.
In February 2019, Zulueta and Navarro had a conversation about out-of-competition testing.
According to the prosecutors' report, Zulueta said:
“'I'm telling you… I'm telling you the truth, to protect you. Everything that is happening… that's to protect you. If they find you with any steroid or anything, like Equipoise, Winstrol or any— any steroid… the minimum is six months' suspension.'
“Navarro then asked, 'So you don't have your horses on thyroid?' Zulueta responded, 'No, I have them. . . but I give to them and then I hide them. I give to them and then I have a guy [PH] to take it. Are you crazy? I have everything, Equipoise… you know I'm a son of a bitch.'
“In a particularly candid conversation between the two, on March 10, 2019, Navarro told Zulueta, 'Marcos, we need to clean up things because they are going to fuck us up. They are going to kick us out of the business if we keep up with the craziness; they are going to kick us out of the business, Marcos.'”
Of course, neither was kicked out of racing until their arrests by federal authorities a year later.
In a supplement to his attorney's pre-sentencing documents, Zulueta included his own note:
“To the court, Kristen, Skylar, my family, friends, myself and everyone else whose trust I broke:
“I am truly sorry for the mistake I made. I take full responsibility and I am ready to pay for what I did. For all my life, I tried to be a good person and do the right thing. For reasons that I can't even remember, I didn't do the right thing and made bad choices.
“I just want to pay for what I did, move on, and put the pieces back together. My whole life I had nothing and never took any shortcuts. I can guarantee that something like this will never happen again. I will work to be a good person and do the right things. Humbly, Marcos Zulueta.”
See the complete pre-sentencing report from prosecutors here.
See the defense's initial pre-sentencing report here.
The post Zulueta Given 33 Months In Prison In Doping Case; New Wiretaps With Navarro Surface appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.
