Maryland Jockey Club Bans Pair of Trainers

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On the heels of the Maryland Racing Commission suspending trainer Hector Garcia, the Maryland Jockey Club has decided to ban Garcia and his sometimes boss Juan C. Vazquez from its racetracks.

Garcia was one of three trainers recently sanctioned by the MRC after horses he trained tested positive for the synthetic steroid stanozolol, which formerly was sold as Winstrol but today is only available in a compounded form.

Garcia-trained Today's Man and Winning Player both tested positive for stanozolol after winning races in December at Laurel Park. In January, Garcia sent out another horse who tested positive for stanozolol in Conflicting Report. Also, Garcia-trained Sherriffs Moon tested positive for the tranquilizer xylazine after winning a race in December at Laurel.

The MRC will fine Garcia thousands of dollars and suspend him 11 months. All four horses were disqualified. Those are the sanctions imposed by the state regulator, but Maryland tracks have decided to take their own action against Garcia and Vazquez.

Vazquez began a 90-day suspension late last year and transferred horses to Garcia, his former assistant. With that suspension set to end Feb. 13, Maryland Jockey Club officials opted to ban Vazquez and Garcia rather than see horses recently trained by Garcia transferred back to Vazquez to race at Laurel.

"They're almost making a mockery of the penalties; Juan transfers horses to Hector's name. Juan's wife is the attending vet. Now you have Juan coming off his days on the 13th and the plan was to switch the horses back to his name," said Maryland Jockey Club general manager Sal Sinatra. "Rather than continuing the charade, it was just easier to tell them to go somewhere else."

Last year the Delaware Thoroughbred Racing Commission suspended Vazquez three months for fighting with a jockey near the scale area at Delaware Park. In 2013 the Delaware regulator suspended Vazquez three weeks for the use of boldenone, which is an anabolic androgenic steroid.

Vazquez said he was surprised to learn of the MJC's decision. He said he did not work with Garcia in training the horses in question. During his suspension, Vazquez said he spent time with his new daughter and traveled on vacation.

"I wasn't there, but they're blaming me," Vazquez said, adding that he'll likely not fight the MJC decision and opt to train elsewhere. "I don't like it but I probably won't fight it."

The MRC also sanctioned trainers A. Ferris Allen and Scott Lake for recent positives for stanozolol. Allen ultimately received 15 days (30 days total but 15 were stayed). He's appealing the decision.

Lake had two stanozolol positives in December at Laurel but because the second positive occurred prior to the delivery of the official notice by the laboratory of its finding for the first test, they were treated as one. Both horses were disqualified and Lake was suspended 60 days, fined $1,000, and given four points under the multiple medication violation policy.

Sinatra said the MJC will see how any appeals play out for Allen and Lake, but it could consider action against the trainers, especially Lake, who already had four MMV points in Pennsylvania.