Poor Maximum Security just can’t escape controversy. Good thing he’s a horse and not a human, although he is the only individual in his world who can be said to be of good character.
If he’s ever eligible for the Hall of Fame, I wonder if all the fuss and bother surrounding him will affect the voters’ decisions. This is assuming he continues to perform well for the remainder of his career, which is a big if.
I wouldn’t be surprised if he retires without racing again.
Seems as if some substances, sold by their indicted connection, have made inroads into the Eventing world. Hope they are being careful. https://medivetequine.com/top-event-…h-medivet-acs/
So the CHRB just issued a report that none of the 23 horses that died at Santa Anita last year tested positive for illegal medications. But some of the indicted seem to have proudly claimed that the PED’s they were using would not test.
So what is the CHRB report worth?
If CHRB didn’t test for PEDs I think their report is next to worthless. Having said that, maybe there isn’t enough known about PEDs (EPO) that would implicate its use associated with catastrophic breakdowns. Heart attacks, yeah, I completely buy in that EPO/PED would be implicated (X Y Jet for example; hard to “prove” but certainly suspect and circumstantial).
This link discusses EPO detection in humans (WADA). From this article on PR (from 3/20/19) it sounds like EPO may not be as easy to detect in equines. I wonder how much further EPO detection in equines has progressed in the last year.
It’s worth quite a bit if you read the parts about the numerous (all but one) preexisting problems found in the necropsied horses and the lack of communication between vets treating the same horse (injecting joints within days of each other, unaware) and the fact that most trainers did not review the necropsy reports etc…
You and me both. Jason Servis surprised me to a degree, but I was zero percent surprised to see Navarro’s name based on past experiences.
I’m sorry about your horse.
My only other statement is that it took the feds to forcibly clean house on this issue. Hopefully that will be a wake-up call for racing officials everywhere to stop giving these guys get out of jail free passes and acting like they don’t know this stuff is happening when we all know d@mn well it is happening everywhere.
Well, it looks like New York has moved to suspend their licenses, but further down in the story, it discusses changes in places, which leads to the issue of return of purses.
Oh yeah- and more sanctions…
https://www.bloodhorse.com/horse-racing/articles/238991/new-york-regulator-suspends-servis-navarro
I forgot to mention, even though I probably shouldn’t, that I hope that people who harm animals are treated the same way in prison that I hear pedophiles are. Navarro? Meet Bubba…
Completely nerded out and read all 4 indictments yesterday. Some of my big takeaways as follows:
The sheer number of “veterinarians” who were involved is absolutely despicable. Talk about violating the vow to do no harm. One of them was just charging a drug fee of $100 no matter what it was and quite matter of factly stated that he didn’t care what it did/didn’t do.
The photographs included in the indictments show the vials that the FBI seized. These people were acting with such impunity that they were barely even trying to hide what they were doing. Vials marked with “blood builder” and other nonsense. Plus there were conversations obtained where the vets simply stated that they would label the drugs/vials as “homeopathic” or “experimental use” etc. If that’s the level of effort it takes to hid nefarious behavior, we need another serious look at any of the regulatory practices currently employed. The indictments also state that the vets told trainers that SGF-100 could give a false positive for dex so they falsified records to make it look like the horse had received a justifiable dose of dex in the days prior.
The indictments focus primarily on the terminology “manufacturing, distributing, and administering of adulterated and misbranded drugs.” And because the production and dissemination of those drugs crossed state lines, its an interstate commerce issue, which ironically is a really common way of nailing criminal/conspiratory behavior. Each violation of the FDA’s intercommerce laws as it relates to adulterated drugs carries a maximum sentence of 10yrs and/or a $250,000 fine per charge. Considering how long this happened and how many times these drugs were disseminated I was hoping for AT LEAST multiple charges running concurrently for a minimum of 10yr sentence for the trainers and vets involved. An article i just saw yesterday thought said that they may only face 5 yrs - and with pleas etc I’d be surprised if anyone spent more than a year in a county jail. At the bare minimum why not try to charge them as separate counts, make them face 100+ years potentially and get them to rat everyone else out. Particularly the vets who were distributing this. They know damn well who their customers were. And the indictments stipulate that the drugs were shipped as far west as California.
And lastly, my favorite gem from the indictments concerning Surick in NJ who had faced a ban that was somehow miraculously lifted a couple years ago with no explanation.
“In Dec 2018, NJRC officials returned to Suricks barn to conduct another unannounced test of Surick’s racehorses, including Northern Virgin. Surick again coordinated with others, including Christopher Marino, the defendant, to conceal Northern Virgin from NJRC officials, and caused others to transport the racehorse to a different NJ farm. Surick also enlisted others to lie to NJRC officials by claiming that Northern Virgin was never housed in Surick’s barn, had never been trained by Surick, and in fact had been previously shipped to Ohio. Surick in fact arranged to ship Northern Virgin to a trainer in Ohio on or about Dec 18, 2018. The FBI identified the barn at which Surick had hidden Northern Virgin before it was shipped to Ohio, entered the barn, and collected a blood sample from Northern Virgin. The sample later tested positive for the presence of erythropoietin.”
He subsequently had people tell the NJRC some story/explanation to get him off and reinstated. Bravo FBI for that quick move, and to top it off, they tacked on an obstruction charge for him removing the horse AND have him subject to asset forfeiture from proceeds traceable to the offenses. WOMP WOMP
Link below for anyone else who wants to read the indictments.
https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdny/pr…-aFxAjwdmnDEp8
Discussion about procedure for removing an Eclipse award:
So, who will the West’s sue about this one?
Maybe themselves? :lol:
Looks like the tables have turned. I’m sure the Wests will be thrilled if their horse is disqualified a second time ;). https://www.bloodhorse.com/horse-rac…ximum-security
Kind of where I thought this would go with what I posted before. So, if the West’s sue Servis, et al., he could be very, very poor for his long stay in the Pen.
Somehow I don’t get the feeling they’ll sue Servis. I could be wrong. We’ll see.
We’ll see. They felt that they had been humiliated on a National level, and lost their $hit. This will be the International level- but, it’s just a bad choice on their part, this time.
If there is any chance the West’s knew anything about the doping, they wouldn’t dare sue, would they??? Seems like a sure fire way to get ratted out to me.
Didn’t take long… Midnight Bisou’s owners are now claiming foul on Maximum Security.
If the West’s sue Servis, it would mean a discovery process. Production of all sorts of communications between owner and trainer, depositions, etc.
Frankly… I would think the more obvious lawsuit at present would be Coolmore - in terms of the 50% stake they just purchased in Maximum Security, and the whole deal to stand him. Of all the potential lawsuits to come from this mess, that one seems relatively straightforward… they have been obviously financially harmed by this situation. The horse’s entire record is in question now. Coolmore relied upon materially false representations concerning the horse’s performance capabilities when deciding to put down $$$$ for a 50% stake in him, and future breeding rights. Whatever his initial stud fee was possibly going to be for his first year following retirement, and whatever mares he was potentially going to cover in year 1… that has all changed now.
I’m sure these deals and contracts are WAY more complicated than I can fathom… but doping a horse for most of his performance career means that Coolmore is now stuck holding 50% of this mess… and if I were them… I’d be talking to lawyers. And assembling a team
Excellent post!
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