Four Individuals Fined for Protective Claim at Turfway

Four individuals at Turfway Park have been fined by track stewards for their role in an apparent protective claim of Unite the Masses when the gelding was victorious in a race for $5,000 claimers at the Northern Kentucky track Feb. 6.

In rulings issued March 13 by Turfway stewards, exercise rider Crystal Carmen and owner/trainer Amalio Garcia were each fined $1,000, while owner Brendon Cohen and trainer Karyn Wittek were fined $2,000 apiece for infractions. Rules in Kentucky prohibit an individual from claiming his/her own horse, from remaining in the same stable, or management from the owner or trainer from whom it was claimed, and from entering into an agreement with another for protection in a claiming race.

A claim, a method of purchasing a horse entered in an eligible condition, is submitted roughly 15 minutes prior to a race, with the original owner receiving the horse's earnings and the new owner taking possession after the race.

Unite the Masses, a 5-year-old by Cairo Prince , raced for Wittek and Cohen's Ruby Shoe Stables Feb. 6, winning by 3 1/4 lengths. Garcia claimed the horse as owner/trainer, and in a follow-up start under his name March 4, Unite the Masses won again, running for an $8,000 tag. He earned $9,000 in the latter race.

Barbara Borden, chief steward for the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission, said officials found out after the March 4 race that the horse had remained in the possession and control of the original connections.

Cohen, Wittek, Garcia, and Carmen—the fiancé of Garcia, according to Borden—later discussed the claim of Unite the Masses with stewards, and fines were levied based on precedent, Borden said.

"We had a lot of honest confessions. Everybody was very forthcoming with what had happened," she added.

Paperwork has been completed to show Cohen and Wittek as the gelding's owner and trainer again, respectively, Borden said. Stewards chose not to formally void the original claim, in which a two-way shake, or random draw, took place when two potential owners submitted claims for Unite the Masses. Borden said the amount of time that had passed from the Feb. 6 race played a role in that decision. She declined to name the other individual who submitted a claim.

"We've had similar things in the past when we've voided a claim for other reasons. If it's a shake, we don't return the horse to the other person in the shake," she said.