Wesley Ward fined $25,000 for drug violation

[CA Michael]

http://www.chrb.ca.gov/Rulings_Bay_Mead ... _04_43.pdf


Also suspended 60 days.

Looks like he and his filly will be out of action for a while.

[CA Michael]

http://www.chrb.ca.gov/Rulings_Bay_Mead ... _04_44.pdf


His daddy got wacked too.

For the life of me, I do not understand why the suspensions which accompany these fines are stayed. If a trainer clearly breaks a rule, a fine is not enough in a lot of cases to stop the behavior. A forced vacation from training for a few months, or years, would grab the attention of violators far more than a fine.

[Heidilady]

Oh I'm sure despite his vacation he'll find a way to ruin that filly. Did you hear why she didn't sell at Keeneland? She couldn't meet the reserve because folks weren't thrilled about her left front knee and I think they said she toes in or something. There's another fault on top of that. Bless her heart, look who she ended up with. I was hoping she'd sell so she'd get away from that guy.

[Rez]

When they say stayed, do they mean the suspended days are lifted?
The other thing is W.Ward had the trainers license and D.Ward had trainer/owner license for the same horse(same day). Why did they both get fined? Doesnt the head trainer get the fine? Or did I read this wrong

[dray33]

How about a little backbone. These silly slap on the wrists are killing the sport. All I wanna know is that the horse I send out to race is not up against some "altered" horse, and that we are all racing fairly. Is that too much to ask? If the public and owners are not assured of a "level playing feild" than what the hell are we doing?

We need to start fining the crap outta any and all cheaters... painful, difficult fines and suspensions that will make them think twice about being involved in the business if they wanna cross the line.

And thats that.

[CA Michael]

Rez, the negotiated settlement included the provision that the suspended days would be put aside if no no further infractions occur. Apparently in that same settlement the parties agreed that only Wesley would be fined.

dray, I could not agree more. Steve Asmussen had his license yanked for 6 months, I believe, and I suspect he will think twice before risking that again. BTW, he still has a pending suspension in New Mexico for a bad test. Coincidentally, it occurred in a race where his horse beat my horse BANG by a head in a stakes race one year ago. The racing commission awarded the winner's share to Bang (after 8 months of delays), but has yet to rule if Asmussen will be suspended too. I'm not betting on it--the Asmussens pretty much have the southwest locked up. Kind of like NYRA rapping Todd Pletcher.

[ratherrapid]

phentermine. an amphetemine. question. if u r a trainer with the a horse in tomorrow's ninth race, and u think that an injection of phentermine will put you in the winner's circle (and the test barn), would you put your training license out their for possible suspension for a fair race. what gives here?

[summerhorse]

People who cheat (and this is in GENERAL since I don't know these particular people personally) always think they are a little bit smarter and a little bit ahead of the governing body. What catches them is when the horse's body doesn't cooperate and clear the substance in time.

[CA Michael]

This is such a critical topic for our industry because it goes to the very heart of its integrity. Like in most situations involving this many players, a few dirty players cause the promulgation of rules and restrictions which make life more difficult for the clean ones. There's lots of talk about quarantining all horses entered to race within 48 hours. That would help matters to some degree, but the cheaters always seem to find a way around the law. Do we really want to punish the innocent for the sins of the guilty?

[ratherrapid]

or punish the horses that are being quarantined? why take away the joy of racing for an occasional misfit--and with all due respect to the position of summerhorse, no person with half a brain is going to put their training license and livelihood in jeopardy for one race banking that their horse will "pass" the prohibited substance. while i agree that the integrity of the sport must be maintained, where I race cheating is rare and probably caught nine times out of ten (my guess) for those few idiots that try it.

[Rokeby Forever]

Michael,

In New York for years, it was always some "little guy" that would get slapped the hardest. I remember when Joe Esposito trained three horses and he popped with a 50:1 shot...the stewards grilled him over how the horse won, even though the lab test came back totally clean.

I always thought that, at least in New York, when a claiming guy suddenly had a ton of success, there were "closed door" meetings. When Oscar Barrera's $35K claim of Shifty Sheikh almost beat Slew O'Gold in the Woodward, Barrera suddenly stopped claiming so many horses and slowly faded into oblivion. There are plenty of other examples.

However, when trainers have "high end" owners, the playing field changes. Those rumored to do "whatever they do" aren't scrutinized nearly the same.

Just for argument sake (without making accusations): When Todd Pletcher got Fleet Indian, she was having trouble winning NY Bred stakes. Five months later, she was winning Grade 1s at Saratoga and became the dominant older filly in NY. Nobody thought twice...but had a "little guy" like Joe Esposito turned Fleet Indian around so quickly, he would have been hung out to dry.

Good riddance to the NYRA...a new franchise owner can't take over soon enough!

[luvthegame]

This topic really hits a nerve with me. Trainers never miss a beat while under suspension. All horses under their care are simply put in their ass. tr. name and all goes on. The suspended tr. simply communicates each day with the vet the ass. and the jock agents to medicate train and enter and run the stable. A suspended tr. should vacate all stalls and owners should be notified and horses removed or new trainers take over their training duties.

[Tucumcari]

Oh I'm sure despite his vacation he'll find a way to ruin that filly. Did you hear why she didn't sell at Keeneland? She couldn't meet the reserve because folks weren't thrilled about her left front knee and I think they said she toes in or something. There's another fault on top of that. Bless her heart, look who she ended up with. I was hoping she'd sell so she'd get away from that guy.

Not to mention the fact that she's Cal bred, by a no name stallion, and the reserve was ridiculous

[Rokeby Forever]

How's this:

Whatever suspension a trainer gets, all his stock gets the same, as well. I don't think too many owners would be happy not being able to run anything for 30 or 60 days. I think vacating stalls punishes owners not involved with the positive too severely.

I remember when Pete Ferriola got suspended. His daughter, Ronnie, ran the barn while he stood outside the Aqueduct stable gate with a walkee-talkee. It was a joke...even the Pinkertons at the stable gate were laughing about it - they used to have coffee with him on the sidewalk.

[Tiz]

That is a great idea, RF.