Trainer, Identifier Face Penalties After Horse Mix-Up

Justin Evans, one of New Mexico's leading trainers, said he's done racing in the Land of Enchantment following a suspension and fine he received for running two horses with the wrong saddle cloth numbers Aug. 14 at the Downs at Albuquerque.

"This is about New Mexico not being on the cutting edge of racing. Any other track we go to, this would have been handled much differently," said the trainer, who has multiple leading trainer titles by wins at Sunland Park, SunRay Park, Zia Park, and Albuquerque.

Evans entered Extremely Wicked  and Square Root  in a $26,600 maiden special weight for 3-year-olds and up going six furlongs on opening day of the Downs at Albuquerque's current meet. Extremely Wicked is a 4-year-old gelding by Wicked Strong   that the trainer co-owns with Michael Cimino, and Square Root is a 4-year-old gelded son of Square Eddie  that Evans co-owns with Stan Munro.

The chart of this race shows that No. 9 Extremely Wicked won by 6 1/4 lengths and No. 6 Square Root finished third. When these horses got back to the test barn, however, it was discovered that the horse wearing No. 9 was actually Square Root.

For failing to insure the proper identity of the horses while personally attending his horses in the paddock and supervising their saddling, the New Mexico board of stewards Aug. 21 suspended Evans 15 days, from Aug. 26-Sept. 9, and fined him $5,000. The purses for Extremely Wicked and Square Root were taken back and the horses were both disqualified as unplaced.

Evans appealed the ruling Aug. 23 and also filed for an emergency temporary restraining order on the state's suspension with the New Mexico Second Judicial District Court.

One of the key issues for Evans is that the Downs at Albuquerque lacks the personnel and equipment to conduct its races properly and because of the absolute insurer rule the trainers bear the brunt.

First, the track does not supply numbered smocks to the grooms leading horses to the paddock, according to Evans. He also said the track does not have enough valets to saddle the horses in the paddock, so before this maiden race there were "nine horses going in 10 different directions."

Extremely Wicked and Square Root are both bay horses who had their manes braided the day they raced and were wearing the black and red colors of Evans' stable. One of the horses was acting up, so it was saddling outside the paddock.

"The identifier is standing outside and scans the horses," Evans said, referring to the practice of reading the identification microchips embed in the horses' necks. "The valets put the 6 on the 9 horse and the 9 on the 6 horse. The identifier said they were the correct horses. They run and nothing is caught until 20 minutes after the race when they are back at the test barn. The test barn scans (the winning horse) and says, 'This is the wrong horse.'

"They fined the identifier $1,000 and he keeps his job, but they want to give me a $5,000 fine and take away 15 days when I have a family to feed and own half of my 45-horse stable so I won't be able to transfer any of my horses," he said. "Look, the identifiers are up against it because they have terrible equipment. The scanners they use don't show the horse's name and number, only a list of 20 numbers. They want to use the absolute insurer rule, but the track also needs to provide the tools to make sure things like this don't happen."

However his appeal goes, Evans said he's done racing in New Mexico.

"I will not be in New Mexico after this," he said. "I'll go to Arizona in the winter and pick somewhere else for the summer. This is ridiculous."