doping in horse racing

The former New York-based veterinarian Alexander Chan got sentenced to 30 months in federal prison Wednesday for his role in the wide-ranging 2020 racehorse doping conspiracy case. Back in December, he had cut a deal with prosecutors that involved pleading guilty to a single felony charge of drug adulteration and misbranding in exchange for two other felony counts against him being dropped. Presentence reports filed by both the government and the defendant painted contrasting pictures of Chan's role. He was arrested in March 2020 as part of a series of...

We heard from the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA), its CEO Travis Tygart and the Director of Equine Science Dr. Tessa Muir last week when USADA released its anti-doping guidelines, rules and protocols. Once again, we saw that these are no-nonsense, dedicated people with a track record of cleaning up other sports. The release of the guidelines was an important step toward what will be a welcome change for racing--competent, dedicated policing from an outside entity replacing the current system, which just doesn't work. (Quotes from this story were taken...

With a July 12 federal court date looming to decide whether or not Bob Baffert's history of equine drug positives will keep him from entering horses at the upcoming and financially lucrative Saratoga Race Course meet, the New York Racing Association (NYRA) on June 30 filed a memorandum of law that opposes the Hall of Fame trainer's request for an injunction to lift the association's ban against him that has been in effect for the past six weeks. NYRA told Baffert via letter May 17 that he was temporarily not...

Prosecutors in the racehorse doping conspiracy case that ensnared 29 racetrackers, veterinarians and pharmaceutical brokers one year ago tried to convince a federal judge Friday that recent motions made by some of the defendants to dismiss drug alteration and misbranding charges are "without merit" and represent "an effort to invent a statutory limitation where none exists." The government's memorandum of law filed Mar. 5 in United States District Court (Southern District of New York) addresses a number of alleged legal flaws in the defendants' motions to dismiss, including several that...

Scott Robinson and Sarah Izhaki each pled guilty today to conspiring to unlawfully distribute adulterated and misbranded drugs for the purpose of doping racehorses. Robinson pled guilty before U.S. District Judge J. Paul Oetken, and will be sentenced by Judge Oetken Jan. 15, 2021. Izhaki pled guilty before U.S. District Judge Mary Kay Vyskocil, and will be sentenced by Judge Vyskocil Dec. 2, 2020. The guilty pleas are the first major domino to fall from the bombshell FBI indictments that the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New...

Last week on the TDN Writers' Room podcast presented by Keeneland, spurred by this Bill Finley column in which prominent owner Joe Sutton spoke out about trainer Joe Sharp and his twice-disqualified Blackberry Wine (Oxbow)--who continues to run in conditions he would be ineligible for if not for positive drug tests--I put out an open call. I wanted to hear from owners and trainers who have been adversely affected by cheating and drugging of horses in light of the bombshell allegations revealed by the FBI indictments that rocked the sport...

On a day when the Washington Post's editorial board came out in support of the end of horse racing, Bob Baffert has written his own op/ed in the Post in support of the Horseracing Integrity Act (HIA). "Horse racing is experiencing the most profound crisis in the long history of the sport. To emerge stronger, we must act decisively to protect the horses who are the stars of the show; nothing else will restore the confidence of fans, gamblers and the general public. And that means federal action." The piece...