Positive won’t always be a dirty word

Real Writing on Racing 💯

One small step for racing…

In recent years thoroughbred horse racing has made it difficult for both its followers and participants to take an optimistic, glass half-full view of the sport. The plethora of never ending issues seemingly reached a crescendo last March when the FBI came knocking, arresting high profile trainers, veterinarians, drug makers and other assorted shady characters in a nationwide sweep. Yet the game had never been dragged through the mud quite like it was this past spring. The white-haired fella who has been the face of racing for most of the 21st century went on an unfortunate mainstream news media binge after news of him getting nailed with a drug positive in the most prestigious of all horse races, the Kentucky Derby, was announced. Adding to the bizarre nature of the controversial situation was the party that revealed Medina’s Spirit’s bad test to the world was none other than Robert Baffert himself! The subsequent legal slog that usually follows up Mr B’s transgressions, has only added to a negative racing industry vibe.

Dark clouds continued to gather on the horizon, summer turning to fall with a jockey buzzer scandal at the shore, more attorney jousting and a classic Midwestern racetrack’s funeral complete with fireworks like some satanic corporate ritual celebrating a massive balance sheet credit.

Into this fray comes the sanguine news announced late Friday afternoon that Gulfstream Park management has finally taken the gloves off in enforcing a year old house rule concerning misuse of legal drug Clenbuterol. There had been rumblings of something big brewing in South Florida for a few weeks and now it was confirmed with an odd double announcement. First we were told that there had been five trainers (out of ten tested) with positives stemming from out of competition testing that would be suspended, then the second press release issued shortly thereafter named names. While clearly none of the persons in question have the stature or fame of a multiple triple crown winning hall of famer, there weren’t any choirboys (or girl) or big surprises on the list either. Those facing suspension are listed in no particular order:

Daniel Pita, who mostly trains horses that race under his own name as owner, is only winning at a paltry 4% clip in 2021 but he infamously had a filly excluded from last seasons Breeders Cup Juvenile Fillies race for testing positive for the anabolic steroid Stanozolol. Not surprisingly that filly, Princess Secret hasn’t been able to get out of her own way this year with a single non-threatening third place finish in an allowance race being her only on-the-board performance in five mostly dull starts. She was eased in her last appearance, a 43 length shellacking in the Azalea Stakes on August 7 at Gulfstream.

Georgina Baxter took over the vast majority of veteran trainer Ralph Ziadie’s stable mid-2018 when he was denied a license by the Florida Dept of Pari-mutuel wagering for what was deemed an excessive number of medication violations. He himself had a late career revival after a long run as a fairly well- respected trainer who won 15% of his starts since starting in 1982, including training grade 1 winners Sir Bear, Trust N Luck and Silver Wagon. His career seemed to be winding down in 2015 as he won but a single race from 37 starters earning $34700. Everything changed when his son Kirk, perennially in trouble with various track officials and regulators nationwide, was suspended for six years by the same Florida Dept of Pari-mutual wagering for excessive medication violations, namely a slew of Clenbuterol positives. Baxter took over in July of 2018 and on the 5th of that month began her career on a high note with a win, a second and a third from three starters. She finished her 1st year with 18 wins in 94 starts which earned her a solid 19% winning percentage, especially good for a novice trainer. Yet 2019 and 2020 her win percentage soared to 29% and 30% respectively, which didn’t dispel any of the persistent rumors that the younger Ziadie was still somehow involved with the operation as a shadowy, behind the scenes figure. To be fair that same rumor was also heard when the elder Ziadie was performing magic while based over at the decrepit Gulfstream Park West where security was less than stellar. Baxter served a 25 day suspension and was fined $7500 last spring for three “stacking” violations by Florida regulators and this newest suspension from Gulfstream Park just adds more smoke to the fire that unrelentingly follows this barn. Something to watch for next summer, Kirk Ziadie is eligible to have his license reinstated.

Rohan Crichton has no less than 25 medication violations since 2013 including eleven class II positives, class II being a serious type of drug with a greater chance of enhancing performance than class III or IV medications. He has trained for nine years and now with his latest transgression has the dubious achievement of receiving drug positives in six out of those nine years. Interestingly enough Crichton is also licensed by the state of Florida as a Certified Public Accountant and somehow has managed to not have any listed violations under that professional license. He won at a 24% rate at the just completed Gulfstream Summer meet (23 for 94). (See his record of violations at the bottom)

Gilberto Zerpa has mostly operated under the national radar since relocating to South Florida from his native Venezuela in the early 2000’s. He didn’t burst on the scene with huge numbers though his first full year of training in the United States (2008) he did win 30% of his 30 starts albeit in mostly cheap claiming company with two horses combining for six of his nine wins that year. Zerpa operated like a pretty decent journeyman trainer from 2009 through 2015 averaging 17 wins a year while winning at a solid 17% rate. Then 2016 happened and the pretty ordinary trainer training mostly ordinary stock suddenly saw his numbers skyrocket. Gelfenstein Farms (owner of the ill-fated XY Jet, does that name ring a bell?) started sending him horses that were better quality than he had been training but massive move ups by horses under his care commenced. Horses like Mr Joshua moved rapidly up the ranks, going from a bottom level maiden 12500 claiming horse to dusting a strong starter stakes field to beating up on an allowance group. 2017 was more of the same with another 30 wins coming at a 28% rate but 2018 was the when things went from the surreal to the sublime with 49 wins from 121 starts which was good for a bonkers 40% winning percentage! A telling statistic that might be overlooked was that during this three year run of training sorcery where 33% of the horses that Zerpa sent to post won, only 8% finished third (6% in 2018). In other words if they were live, they almost always won in spite of weather and track conditions, traffic trouble, surface bias, pace issues, jockey error or just plain back luck. 2020’s numbers were a drop off from the previous three, winning 18 at a 19% rate before this year where he was at 20% though with 56% on the board before getting nailed by Gulfstream’s out of competition testing.

Peter Walder and Clenbuterol have been linked in the racing news for over two decades now. Andy Beyer did this piece on Walder’s first indiscretion with the controversial medication way back in the Winter of 1999 after having written this column about how Clenbuterol was affecting results nationwide. The fact that we are finally seeing the racetracks themselves take the initiative to clean up their backsides, more than twenty years (!) after Beyer’s prophetic words, is wildly delayed progress but progress nonetheless.

“How much more potent must the drug be when trainers use it shortly before a race without fear of detection? Horseplayers who have been paranoid about clenbuterol in recent years weren't paranoid at all. Their suspicions about the drug's potency appear to have been confirmed.”

- Andy Beyer speaking about Clenbuterol in 1998

Back to Mr Walder and his more recent issues with Clenbuterol. Earlier in February of 2021, the Paulick Report published a story that seems almost comical if it wasn’t such a telling sign of how inept racing’s regulators can be. Walder had a horse that tested positive for Clenbuterol and he managed to physically elude being served papers from the state regulators within the 90 day timeframe in which the case is legally required to be adjudicated. Cue the Benny Hill music! Regardless of the states bungling in that case, the fact remains that there were multiple Clenbuterol positive tests attributed to Walder’s horses in 2020, on July 11th and again on December 27th. A quick perusal of the Florida state website that handles professional licenses shows Walder has two additional drug positives since those revealed in the Paulick report story including a more serious class II violation dated August 21, 2021. The three animal death notices on the website from the Fall of 2020 tucked in between the six drug positives since 2020 makes the embattled trainers protestations about the wording of Gulfstream’s press release seem more hollow than they normally would. For a trainer that claims that he doesn’t use Clenbuterol, it sure seems to wind up in his horses system an awful lot…

What now?

Many of the initial public reactions to the news of Gulfstream’s actions were surprising in their lack of support and complaints that the penalties were just a “slap on the wrist”. While the desire for more stringent penalties is completely understandable, the importance of these suspensions lies in their source, Gulfstream Park, not state regulators. Following the steps taken by Churchill Downs and NYRA to suspend Bob Baffert following the Derby fiasco, these suspensions makes 1/ST the third of the major racetrack operators to act in defense of the integrity of its racing program.

Now this is far from ideal scenario as the tracks only have jurisdiction at their own properties, these trainers would be free to race in other jurisdictions that choose not to honor the Gulfstream suspension. Of the five trainers named, only Walder has been racing horses regularly outside of Gulfstream in New York and New Jersey. It’s questionable based on their recent experience with Baffert to believe that NYRA will attempt to prevent Walder from racing at Belmont without a hearing, which takes time to set up. It’s extremely doubtful that Monmouth officials will honor the suspension at the Meadowlands considering that their meet’s leading trainer is not allowed to race at Maryland Jockey Club tracks.

On a more positive note, Gulfstream is not going to let the suspended trainers simply transfer their horses to their assistants to race while they are denied access to the grounds. We have heard that horses from suspended trainers barns will be allowed to race for other trainers (not those horses which tested positive who have to test negative before they are allowed back in the entry box) but they will need to be physically moved to a different barn before that happens. It seems that horses which aren’t scheduled to run during their trainers suspension will be allowed to stay under the care of the current assistant trainer. Gulfstream officials confirmed that additional samples from other trainers horses are in the process of being tested though it’s unknown when the results will be revealed.

There is still a long way to go to get thoroughbred racing close to where it should be in terms of integrity. I have long advocated for the racetracks themselves to stop waiting for ineffectual racing commissions to do the dirty work of enforcing the rules. Private property rights are a powerful tool that can be used to combat those who wish to skirt or outright break rules. For years there has been ambiguity in many of those regulations due to vague language used. We have too many differences and loopholes especially on a state to state basis and there is much work to be done on that front. That said, efforts to expose those who continue to push the envelope and take steps to evade detection should be commended and further action encouraged. Trainers, assistant trainers, owners and veterinarians should be on full alert that the old days are over. It’s true that there will be lawyers doing everything they can to usurp the trend towards cleaning up the game, in the name of their clients and the justice system and due process and radix malorum est cupiditas of course. However we are a nation of laws and the rights of participants, even those whom we find repugnant, need to be respected. They do not need to be coddled nor should bad actors be given the amount of latitude that traditionally has been the case regardless of the size of the barn. While I am not naive enough to believe that the ‘too big to fail’ barns will be persecuted as thoroughly as smaller targets, preventing suspect actors from using illegal methods to help aid their rise in prominence should be a goal.

It’s easy to be pessimistic about much of what we face on a daily basis in the modern day world. Horse racing as an industry often shoots itself in the foot, believe me we rarely have to dig too deep for controversial items to discuss on the Big Monday show. Just know there are people working to make racing better, there are many behind the scenes that are doing their best to weed out the scoundrels even if progress seems glacial at times. There is no magic cure including HISA if it ever gets off the ground but still try to appreciate the small victories along the way, even if they don’t seem like big deals, if we keep chipping away eventually the tide will turn.