Surick, Facing 62 Months in Prison, Appeals Doping Conviction

The former Standardbred trainer Nick Surick, who was sentenced to 62 months in federal prison last month for his role as a “doping mentor” in a years-long scheme that eventually resulted in him pleading guilty to two counts of drug adulteration and misbranding and one count of obstruction, lodged an appeal of both his conviction and his sentence Feb. 7.

As TDN's Bill Finley reported from Surick's Jan. 19 sentencing in United States District Court (Southern District of New York), Surick was ordered to serve one of the longer prison terms among those convicted in the 2020 international racehorse doping series of arrests that involved both Standardbred and Thoroughbred trainers based in Florida and the Northeast.

And that harsh sentence was handed down despite Surick's 's efforts to cooperate with prosecutors, who eventually decided that some of the information he offered was not credible and involved false accusations.

“I am truly sorry for the crimes that I have committed,” Surick had said at his sentencing. “I can't blame anybody but myself.”