Marcus Vitali

Every week, the TDN posts a roundup of the relevant Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act (HISA) related rulings from around the country. The following rulings were reported on HISA's "rulings" portal and through the Horseracing Integrity and Welfare Unit's (HIWU) "pending" and "resolved" cases portals. Among this week's rulings, trainer Marcus Vitali has been suspended seven days and fined $1,000 after the Vitali-trained Freedom Empire tested positive for the class C controlled substances Ibuprofen and Flunixin after winning at Turf Paradise on April 24 this year. The suspension started Sept....

Every week, the TDN posts a roundup of the relevant Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act (HISA) related rulings from around the country. The following rulings were reported on HISA's "rulings" portal and through the Horseracing Integrity and Welfare Unit's (HIWU) "pending" and "resolved" cases portals. Resolved ADMC Violations Date: 07/08/2025 Licensee: John E. Salzman, trainer Penalty: Disqualification of Covered Horse's Race results, including forfeiture of all purses and other compensation, prizes, trophies, points, and rankings and repayment or surrender (as applicable); a fine of $500; imposition of 1.5 Penalty Points. Final decision by HIWU. Explainer: Medication violation...

Trainer Marcus Vitali, who has not started a horse at a NYRA track since 2021, will make his  return to the Big Apple Friday when he sends out Classy Lass (Classic Empire) in Friday's fifth race at the Belmont At The Big A meet. The race is a $17,500 claimer on the dirt. The Daily Racing Form's David Grening was first with the story. Vitali, who has numerous violations on his record, reached an accord with NYRA July 1, 2022 in which he agreed to a suspension. But NYRA was...

According to a posting on the Horseracing Integrity and Welfare Unit (HIWU) website, trainer Todd Pletcher has had a horse test positive for the controlled medication betamethasone. The infraction occurred with the horse Vassimo (Nyquist), who tested positive after breaking his maiden on Dec. 14 at Gulfstream. He subsequently came back and won an allowance at Tampa Bay Downs and is entered to run in Saturday's GII Risen Star Stakes at Fair Grounds. The positive will not affect his status for the Fair Grounds race. Betamethasone, a long-acting corticosteroid with...

Every week, the TDN posts a roundup of the relevant Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act (HISA) related rulings from around the country. Among the key rulings from the last seven days, trainer Natalia Lynch has been handed down a combined four-year suspension by an arbitrator, and a combined $55,000 in fines and arbitration costs. Lynch had faced sanctions for two separate issues. One was for the possession of banned thyroid drug, Levothyroxine. The other was a positive test for another banned substance, Altrenogest—a synthetic progestin used in horses for the purpose of suppressing...

The legal threads connecting the rights of licensees to ply their trade and racetrack owners to police their grounds have been pulled tighter than a rip cord these past few years, thanks to a series of high-profile battles involving Hall of Famers Jerry Hollendorfer and Bob Baffert. These same threads hamstrung the years-long dispute between California's trainers and racetracks about what should be written into the race-meet agreement about fair procedures for trainers facing potential banishment from a facility. It all boils down to this: How best to balance the...

The New York Racing Association and trainer Marcus Vitali have reached a settlement regarding NYRA's effort to exclude the trainer from participating at its three tracks. According to NYRA spokesman Pat McKenna, the agreement requires that the terms of the settlement remain confidential. The TDN reached out to both Vitali's attorney Brad Bielly Friday in an attempt to gather more information. By mid-afternoon, he had not responded. Vitali told the TDN that he was not aware of the terms of the deal. In September, NYRA announced that it would begin...

Six trainers, including Wayne Potts and Juan Vazquez, have been informed by NYRA officials that they will no longer be allowed to stable at Belmont Park and that their horses must be off the grounds by Wednesday. However, all six will still be permitted to race at the NYRA tracks, at least for the time being. The story was first reported by the Daily Racing Form's David Grening. NYRA's decision to not outright ban the trainers stems from a ruling issued in the Bob Baffert matter last July by the...

The chart of the GII Risen Star S. run Saturday at the Fair Grounds will show you that the race was won by Epicenter (Not This Time) and that runner-up Smile Happy (Runhappy) was never a serious threat to win. It's just that there is a lot more to this story. Expectations were high for Smile Happy coming into the Risen Star. He was 2-for-2 last year and his win in the GII Kentucky Jockey Club S. came at the expense of Classic Causeway (Giant's Causeway) and White Abarrio (Race...

In his fight to get out of as one-year suspension after a horse of his tested positive for methamphetamine, controversial trainer Marcus Vitali will have at least one person in his corner. Todd Mostoller, the executive director of the Pennsylvania Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association, which represents horsemen at Penn National and Presque Isle Downs, said that the methamphetamine positive was a result of environmental contamination and that Vital should not have been suspended "This is somebody who did absolutely nothing wrong," Mostoller said. On Friday, the Pennsylvania Racing Commission...

Trainer Marcus Vitali, whose career has been plagued by numerous suspensions and controversies, has been suspended for one year and fined $10,000 by the Pennsylvania Racing Commission after a horse he trained named Single Lady (Shanghai Bobby) tested positive for d-methamphetamine. He was also hit with six multiple medication violation points. The infraction occurred on Aug. 21, 2021 at Presque Isle Downs in a maiden special weight race won by the Vitali-trained filly. The horse is owned by Crossed Sabres Farm. The story was first reported by the Paulick Report....

After the news that trainer Wayne Potts had been suspended by the New Jersey Racing Commission for the first 30 days of the Monmouth Park meeting, the New York Racing Association is investigating the possibility of holding a hearing and potentially suspending the trainer as well, according to NYRA spokesman Patrick McKenna. The news was first reported by Dave Grenig of Daily Racing Form. In a TDN story Saturday, it was revealed that on Aug. 6, 2021, Potts allegedly told his assistant, Bonnie Lucas, not to permit one of his...