French-based trainer Andrea Marcialis, who on Wednesday was handed three years and nine months in bans by France Galop in addition to the six months he is currently serving for running a shadow training operation, faces criminal charges after being indicted on Thursday on counts of organized gang fraud, equine doping and forgery. The 35-year-old Marcialis was one of 14 people arrested following a raid on Mar. 9 in which police seized doping products, €8,800 in cash and removed three racehorses from the premises. A press released issued by the office of the public prosecutor in Senlis late on Thursday said the indictment concerns at least 31 races in which allegedly doped horses were entered.
The investigation into Marcialis by the Police de Jeux (France's gaming police) was triggered last August by reports to France Galop that Marcialis was seen in the Saint-Cloud Racecourse car park with a syringe in hand. The investigation had been ongoing since October. After 48 hours in custody, nine of those arrested were arraigned before a judicial tribunal in Senlis on Thursday. The public prosecutor's press release said some of those arraigned had been forbidden to work as trainers or vets, and that the main defendant was made to pay a deposit of €100,000 against possible future fines and damages, although names were not specified.
The Italian-born Marcialis was granted a French trainers' license in 2017 after working for his father Antonio Marcialis in Milan. His first group winner was the 2019 G3 Prix de Saint-Georges scorer Sestilio Jet (Fr) (French Fifteen {Fr}), and Marcialis trained a first Group 1 winner last June when Way To Paris (GB) (Champs Elysees {GB}) took the G1 Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud. Marcialis was handed a six-month ban last December after France Galop stewards determined that he had conspired with his sister, Elisabetta Marcialis, to run a shadow training operation in the name of 83-year-old trainer Jean-Claude Napoli, who they were said to have taken advantage of and who has since died. Marcialis was on Wednesday slapped with additional cumulative bans of three years and nine months by France Galop for four additional charges which involved medication violations and another shadow operation. The medication violations included six horses in his care allegedly receiving injections between 48 and 72 hours before racing and without veterinary consultation or approval, and four horses allegedly receiving corticosteroids three days out from racing. It also encompassed the aforementioned Saint-Cloud syringe incident, during which Marcialis was reported to have been carrying a 20ml syringe filled with a clear liquid in the Saint-Cloud parking lot. Marcialis's two runners on that Saint-Cloud card were tested pre- and post-race, and though one came back positive pre-race, it was negative post-race.
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