Dozens of administrative complaints for medication violations in Florida are likely to be dismissed after the state's Division of Pari-Mutuel Wagering issued an order accepting the recommendations of an administrative law judge who found that serum sample collection procedures qualified as “unadopted rules” and that no action could be taken against licensees based on positive tests from serum.

At the same time the Division of Pari-Mutuel Wagering accepted the administrative law judge's recommendation, it posted notice of a 90-day emergency rule outlining new sample collection procedures. That rule went into effect on Friday.

The case precipitating the order was brought by trainer Teresa Pompay, who was notified that two of her horses tested positive last year. R. Bling Shines, winner of a maiden claiming race at Gulfstream Park on Feb. 20, was found to have the Class IV drug betamethasone in her system in a post-race test; and Run Saichi, second in a claiming race at Gulfstream May 13, tested positive for mepivicaine, a Class II substance.

Attorney Bradford Beilly, who won an earlier case by exposing that a 2010 Equine Detention Barn Procedures Manual used by test barn personnel was never adopted as an official “rule,” used a similar argument to have both complaints against Pompay dismissed.

In this case, administrative law judge F. Scott Boyd (who also heard the earlier case) found that the state still had not adopted the 35-page Manual from 2010 as an official rule when R. Bling Shines ran in February 2016. That complaint was dismissed as a result. A new five-page test barn “guidelines” document was put in place April 7, 2016, but Boyd ruled the guidelines were no better in meeting the standards of an officially adopted rule. That led to the dismissal of the mepivicaine complaint against Pompay.

“Replacement of the 2010 Manual with the 2016 Guidelines was a formalistic charade masking the reality that there was no change in actual Division policy as to the sampling procedures to be followed by track personnel,” Boyd wrote.

The deficiencies in both the 2010 Manual and 2016 Guidelines center on a 2001 rule saying owner/trainer representatives be present when the samples are numbered and sealed. The procedures from the 2010 Manual call for the samples to be centrifuged and sealed for shipment to the testing lab at the end of the day's racing program when no one other than test barn personnel are around.

“As stipulated, the sampling procedures set forth in the 2010 Manual are important to the Division, to the trainers, and to the public,” Boyd wrote. “These sampling procedures affect the substantive rights of trainers as they are made the ‘absolute insurer' of a horse's condition when it races. The sealing of a sample is a critical part of those procedures, ensuring that the sample is correctly correlated with the animal from which it came, while temporarily keeping the identity of the horse and trainer confidential. …

“The surgical excision of provisions of the rule relating to the sealing of specimens thus only reinforced the 2010 Manual's status as unadopted policy. The 2010 Manual's provisions should have been incorporated by rule, or other provisions regarding these critical processes should have been adopted.”

Beilly said the decision to accept the administrative law judge's recommendation “is precedent to preclude the Division from relying on any blood serum samples taken since January 2016 as evidence against trainers in any disciplinary cases.”

That puts a cloud over dozens of positive tests called by the University of Florida laboratory after Florida adopted the National Uniform Medication Program on Jan. 2, 2016.

Trainers who have already settled their cases with the state are unlikely to get any relief.

Pompay is also challenging Florida's split-sample procedures. Unlike most other states, where test barn personnel collect “A” samples for the testing laboratory and “B” samples for confirmation testing in the event of a positive finding, Florida compiles a split sample from remnants of the “A” sample at the laboratory after it has been opened and tested.

The Division of Pari-Mutuel Wagering has scheduled a workshop in April to develop new rules related to split samples.

The post Florida Ruling Means Dozens Of Drug Positives Likely To Be Dismissed appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Trainer Jorge Navarro says that he will contest the ruling of the Florida Division of Pari-Mutuel Wagering board after being notified that one of his horses tested positive for cocaine a race at Tampa Bay Downs.

Navarro told the Daily Racing Form that he was notified two weeks ago of the finding, which stated that the 7-year-old gelding Minecraft tested positive for cocaine after finishing second in a $5,000 claiming race Feb. 8. Minecraft was claimed from Navarro by trainer Dennis Ward.

Since being notified of the drug positive, Navarro said that he's had all of his employees tested and that “they all tested clean for cocaine.”

“I don't do cocaine, my horses don't go out and party, so why would cocaine show up in my horses?” Navarro said. “This is nuts.”

Read more in the Daily Racing Form

The post ‘This Is Nuts’: Navarro Disputes Finding That Horse Tested Positive For Cocaine appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Florida's Supreme Court on Thursday ruled against efforts by Gretna Racing in Gadsden County to add slot machine to its card room, simulcast and “live racing” facility. The unanimous decision by the court means dog tracks and jai-alai frontons in Gadsden and seven other Florida counties (Brevard, Duval, Lee, Hamilton, Palm Beach, St. Lucie and Washington) will be unable to get slot machines without legislative approval, despite each county having approved the gambling devices in local referendums.

Gretna was the first of several Florida operations to secure a pari-mutuel license by staging a series of unconventional races. It began with barrel racing, which Florida's Division of Pari-Mutuel Racing ultimately ruled did not constitute legitimate horse races, then transitioned to contests where two horses “competed” against one another for a short distance at the drop of a flag. Despite the farcical nature of the events, the races were deemed to have fulfilled the requirements of Florida law, according to an administrative law judge's ruling.

That approval allowed Gretna to operate a simulcast and card room, and its owners – which included Gulfstream Park lobbyist Marc Dunbar and one-time Gulfstream Park president David Romanik – challenged the Florida law that limited slots to Dade and Broward counties in South Florida.

The Division of Pari-Mutuel Wagering denied their application and the Supreme Court agreed, reasoning that: “In the absence of such a specific authorization, a county cannot initiate a referendum that will authorize the Division to issue a license any more than the county could itself issue a slot machine gaming license.”

Read more at Miami Herald

Supreme Court's Decision

The post No Slots For You: Florida Supreme Court Denies Bid By One-Time Barrel Racing Track appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

How incompetent is the leadership at Florida's Division of Pari-Mutuel Wagering, the state government agency that regulates horse racing in the state?

Let me count the ways: 1, 2, 3, 4 … 100, maybe more.

That's how many administrative complaints for medication violations in just over a year had to be tossed out because of the division's inability to comply with Florida law in how to collect and process post-race blood samples.

It's not as if these faceless Tallahassee bureaucrats weren't warned.

A November 2015 recommended order by administrative law judge F. Scott Boyd reinstating the occupational license of trainer Kirk Ziadie, which had previously been denied by the division, warned officials their method of collecting did not comply with state law. In brief, detention barn personnel were collecting blood according to a 2010 Procedures Manual that was never officially approved. Samples were taken and sealed after a race, with a representative of an owner present, then opened later in the day, centrifuged to separate serum from blood, then poured into another tube and sealed with no owner representatives present. Dr. Steven Barker, an expert for Ziadie's attorney Bradford Beilly, said unsupervised reopening of samples left them “most vulnerable to potential contamination, potential misidentification, to potential tampering.”

We wrote about the issue then, pointing out the obvious: “A bigger question beyond Ziadie's licensing is the enforceability of any positive drug tests going forward, until such time as the procedures are changed to comply with the 2001 Florida rule, or the 2010 Procedures Manual is made official.”

Fast forward to Feb. 7, 2017, and another recommended order from administrative law judge Boyd, who called this three-card Monte move by the Division a “formalistic charade masking the reality that there was no change in actual Division policy.”

This case was brought by trainer Teresa Pompay, who was notified of two positive tests for overages of therapeutic medications, one in February 2016 and another in May 2016. Her charges were thrown out after the Division accepted Boyd's recommended order, based once again on flaws in the chain of custody procedures and the de facto reliance on the 2010 Procedures Manual that was never adopted as a formal rule.

These were two of more than 100 administrative complaints filed by the Florida Division of Pari-Mutuel Wagering against trainers for allegedly violating medication rules in 2016 and early 2017. Some trainers settled the charges, accepting fines or suspensions. Others, aware of the earlier ruling involving Ziadie and the chain of custody question, hired an attorney and challenged the Division.

On the date the Division dismissed the complaints against Pompey, it adopted an emergency rule pertaining to blood collection. It then sought input from the industry for a permanent rule.

On April 7, the Division of Pari-Mutuel Wagering began notifying trainers the administrative complaints against them were being dismissed. In the Order of Dismissal, signed by Anthony J. Glover, director of the Division of Pari-Mutuel Wagering, trainers were told “the Division cannot rely on the serum specimens collected… as the basis for further agency action in this case even though that specimen tested positive for an impermissible medication.”

Paulick Report obtained from the Division the names of 51 trainers notified of dismissals from April 7-14. Listed below are the dates of each administrative complaint, the horse, track and medication involved. Note that many of the dismissed complaints involved medications for which threshold levels have been raised since they were first flagged as “positive” (i.e., xylazine and mepivicaine) and that Florida adopted National Uniform Medication Program guidelines in January 2016, which triggered an unusually high number of positive tests for stacking of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs.

This is an embarrassment for the state of Florida and for its governor, Rick Scott. Florida is the only horse racing state that regulates this major industry without a racing or gaming commission, instead relying on a constantly revolving door of state employees who have no knowledge of or interest in writing and enforcing the rules. The horsemen and horseplayers are being cheated by the incompetence of the Division of Pari-Mutuel Wagering that oversees this industry.

Juan D. Arias Jr. (2): Tiger Bourbon, 2/26/16, Gulfstream Park (flunixin and phenylbutazone); Michaelslittleally, 5/16/16, Gulfstream Park (bethamethasone)

Horacio Alberto Barbaran: Alto Precio 1/26/17, Calder Race Course (flunixin and phenylbutazone)

Gerald S. Bennett (2): This Boy's Sharp, 6/1/16, Tampa Bay Downs (xylazine); Angel Falls, 3/28/16, Tampa Bay Downs (flunixin, ketoprofen, phenylbutazone)

William Jordan Blair (2): Faction Cat, 4/11/16, Tampa Bay Downs (dexamethasone); Bet With Charlie, 3/21/16, Tampa Bay Downs (methylprednisolone)

Maria A. Bowersock: Sandia Crest, 4/20/16, Tampa Bay Downs (dexamethasone)

Ashlee Brooke Brnjas: Augusto B, date not available, Tampa Bay Downs (dimethylsulfoxide)

Edwin T. Broome: Castleboy, 5/17/16, Gulfstream Park (flunixin and phenylbutazone)

Mark E. Casse (2): Kaigun, 5/6/16, Gulfstream Park (betamethasone); Spring Spirit, 12/19/16, Calder Race Course (methylprednisolone)

Jane D. Cibelli: Spender, 1/17/17, Gulfstream Park (isoflupredone)

Jason Anthony Dacosta (2): Strollingintherain, 3/21/16, Gulfstream Park (xylazine); Man o Bear, 6/10/16, Tampa Bay Downs (betamethasone)

Bobby S. Dibona: Vow Me Over, 12/13/16, Calder Race Course (flunixin and phenylbutazone)

Luis Duco: Motion's First, 10/11/16, Gulfstream Park (methocarbamol)

Rodolfo G. Garcia (2): Moonless Sky, 1/9/17, Gulfstream Park (methocarbamol); Rock All Day, 7/13/16, Gulfstream Park (betamethasone)

Jose R. Garoffalo: JR's Holiday, 3/21/16, Gulfstream Park (flunixin and phenylbutazone)

Christos Gatis (3): Royal Fighter, date not available, Tampa Bay Downs (methocarbamol); Drama Princess, date not available, Tampa Bay Downs (methocarbamol); Pom Pom Power, 6/2/16, Tampa Bay Downs (methocarbamol)

Stan I. Gold: Sunshine n Shadow, 11/1/16, Tropical Park (mepivacaine)

Anthony J. Granitz (3): Epic Journey, 3/2/16, Tampa Bay Downs (dexamethasone); Rizzi Girl Twelve, 3/30/16, Tampa Bay Downs (dexamethasone); Long to Win, 3/30/16, Tampa Bay Downs (triamcinolone acetonide)

Alison Hassig: Sandro, 2/14/17, Tampa Day Downs (glycopyrolate)

Jennifer A. Hayford-Quinones: Diamond Tour, 2/16/17, Tampa Bay Downs (triamcinolone acetonide and xylazine)

Ian Robert Hemingway (4): Leroisgoldanimal, 6/10/16, Tampa Bay Downs (hydroxyethyl promazine sulfoxide and methylprednisolone); Proud Mary Strikes, 6/10/16, Gulfstream Park (xylazine); Annabella Hall, 7/29/16, Tampa Bay Downs (hydroxydantrolene); Bridles Holiday, 11/1/16, Gulfstream Park (methylprednisolone)

Rosemary B. Homeister Sr.: Blessedwithprayer, 5/16/16, Gulfstream Park (dexamethasone)

Timothy J. Kelly: Next Cowboy Up, 1/18/17, Calder Race Course (triamcinolone acetonided)

Dane Kobiskie: Lallie, 9/20/16, Gulfstream Park (mepivacaine)

Paul Kopaj (2): Starship Galaxy, 4/17/16, Gulfstream Park (flunixin, ketoprofen, phenylbutazone); Starship Galaxy, 5/2/16, Gulfstream Park (clenbuterol)

Tamara Levy (2): Pathos, 5/16/16, Gulfstream Park (betamethasone); Dancin in the Heat, date not available, Gulfstream Park (betamethasone)

Braulio M. Lopez Jr: Indio Nativo, 3/7/17, Tampa Bay Downs (phenylbutazone)

Aubrey A. Maragh (3): Tuneintobow, 3/21/16, Gulfstream Park (xylazine); Love Rules All, 5/25/16, Gulfstream Park (xylazine); It's Not Me 6/15/16, Gulfstream Park (dexamethasone)

Clyde W. Martin Jr.: Sister Caro, 2/6/17, Gulfstream Park (xylazine)

Alejandro M. Maymo: Majestic Maiara, 2/6/17, Gulfstream Park (dimethylsulfoxide)

Kiaran P. McLaughlin: Farz, 5/16/16, Gulfstream Park (betamethasone)

Angel M. Medina: Big Distinction, 7/8/16, Gulfstream Park (phenlbutazone)

Keith Raymond Nations (2): Morning Fire, 3/3/16, Tampa Bay Downs (isoflupredone); Global Glow, 3/3/16, Tampa Bay Downs (betamethasone)

Jorge I. Navarro (2): Vera's Finally, 6/2/16, Gulfstream Park (mepivacaine); Chatt Hills, 5/9/16, Gulfstream Park (flunixin and phenylbutazone)

Marcial R. Navarro (4): Britannia's Moat, 10/11/16, Gulfstream Park (methocarbamol); Bluegrass Lady, 6/28/16, Gulfstream Park (methocarbamol); Fan Base, 10/11/16, Gulfstream Park (methocarbamol); Little Twitch, 10/11/16, Gulfstream Park (betamethasone)

Ralph E. Nicks: Awesome Sting, 6/10/16, Gulfstream Park (mepivacaine)

Kathleen O'Connell (3): Bettarun Realfast, 4/13/16, Gulfstream Park (flunixin and phenylbutazone); Romantic Henry, 6/9/16, Tampa Bay Downs (phenylbutazone); Game Lad, 7/20/16, Tropical Park (betamethasone)

Pasquale Parente: Extremist, 3/28/16, Gulfstream Park (flunixin, ketoprofen, phenylbutazone)

Todd A. Pletcher (4): Stanford, 4/11/16, Gulfstream Park (betamethasone); Destin, 5/16/16, Tampa Bay Downs (isoflupredone); Brinkley, 5/16/16, Gulfstream Park (xylazine); Gracious Plenty, 5/16/16, Gulfstream Park (betamethasone)

Robert A. Raymond: Jockey Jills Dream, 3/3/16, Tampa Bay Downs (xylazine)

Juan P. Rizo: Admiral's Win, 2/7/17, Gulfstream Park (flunixin and phenylbutazone)

Darien Rodriguez (2): Lighthouse Sound, 3/21/16, Tampa Bay Downs (flunixin, ketoprofen, phenylbutazone); Awesome Prizes, 3/21/16, Tampa Bay Downs (betamethasone)

Juan Andres Rodriguez (3): My Wish List, 5/25/16, Gulfstream Park (xylazine); Let Love Rule, 5/25/16, Gulfstream Park (mepivacaine); Let Love Rule, 7/13/16, Gulfstream Park (mepivacaine)

Derek S. Ryan: Mythical Man, 2/18/16, Tampa Bay Downs (methylprednisolone)

Antonio Sano: Elsenordeloscielos, 11/7/16, Tropical Park (flunixin and phenylbutazone)

Jason J. Servis (4): Ramblin N Gamblin, 6/10/16, Gulfstream Park (xylazine); Ramblin N Gamblin, 5/13/16, Gulfstream Park (xylazine); Indian Splendor, 6/2/16, Gulfstream Park (xylazine); Gran the Man, 5/13/16, Gulfstream Park (xylazine)

Chad J. Stewart: Replay, 5/16/16, Tampa Bay Downs (betamethasone)

Amy E. Tarrant: D'Oro Tomorrow, 3/11/16, Gulfstream Park (flunixin and phenylbutazone)

Ray Trisler: Onceaboutadream, 2/22/17, Tampa Bay Downs (dimethylsulfoxide)

James G. Tsirigotis Jr.: Indy Silver Bullet, 3/8/16, Tampa Bay Downs (flunixin, ketoprofen, phenylbutazone)

George R. Weaver (2): Madame Barbarian, 5/18/16, Gulfstream Park (betamethasone); Requite, 7/13/16, Gulfstream Park (ketoprofen)

Martin Wolfson (11): Best Bahavior, 4/8/16, Gulfstream Park (flunixin, phenylbutazone, dexamethasone); Miss Melinda, 4/8/16, Gulfstream Park (flunixin and phenylbutazone); Gem Twist, 3/21/16, Gulfstream Park (dexamethasone); Curlin's Princess, 5/18/16, Gulfstream Park (flunixin and phenylbutazone); Curlin's Princess, 6/2/16, Gulfstream Park dexamethasone); To Remember, 6/2/16, Gulfstream Park (dexamethasone); Best Behavior, 5/18/16, Gulfstream Park (dexamethasone); Happy's Causeway, 6/2/16, Gulfstream Park (dexamethasone); Kiss to Remember, 6/10/16, Gulfstream Park (dexamethasone); Kiss to Remember, 8/23/16, Gulfstream Park (medication unavailable); Liberty Road, 6/10/16, Gulfstream Park (dexamethasone)

Gilberto Zerpa (2): Dearest, 5/9/16, Gulfstream Park (flunixin, methocarbamol, phenylbutazone); Dunkin Bend, 8/15/16, Gulfstream Park (triamcinolone acetonide)

Ralph G. Ziadie (3): Misty Phyllis, 4/11/16, Gulfstream Park (clenbuterol and phenlbutazone); Baby I'm Worth It, 10/14/16, Gulfstream Park (methocarbamol); R Cat Daddy, 10/14/16, Gulfstream Park (methocarbamol)

The post Florida Follies: Dozens Of Drug Positives Thrown Out Due To State Incompetence appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

I visited Hialeah Park for the first time nearly 30 years ago, on Dec. 26, 1987. Though I'd been cautioned that the grande dame of South Florida racing was not what she once was – that the war track owner John Brunetti had lost to Gulfstream Park over the prime winter dates had taken its toll – I was nevertheless stunned by Hialeah Park's beauty and elegance.

That day's main event was the Grade 1 Widener Handicap, a race won over the years by the likes of War Admiral, Armed, Nashua, True North, Forego, Private Account and, more recently, Turkoman. The Widener traditionally had been one of the highlights of the winter meeting, especially when Hialeah Park occupied the mid-winter dates from January through March.

Personal Flag won that 1987 renewal for Ogden Phipps and an up-and-coming trainer named Shug McGaughey. For good measure, a half-hour later, McGaughey saddled another Phipps homebred, Seeking the Gold, a 2-year-old son of Mr. Prospector who would jump-start a highly successful racing career with a romping maiden victory.

There was so much history at Hialeah, things I'd seen on television, newsreels, movies like “The Champ” and in magazines and newspaper articles. There were the infield flamingos, who took flight each afternoon, the magnificent paddock, the nearby statue of Citation, the sweeping stairways and the wicker chair box seats. Even on this day-after-Christmas program, it seemed like a “Who's Who” of racing was in attendance.

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Statue of Citation at Hialeah Park (2014 photo)

Hialeah Park went downhill quickly after that. Within a couple of years, squeezed even more on dates, Brunetti raced head-to-head with Calder Race Course – another track in the Miami area – and got clobbered. It went dark in 1990-'91, and while Hialeah would reopen a year later, it never really recovered, running its last Thoroughbred meet in 2001. The state then took away Brunetti's permit to run a race meeting.

The legislature gave Brunetti and Hialeah Park new life in 2009, authorizing a Quarter Horse meeting and – after it hosted two consecutive years of live racing – a casino. It wasn't what the track's owner wanted; he's a Thoroughbred owner and breeder who wanted to bring Thoroughbreds back to Hialeah Park. But Quarter Horse racing allowed him to build and operate a profitable casino while putting money into maintaining and partially restoring the grand but aging facility.

That's how Hialeah Park has been used over the last eight years.

Until now.

Thanks to permit approvals by the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation's Division of Pari-Mutuel Wagering, Brunetti no longer has to operate legitimate Quarter Horse racing, the kind that had been sanctioned since 2009 by the American Quarter Horse Association. He can join farcical racetracks like Gretna in the Florida panhandle, Hamilton Downs near the Georgia state line and Oxford Downs south of Ocala, and put on two-horse matches over 110 yards that the AQHA no longer sanctions. It's the kind of charade that's allowed the aforementioned businesses to open card rooms and simulcasting parlors. Practically no one attends these races and fewer people actually bet on them. But that doesn't matter.

Over 20 “race days,” Wednesdays through Sundays from May 31 to June 25, Hialeah Park is staging two cards of eight races each. There are two horses per race – some of whom are as old as 18 – plus three also-eligibles. They break from a makeshift starting gate without doors and run for a sixteenth of a mile.

Three stewards are positioned in the grandstand – along with a cameraman filming these ridiculous contests – and that's about it. After one horse crosses the finish in front, a winner's circle photo is taken, and then the bad joke is repeated seven more times to technically complete a “day of racing.”

I don't blame track owner Brunetti for this sad and pathetic mockery of our sport. He is only doing what the state government enablers in Tallahassee allow to be passed off as horse racing.

That's my view from the eighth pole.

The post View From The Eighth Pole: Blame State, Not Brunetti, For Mockery Of The Sport At Hialeah appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

A Florida judge heard arguments Tuesday from horsemen and state gambling regulators over whether Calder Race Course should legally be able to maintain its slots license.

At issue is a state law that says slot machine areas must remain “contiguous and connected” to the area where live races are taking place. It a lawsuit, the Florida Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association argued the destruction of Calder's grandstand in 2016 and subsequently, the Division of Pari-Mutuel Wagering issuing another slots license to the track amounted to violating that law.

But the attorney representing state regulators said the requirement for “contiguous and connected” is now fulfilled by a sidewalk.

“What this case is really all about is that the horsemen want to dictate how Calder should operate its pari-mutuel business” and “tell Calder to build an air-conditioned grandstand building,” said Wilbur Brewton.

The judge will make a ruling in the case at a future date.

Read more at the Sun-Sentinel

The post A ‘Sidewalk’ Between Them? Florida Horsemen, Calder Do Battle In Court appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Georgina Baxter has won three races, with two seconds and two third-place finishes from 16 starts since taking over the Ralph Ziadie stable in early July.

Ziadie, a leading trainer in South Florida in recent years, was denied a renewal of his license by the state's Department of Business & Professional Regulation's Division of Pari-Mutuel Wagering, which in a June 29 letter cited 10 medication violations from October 2012 to May 2014 and six outstanding violations since December 30, 2017.

Ziadie is the father of trainer Kirk Ziadie, who won numerous training titles in South Florida but was denied a license renewal by the Division of Pari-Mutuel Wagering in July 2015 and later suspended for six years for multiple medication violations. The elder Ziadie, who moved to Florida from Jamaica in the 1970s, has been training since 1980, according to Equibase, and has won 1,544 races from 9,931 starts for earnings of $31.6 million. Since Kirk Ziadie was suspended, Ralph Ziadie has finished as high as second in the trainer standings at Gulfstream Park West (formerly Calder Race Course) and was one win shy of tying for the training title during this year's spring meeting at Gulfstream Park when he won 16 races, with 10 seconds and two thirds from 52 starts.

The 10 adjudicated cases against Ralph Ziadie from 2012 to 2014 were for Class 3 and Class 4 medications clenbuterol and phenylbutazone, respectively, plus one Class 2 violation for o-desmethyltramadrol.

The six outstanding cases against Ralph Ziadie for alleged Class 3 and Class 4 violations are:

–Mr. Baker, winner of fourth race at Gulfstream Park on Dec. 30, 2017, overages of flunixin and phenylbutazone.

–Pay Any Price, winner of eighth race at Tampa Bay Downs on Dec. 30, 2017, overage of furosemide.

–R Limo Joe, winner of third race at Gulfstream Park on March 9, 2018, overages of a metabolite of dantrolene and clenbuterol.

–Players Luck, runner-up in third race at Gulfstream Park on April 27, 2018, overage of metabolite of dantrolene.

–Pay Any Price, winner of first race at Gulfstream Park on May 4, 2018, overage of flunixin and phenylbutazone.

–Wild Chatter, winner of sixth race at Gulfstream Park on May 10, 2018, metabolite of dantrolene.

The Ziadie stables (and now Baxter's) have been based at Gulfstream Park West, which Gulfstream Park owner The Stronach Group leases from Churchill Downs, Inc.

Ziadie has requested a hearing on the matter, but no date has been set.

Baxter is a former exercise rider whose first start as a licensed trainer came on July 5, when she saddled three former Ralph Ziadie horses, including her first winner, Starship Wildcat.

The post Ralph Ziadie Denied License Renewal In Florida; Baxter Takes Over Stable appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

My phone started blowing up Sunday afternoon, shortly after the fourth race at Gulfstream Park was run. There were calls, emails, text messages and Twitter comments imploring me to watch jockey Tony Maragh on a horse named Musical Heart.

The 3-year-old gelding by Maclean's Music, owned by Joseph Bucci and trained by Aubrey Maragh, finished second, beaten a head by Richest Gifts in a six-furlong allowance/optional claiming race offering a $47,000 purse.

The Equibase chart footnotes about Musical Heart read: “MUSICAL HEART reserved racing wide and unasked while trailing field in early stages, began to move up closer racing wide still unasked in the turn, entered top stretch eight wide and continued to gain without being persevered with.”

A few observations:

• The Equibase chartcaller could be subject to a reprimand by Equibase management for stating what many people who saw the race believe to be the truth. Equibase is owned by racetrack members of the Thoroughbred Racing Associations of North America and The Jockey Club. Over the past year, Equibase has been instructing its chartcallers to withhold information from charts that racetracks and The Jockey Club might consider damaging to the sport's image. In my opinion, this chartcaller did his job well.
• Owner Joseph Bucci and trainer Aubrey Maragh had a second horse in the race, uncoupled for wagering purposes, named Northern. He was ridden by Romero Maragh and pressed the early favorite, Silver Defense, through fractions of :21.96 and :44.99 before both tired to last and next to last in the seven-horse field. A third horse in the race, fifth-place finisher Fafa, ridden by Carlos Montalvo, was owned by Rajkamal Maragh and trained by Allen Maragh, the brother of Aubrey Maragh
• The footnotes state that Musical Heart entered the top of the stretch “eight wide.” There were seven horses in the field.

I'm not going to judge the ride by Tony Maragh. Watch the video shown below and form your own opinion. Previous races, including Musical Heart's maiden win under Luis Saez on March 2, suggest the gelding responds to aggressive handling.

Stewards at Gulfstream Park (two work for the track and a third for the state's Division of Pari-Mutuel Wagering) have notified jockey Tony Maragh to see them on Wednesday morning for a review of the film of the race. No owners or trainers with horses in that race have been interviewed, as of Monday afternoon.

Whatever the results of the film review, stewards at Gulfstream Park do not post official rulings on-track. Official rulings from the stewards at Gulfstream Park do not appear to be posted on the “recent rulings” section of the Association of Racing Commissioners International website, either. Florida's Department of Business & Professional Regulation, which oversees the Division of Pari-Mutuel Wagering, used to make rulings available by searching individual licensees, but they have apparently given up and stopped posting violations. Stewards minutes at Gulfstream Park, if they are compiled, are not made public, as they are in several racing states. (For thorough stewards minutes, see what the Hong Kong Jockey Club posts every racing day.)

Horseplayers deserve better.

It's no wonder stewards, regulators and racetrack management in some jurisdictions are held in such low regard by the public.

It's not just in Florida.

At Mountaineer Park in West Virginia recently, unusually high show payoffs were triggered when a heavy favorite, Utana, finished off the board after what can only be described as an unusual ride by his jockey.

West Virginia Racing Commission executive director Joe Moore has not responded to multiple emails and phone calls from Paulick Report asking about the status of any investigation into that race. There was a report in Thoroughbred Daily News quoting Moore saying about the race: “We're looking into it.”

What assurances does the betting public have that “we're looking into it” means that a serious investigation is under way?

(UPDATE: Shortly after this article was published, executive director Moore called to say the West Virginia Racing Commission is investigating the Aug. 8 Mountaineer race, that stewards have spoken to the jockey and trainer involved, that the horse passed a pre-race veterinary inspection and was looked at post-race by a veterinarian and “showed no ill effects.” In addition, stewards at Charles Town have also been asked to examine the films of the race. Utana was not drug tested despite being an odds-on favorite.)

In Oklahoma, it's been more than 10 weeks since Oklahoma Horse Racing Commission executive director Kelly Cathey assured Paulick Report's Natalie Voss officials were investigating a fatal breakdown of a horse whose veterinarian was observed treating horses inside of the permitted 24-hour window. Do necropsy reports really take 10 weeks to perform?

If Cathey is holding out from releasing information to the media, this wouldn't be the first time.

Also in Oklahoma, a licensed veterinarian allegedly involved in a Class 1 drug case in Texas, is permitted to participate as a licensed owner without having to answer questions from officials. The Texas Racing Commission would like to speak with the vet about the case, but its authority apparently does not cross state lines.

Regulators and tracks in too many states are failing this business. Horseplayers are losing faith that the game is being played on the up and up. I don't blame them.

That's my view from the eighth pole.

The post View From The Eighth Pole: Horseplayers Deserve Better From Stewards And Regulators appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

The same bureaucrats in Tallahassee, Fla., who define a “horse race” as two equines ambling down a dirt path at a snail's pace have been sued by the Florida Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association for giving Calder Race Course a summer jai alai permit that will allow the Churchill Downs Inc.-owned track to stiff Thoroughbred owners and breeders for $10 million a year in slot machine revenue.

Churchill Downs has also been named in the “permit swapping” lawsuit filed against the state of Florida, Department of Business and Professional Regulation's Division of Pari-Mutuel Wagering. The suit was filed Tuesday on behalf of the FHBPA by attorney Bradford Beilly in Leon County Circuit Court in Florida's panhandle.

The horsemen's organization is challenging whether the state acted properly and legally in giving Calder a jai alai permit, the consequences of which could have a significant impact on Florida's Thoroughbred industry.

Calder was among the Miami-Dade and Broward county pari-mutuel operations that successfully lobbied for approval of a 2004 state-wide referendum permitting slot machines. In a final push for an advertising campaign to sway Florida voters, Calder officials convinced the FHBPA to contribute $1 million in exchange for what the lawsuit described as “a proverbial seat at the table” should Calder win the right to operate slot machines. The money came out of Calder's purse funds over three race meetings.

The law requires Thoroughbred tracks to maintain purse contracts with the FHBPA in order to operate slot machines. Under the current revenue sharing agreement, which expires in 2020, Calder pays 10 percent of its slots revenue toward purses. During the 2017-'18 fiscal year, that 10 percent amounted to $8.8 million. The Florida Thoroughbred Breeders' and Owners' Association has a separate agreement for an undisclosed amount believed to be in excess of $1 million annually.

Calder continues to pay the purse money, even after the company agreed to lease the racetrack to Gulfstream Park management to run the required racing dates at Calder – which no longer has a grandstand – under the name Gulfstream Park West.

Unbeknownst to the FHBPA, on Aug. 31, 2017, Calder president and general manager Maureen Adams applied for a summer jai alai permit on behalf of Calder. The application was based on a section of the pari-mutuel statute, Chapter 550.0745, approved in the 1980s and designed to help underperforming pari-mutuel operations by allowing them to convert their permits to a summer jai alai permit. The operation in question had to show that it had the “smallest play” within a county for two previous years prior to applying for a permit conversion. If the operation with the smallest play for two consecutive years declined to convert, a new permit would be made available to others. An unclaimed permit is the one that Calder sought.

Adams cited an unnamed pari-mutuel facility from fiscal years 2005-'06 and 2006-'07 in her application, meaning Calder was trying to scoop up an unclaimed jai alai permit that would have been available to the lowest performer from those two consecutive fiscal years.

Without fanfare or notification to interested parties (including the FHBPA), the Division of Pari-Mutuel Wagering approved the summer jai alai permit for Calder on Feb. 9, 2018.

When the FHBPA heard rumors that Calder was seeking a jai alai permit, the organization promptly filed a records request with the Division of Pari-Mutuel Wagering, asking to see Calder's application and the wagering calculations it may have been based on. The state did not comply fully, according to the complaint, leaving out the requested wagering calculations. As a result the FHBPA compiled its own calculations, based on public records, and concluded that no permit holder qualified from 2005-'06 and 2006-'07 by having the “smallest play” in two consecutive years.

On July 3, 2018, the FHBPA filed a petition with the Division of Pari-Mutuel Wagering for a formal administrative hearing on the issue of the Calder permit.

On July 24, 2018, the Division dismissed the petition with prejudice, saying the FHBPA filing was untimely because it was required to file its petition within 21 days of Calder being quietly approved for the permit on Feb. 9 – not when the FHBPA first learned of the permit months later.

On July 31, 2018, Calder president Adams sent a letter to Robert Ehrhardt, director of the Division of Pari-Mutuel Wagering, seeking clarification on whether it can keep its slots operation going when it switches from Thoroughbred racing to jai alai.

“Calder wishes to discontinue live Thoroughbred racing and to obtain a license to operate a full schedule of live jai alai games under its summer jai alai permit,” Adams wrote. “Calder intends on conducting live jai alai games at the same physical location or piece of property where it currently coinducts Thoroughbred racing. Calder will only make this change if the Division authorizes Calder to continue slot machine gaming while conducting a full schedule of live jai alai games under its summer jai alai permit.”

The law does not require summer jai alai permit holders to share revenue from slot machines, as Thoroughbred permit holders are required to do.

The FHBPA lawsuit seeks the administrative hearing it was denied by the Division of Pari-Mutuel Wagering and questions whether the premise on which the permit was based – namely, how the wagering calculations were compiled – is valid. Finally, the FHBPA seeks clarification on whether there is a statute of limitations on permit conversions.

The cold and calculating move by Calder Race Course and its parent company to discontinue live racing is a transparent effort to cut horsemen out of the revenue sharing from slots required by law of a Thoroughbred racetrack. It should be pointed out that it's the same horsemen who financially supported the efforts to get slots approved.

But Calder Race Course isn't the only entity to shaft the FHBPA. The Division of Pari-Mutuel Wagering has treated the horsemen unfairly, too, first by not notifying them that Calder was swapping its permit to cut out live racing, then by denying them an opportunity for an administrative hearing because they didn't protest something they didn't know about quickly enough.

Let's hope the horsemen get a fair hearing in civil court.

The post Florida HBPA Sues State Regulators, Calder Race Course Over Jai Alai Permit appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Churchill Downs Inc.'s Calder Casino in South Florida is in danger of losing its slots license after an administrative law judge ruled that the operation is not compliant with state law because of the absence of a “contiguous and connected” building from which to conduct wagering on live racing.

Without compliant live racing, Calder would not have been able to maintain a slots license, which it first acquired in 2009. Live race meets at Calder are now operated by Gulfstream Park under the name Gulfstream Park West, even though the Calder grandstand was razed in 2015.

Administrative law judge John G. Van Laningham on Friday issued a recommendation that Florida's Department of Business and Professional Regulation, Division of Pari-Mutuel Wagering, enter a final order denying Calder's application for renewal of a slot machine license for the fiscal year 2018-19. The recommendation could jeopardize a renewal of the annual license, which expires July 9, 2019.

It wasn't immediately clear how the recommendation may affect Calder's scheme to eventually connect a pari-mutuel permit for a recently opened jai-alai fronton on the Calder property to the slots casino.

The 2018-19 renewal of the Calder slots license was challenged by the Florida Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association, even though it could cost horsemen millions of dollars in annual purses. Under the current agreement between the FHBPA and Calder, 10% of slots revenue goes to purses, about $9 million of $90 million in annual slots revenue. That agreement expires Dec. 31, 2020.

The FHBPA challenged whether the Department of Business and Professional Regulation, Division of Pari-Mutuel Wagering, violated Florida statute in approving Calder's slots license when the casino was built in a separate building that was not directly adjacent to the racetrack's grandstand. The law approving slots states that a gaming facility may be located in a separate building if it is “contiguous and connected to” the facility for wagering on live races.

Van Laningham wrote that the requirement “thus guards against the slot machine operation from becoming the tail that wags the dog, by requiring at least a kind of structural parity between the live gaming area (for racing) and the slots machine building.”

Following a similar arrangement at the Pompano Park harness track and slots casino, the Department of Business and Professional Regulation said a covered walkway between the slots and live wagering buildings would suffice to remain compliant.

However, when the Calder grandstand was torn down and the live racing area moved to the apron of the racetrack, there was no covered walkway or permanent building in which to wager.

“Consider Calder's current configuration,” Van Laningham wrote. “For slot machines, there is a new casino. For live gaming, in stark contrast, there is a collapsible canopy tent where the grandstand used to be, near the apron, and some outdoor seating, trackside. The unmistakable message is that the live horse races, having declined in popularity, have been degraded, demoted, reduced to second-class status; horse racing is no longer the main attraction, but an afterthought.

“Almost certainly, the legislature wanted to prevent slot machine gaming from cannibalizing the preexisting live gaming business, which would be a reasonably foreseeable consequence of building a brand new slot machine gaming facility or casino at some distance from the current live gaming (racing) facility.”

Florida statute “clearly and unambiguously mandates that the live gaming facility (for racing) be a building,” Van Laningham wrote in his opinion. “Calder's current 'live viewing area' is not a compliant 'live gaming facility.'

“Because Calder does not have a compliant live gaming (racing) facility, its casino is not 'contiguous and connected to' a live gaming facility as required by (statute). Even if Calder's 'live viewing area' were a compliant live gaming (racing) facility, which it is not, Calder's slots machine building is not 'contiguous and connected to' the 'live viewing area.'

“Based on the foregoing Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law, it is RECOMMENDED that the Department of Business and Professional Regulation, Division of Pari-Mutuel Wagering, enter a final order denying Calder's application for renewal of its slot machine license for the fiscal year 2018-19.”

In the wake of the recommendation by the administrative law judge to strip the Calder Casino of its slots license, Florida HBPA president Stephen Screnci said, “It's unfortunate it came down to this. If they had followed the statute that was required, none of this would have been necessary.”

Read the administrative law judge's recommended order.

CORRECTION: The agreement between Calder and the Florida HBPA on slot machine revenue expires Dec. 31, 2020. An earlier version of this article had the incorrect date.

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Churchill Downs Inc. moved one step closer to getting out of the horse racing business in Florida after an appeals court ruled the company could use its license for a jai alai fronton to operate a casino it owns at Calder in Miami Springs.

Three judges in Florida's First District Court of Appeal on Wednesday upheld a decision by the state's Department of Business and Professional Regulation's Division of Pari-Mutuel Wagering allowing Churchill Downs Inc. to tie its Calder Casino to a jai alai permit it acquired in 2018. Calder opened the casino after a constitutional amendment and a local referendum were passed, giving existing pari-mutuel license holders in South Florida the option to install slot machines. At the time the state law passed in 2004, Calder Race Course was a Thoroughbred racetrack.

Since that time, however, Churchill Downs Inc. tore down the track's grandstand and much of the stable area and since 2014 has leased the track and a portion of stabling to The Stronach Group, which operates at Calder under the name Gulfstream Park West.

That lease expires in 2020.

In addition to the possible loss of stabling and racing under the Gulfstream Park West banner at Calder, horsemen stand to lose between $7 million and $8-million in revenue from slots at the Calder Casino. That represents nearly 10% of annual purses currently paid out in South Florida.

Churchill Downs Inc. began offering pari-mutuel wagering on jai alai in a newly constructed building adjacent to the Calder Casino in May 2019 and asked the Division of Pari-Mutuel Wagering for permission to tie its slots license to that activity instead of horse racing.

In making its ruling, the court wrote that “Nothing in the plain language of (state law enabling slots at pari-mutuel facilities) requires a facility to continue the same form of pari-mutuel wagering activity that originally qualified it for a slot machine license; nor does this statute tie an 'eligible facility' to the same type of racing or gaming as it had when the constitutional amendment was approved.”

The DIvision of Pari-Mutuel Wagering decision was appealed by Florida Thoroughbred owners and breeders, but the Court of Appeal rejected their arguments.

The post Florida Court Ruling On Slots License Could End Horse Racing At Calder appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

It didn't take long for trainer Victor Barboza Jr. to find the winner's circle after being reinstated at Gulfstream Park by the Hallandale Beach, Fla., track's owner, The Stronach Group, which reportedly handed the Venezuela native a six-month suspension in November for having unlabeled medication in his barn.

Granpollo Stable's Gran Greyfrost won a low-level claiming race on Sunday for Barboza and jockey Cristian Torres in the trainer's third start since being allowed by company officials to return to the track. He had two seconds on Saturday and added a third-place finish Sunday after Gran Greyfrost's win.

I know what you're saying, as you count months on your fingers: “November, December, January … Hey, that's not even three months.”

It's hard to uncover more specifics about the supposed six-month suspension. There was no written penalty posted on the rulings section of the Association of Racing Commissioners International website and nothing at MyFloridaLicense.com, the website published by Florida's Department of Business and Professional Regulation for the Division of Pari-Mutuel Wagering. MyFloridaLicense.com does show Barboza being sanctioned in 2019 for two drug infractions – one Class 3 and one Class 4 – and the website notes three horse deaths in his stable in February and March. (A third medication infraction in 2019  for a Class 4 drug was dismissed.)

The only reference to the six-month suspension of Barboza – leading trainer at the summer meet at Gulfstream Park – came in a short note in Daily Racing Form on Nov. 4, 2019: “Trainer Victor Barboza Jr. has been suspended by The Stronach Group for six months for having unlabeled medication in his barn. Officials in the Gulfstream racing office said he was eligible to appeal on a monthly basis.”

During the time Barboza's name was not listed in the program as trainer, horses from his stable ran under the name of Nagib Aboughaida, whose first official career start came with the erstwhile Barboza runner Mysterio on Oct. 30. Sources said Aboughaida maintained the stable using Barboza's tack, stall webbings and employees. The barn kept humming along under Aboughaida, winning 10 of 53 starts, with 10 seconds and 15 third-place finishes while Barboza was cooling his heels on the sidelines.

The Stronach Group declined to comment about Barboza when asked by the Paulick Report in December.

Officials with the company also declined to comment about trainer Aubrey Maragh, who hasn't started a horse since Nov. 24 at Gulfstream Park West.

Maragh, some may remember, was “trespassed administratively” Aug. 22, 2018, while Gulfstream Park officials conducted an internal investigation of an Aug. 19 race in which the Maragh runner Musical Heart finished second, beaten a head, under jockey Tony Maragh, nephew of the trainer. We'll let the Equibase footnotes do the play-by-play: “Musical Heart reserved racing wide and unasked while trailing field in early stages, began to move up closer racing wide still unasked in the turn, entered top stretch eight wide and continued to gain without being persevered with.”

Tony Maragh was suspended 60 days for not persevering with his mount. He claimed he spent too much time in the sauna trying to make weight that day and felt weak.

Aubrey Maragh, who had another horse in the race that finished off the board, didn't saddle another runner until Oct. 7, 2018, though we could find no published ruling that said he had been suspended. There was no published report on the results of the track's internal investigation and there is no ruling at MyFloridaLicense.com on the matter.

The most recent absence by Aubrey Maragh began just over a month after the Paulick Report contacted Gulfstream Park officials about multiple inquiries it received from horseplayers concerning an Oct. 19, 2019, maiden claiming race in which two Maragh-trained runners, Snake Eyed Girl and Anomaly, finished last and second to last as the 9-10 favorite and 5-2 second choice, respectively. Neither horse has started or recorded an official workout since that race.

Emails to the Paulick Report suggested the $132.46 superfecta payout (on a 10 cent wager) in that Oct. 19 race was light. The winner was 19-1, the runner-up 6-1, third place was 16-1 and fourth place was 67-1.

Florida does not have a traditional racing commission – only a bureaucracy at the state capitol in Tallahassee – and the sport is regulated by a hybrid of state and house rules. The state conducts post-race testing and employs one of the three stewards who oversee races for the purposes of adjudicating inquiries and objections. The state issues penalties for medication violations to trainers without conducting hearings to consider mitigating or aggravating circumstances or without publishing details of the violations. Gulfstream employs two association stewards who, among other things, issue penalties to jockeys for riding infractions – though rulings are not published on the track's website or at ARCI. The track also conducts random TCO2 testing and is responsible for hiring backstretch security personnel.

Gulfstream Park can exercise private property rights and trespass or ban anyone, as its management sees fit. The track is under no obligation to notify the wagering public who is banned or suspended, for what reason, for how long, or whether or not a suspension (made public or not) has been reduced in time – as apparently was the case with Victor Barboza Jr. It is not the most transparent way of doing business and does not instill a great deal of confidence in the wagering public.

That's my view from the eighth pole.

CORRECTION: Victor Barboza Jr. was sanctioned twice in Florida for medication violations in 2019, not three as originally reported. A third case against the trainer was dismissed.

The post View From the Eighth Pole: No Horse Racing Commission, No Transparency In Florida appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Innocent until proven guilty.

That mantra is at the heart of the American criminal justice system, whether we're talking about someone holding a smoking gun while standing over a dead body or a Thoroughbred trainer caught on an FBI wiretap talking about “pumping and pumping and fuming every f—ing horse (that) runs today.”

So there is a presumption of innocence when it comes to trainers Jorge Navarro, Jason Servis and the 27 other individuals indicted last month in the Southern District of New York after a multi-year FBI investigation into alleged illegal doping of racehorses. Everyone is entitled to a fair trial or his or her day in court. I look forward to Navarro explaining his “pumping and pumping and fuming every f—ing horse” comment. I am eager to understand why Servis allegedly worked with a veterinarian to falsify records to cover-up use of a substance said to be a prohibited performance-enhancing drug.

Though presumed innocent, between now and their trial date, there are conditions attached to those charged with federal crimes and since released on bail.

At a pre-trial conference and arraignment for 19 of the defendants last week – conducted by telephone because of the coronavirus pandemic – U.S. District Court Judge Mary Kay Vyskocil discussed one of those conditions for release. It states that the individuals charged are not permitted to have any contact with racehorses “without supervision of the owner of the property where the horse is located.”

That sounds good on paper, but does it really prevent Navarro, Servis or any of the others from continuing to ply their trade while awaiting trial?

I don't think so.

While state racing commissions or licensing agencies may suspend trainers, assistant trainers, veterinarians and others charged with felonies in this case, there is nothing that keeps any of them from setting up shop at a private farm or training center (presuming there is “supervision” by the owner of the property to conform with their bail conditions) and doing exactly the same thing they were allegedly doing at a pari-mutuel racetrack – with one wrinkle.

Because they can't run horses in their own name, unlicensed trainers can prepare horses to run at private training centers and then find someone who is licensed and willing to be listed as the official trainer at time of entry. That individual's name will be on the program and he will saddle the horse for its race – though he may have had nothing to do with training it. This activity, commonly known as use of a “program trainer,” is against racing regulations, but it's a practice that has gone on for years in states that have indifferent regulators and tracks where the No. 1 objective is to get as many entries as possible to fill races.

Florida is one of those states, and the numerous training centers in the Ocala area – many of them recognized by Equibase to record “official” workouts – facilitate the use of program trainers. You may or may not have heard of some these facilities: Nelson Jones Training Center, Hunter Farm, Ocala Training Center, Classic Mile, Team Work Racing and Starting Gate Training Center, among others.

When trainer Alfred Lichoa was arrested recently with four other men and charged in the Southern District of New York with money laundering, sources in Ocala told the Paulick Report it was widely believed Lichoa had been acting as a program trainer for a number of outfits. Horses that ran this year in Lichoa's name had workouts recorded at seven training centers, mostly around Ocala. Imagine how busy Lichoa must have been each morning, if he was truly taking care of horses stabled at seven different places.

Florida is without a racing commission. The state's Division of Pari-Mutuel Wagering, a bureaucracy in Tallahassee, conducts drug testing and assigns a steward to Gulfstream Park and Tampa Bay Downs. I'm sure the DPMW's director, Louis Trombetta, couldn't care less whether unlicensed renegades are training horses on private property and then sending them to race in someone else's name. Gulfstream Park and Tampa Bay Downs have enough trouble keeping an eye on their own stable areas, much less worry about what goes on at remote training centers.

This isn't just a Florida problem. We've seen the same act play out in other regions: horses racing in one state are stabled at a private training center in a neighboring state, where unlicensed or suspended trainers and veterinarians flaunt racing authorities. Horse owners who encourage or permit this are a big part of the problem, too.

I believe in our criminal justice system. Jorge Navarro, Jason Servis and the others charged in this affair are innocent until proven guilty. They'll have their day in court when they can dispute the charges and be judged by a jury of their peers.

Racing will also be on trial, but I'm afraid the industry's overseers already have been proven guilty.  They are guilty of looking the other way for far too long, allowing cheaters to operate in the open and in the shadows away from the track, doing their medicinal magic with impunity.

That must change. If this sport wants to recover from the damaging blow that will be felt as this scandal unfolds in the coming months and years, it must create a national anti-doping policy with independent oversight. The current system is not working. Until someone comes up with a better plan, that means the only possible solution to this growing problem is the Horseracing Integrity Act, now before Congress.

That's my view from the eighth pole.

The post View From The Eighth Pole: With Doping Scandal, Racing Itself Will Be On Trial appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Tampa Bay Downs' request to extend its race meet through the end of May has been approved by the Florida Division of Pari-Mutuel Wagering, vice president of marketing and publicity Margo Flynn confirmed to drf.com on Thursday.

The originally-scheduled meet would have ended on May 3, but live racing will now continue through May 30. Tampa plans to run Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays during the last four weeks of May.

“We will continue to run without spectators and follow updated protocol procedures,” the track Tweeted on Thursday afternoon.

Management had previously informed horsemen that they would be able to stay on the grounds through May 31.

Read more at drf.com.

Tampa Bay Downs is expanding the season through May 30, 2020. Racing Wednesday's, Friday's and Saturday's after the May 3, 2020! @florida_horse @DRFWelsch @DRFGrening @LuisAtTampa @DRFMcGee @MattCTVG @TVG @NYRABets @drfbets @Gabby_Gaudet_ @ScottTVG

— Tampa Bay Downs (@TampaBayDownsFL) April 23, 2020

The post Tampa Bay Downs Approved To Extend Race Meet Through May 30 appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Another real-life story from the pages of “Only In Florida.”

On Aug. 11, 2020, the Division of Pari-Mutuel Wagering (DPMW) filed a complaint against trainer Peter R. Walder after the state's testing laboratory at the University of Florida detected 74.5 picograms of clenbuterol in the post-race blood sample of Crea's Bklyn Law, winner of the 11^th race at Gulfstream Park in Hallandale Beach, Fla., on July 11.

The lab notified DPMW director Louis Trombetta on July 28. Typically, a case will then get assigned to an attorney within the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation, a complaint is filed and a state investigator is directed to serve the trainer with the complaint.

Under Florida law, the state has 90 days from the date the alleged violation occurred to begin prosecution. If the state has not begun to prosecute the case within 90 days, it's dropped. According to Florida Statute 550.2415 (4), “Service of an administrative complaint marks the commencement of administrative action.”

Walder said he was never served with the complaint because he was out of state when process servers began to visit his stable at Gulfstream Park last summer.

“A detective came to my barn a few times and my assistant told them, 'He's in Saratoga.'” Walder said. “They called and said they need to see me, that they need to give me some papers.”

Officials could have hired a process server in New York to serve Walder with the complaint, but apparently never did.

“They knew where I was,” Walder said. “I was at my barn every day in Saratoga, barn 15. Do you think I'm going to go running to them so they can serve me?”

At one point, Walder said, an investigator “tried handing something to my assistant (at Gulfstream Park), but that wasn't me.”

As the clock starting winding down to the 90-day cutoff, Walder added, officials became more agitated. “One guy cursed out my assistant, calling him a liar and saying I was hiding somewhere in the barn. They couldn't find me because I wasn't there, but it's not like I was hiding.”

On Oct. 8, Walder said, while at Monmouth Park in New Jersey, he contacted a state official in Florida and said he would be returning to Gulfstream Park that weekend. The following day, Friday, Oct 9, was the 90^th day after the alleged July 11 violation. By Saturday, Oct. 10, the case would have to be closed.

Or would it?

Patrick R. Fargason, deputy communications director for the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation, said the Crea's Bklyn Law case remains open, despite Walder's insistence that he has not been served with the complaint.

“The administrative complaint in this case was effectively served,” Fargason wrote in an email, without further explanation.

That's news to Walder.

“I've never signed anything,” he said. “The law states that they have to give (the complaint) to the trainer. By their letter of the law, the 90 days is up.”

Walder has another clenbuterol complaint, this one filed on Feb. 5 for Resident, who was found to have 246 picograms of the bronchodilator in a urine sample taken after the horse won the seventh race on Dec. 27, 2020, at Gulfstream Park.

Attorney Bradford Beilly is handling that case for Walder and said he has requested a split sample after the complaint was served within 90 days of the alleged violation.

Walder, who's won the last seven races at Gulfstream Park in which he's had a runner, said he stopped using clenbuterol at the end of 2020. Gulfstream instituted house rules prior to the championship meet that began Dec. 2 requiring a prescription for its use and a negative drug test prior to being entered to race for any horse administered the drug.

“I don't use it anymore,” Walder said. “You can't get it from the manufacturer anymore and I refuse to use the compounded stuff.”

Walder said some will try to connect his win streak with clenbuterol. He insists that is not the case, that he's always been a streaky trainer and has gone through both long slumps and hot spells. Walder said he's one of a handful of trainers who “aggressively” play the claiming game. “I'm getting good rides and have patient owners and great help,” he said. “You can't do anything without good help.”

The post Is Florida Clenbuterol Positive An Open Or Shut Case? appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.