NY Trainer Accused of Doping in 675 Harness Races

Patuxet · Postby **Patuxet** » Fri May 25, 2012 5:43 am

New York State accused Luis Pena, a prominent horse trainer, of illegally drugging horses in hundreds of harness races over a 28-month period in the state.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/25/sport ... 7_20120525

Barcaldine · Postby **Barcaldine** » Fri May 25, 2012 6:10 am

And they're just now catching on?

TJ · Postby TJ » Fri May 25, 2012 6:23 am

Barcaldine wrote:And they're just now catching on?

Hi B,
They said the vet records showed he administered illegal drugs to his horses and it went undetected in their testing....sounds odd to me. If he was going to do that he would have done it himself. Certainly not ask a vet to do it, then record it on the vet bills?? If this is true both the vet and trainer must have a had death wish...since both the vet and the trainer will be suspended for life. Unless this is a Sammy The Bull, John Gotti type hearing and the vet gets full immunity for his crimes to testify against the trainer. TJ

Barcaldine · Postby **Barcaldine** » Fri May 25, 2012 6:31 am

Thanks. Still it seems like there must have been a lot of smoke for someone not to have spotted this forest fire.

I often wonder why the vets don't receive punishments equal to the trainers when they've clearly colluded to violate medication rules. When I was in California I made that case to the CHRB, especially since it's primary drug policy writer, Dr. Rick Arthur, was a practicing vet in southern California. I caught the CHRB red handed when it gave a "pass" to Dr. Arthur when he heel-nerved a horse during the summer at Del Mar, but didn't report it until the following January AFTER that horse had been claimed from Mandella, broken down, and caused the new owner to sue the previous owner and Arthur. CHRB rules (which Arthur is supposed to enforce) required him to report the heel-nerving immediately but apparently he thought he was above the law.

Vets protect vets.

TJ · Postby TJ » Fri May 25, 2012 7:21 am

Barcaldine wrote:Thanks. Still it seems like there must have been a lot of smoke for someone not to have spotted this forest fire.

I often wonder why the vets don't receive punishments equal to the trainers when they've clearly colluded to violate medication rules. When I was in California I made that case to the CHRB, especially since it's primary drug policy writer, Dr. Rick Arthur, was a practicing vet in southern California. I caught the CHRB red handed when it gave a "pass" to Dr. Arthur when he heel-nerved a horse during the summer at Del Mar, but didn't report it until the following January AFTER that horse had been claimed from Mandella, broken down, and caused the new owner to sue Arthur.

Vets protect vets.

Hi B,
They have been after this guy a long time...it's currently the right time to get public sentiment on the states side...look what happened to NYRA. I see it as total incompetence that it should come out after all this time.....leads me to believe it's another witch hunt that the state will win.
If you're in the biz, you know the rules apply differently to all. Shouldn't surprise you that Arthur got a pass. NY State wants to take over all of racing in NY to balance their budget...not because they are truly concerned about horses welfare. They think banning all drugs...especially lasix that racing will get better...this show's the states lack of knowledge, inexperience and naivety. I don't see it...I see new opportunity for those willing to break the rules. When horses bled bad before lasix...it was just plain cruel to run them again. A horse who bled bad would become frightened, tentative and uneasy when he galloped after he bled, being fearful of tasting his own blood, unable to breath and/or choking. It was different before lasix, if memory serves..if they bled the first time they were banned for 2 weeks, a second time banned a month and a third time banned 6 months....if they bled again they were ruled off and his papers stamped a bleeder. So these penalties created a need (for some) to go outside the rules to stop a horse from bleeding. The current (now legal) adjunct bleeder medication Amicar was the drug of choice then....administered happily by the Vets quietly under the table for a much increased price of a normal shot.....they made a fortune. Many bets were cashed.. but it was a private party. Can't see how any of this will protect the wagering public or the horses. TJ

Tappiano · Postby **Tappiano** » Tue May 29, 2012 3:45 pm

When I was a young child at a sleep away camp not too far from Monticello there were a few stalls down at one of the barns that a driver/trainer used and I was quite taken aback to see him doing "things" to his horse. That's probably the one and only time in my life I was too scared to ask what he was doing.

photofinish · Postby **photofinish** » Sun Jun 03, 2012 6:16 pm

Ya know, I read the 20+ page "counts" against him on another Forum

. The guy was not going down for "pig Juice" or cobra venom, or heroin, or anything lke that. He is going down on things like Mag Sulfate, ACTH, Flunuxin, Robaxin, etc.. And alot of the "counts" are for "administration within 96 hrs" or "48 hrs" etc.. Huh. Woulda been perfectly legal in TBs, at least in the 8 states I have run in. I don't know enough about harness racing, but in TBs "withdrawl times" are recommendations, not rules. Is Harness different? Are their withdrawl times rules???

Sounds like a serious witch hunt to me. If they are not just looking to nail this one guy on some vendeta, for whatever reason, they need to subpeona the records of all the trainers and all the vets. Everybody is subject to the same post race testing, then everybody should be subject to this subpoena. Just saying. This whole thing smells. It smells very, very bad :roll: