Sadler Fined $5K for Flagstaff Bisphosphonate Violation

In a Nov. 26 ruling, the California Horse Racing Board fined trainer John Sadler $5,000 for knowingly bringing a horse into a CHRB enclosure that had been administered bisphosphonates within the previous six months.

The ruling, issued after Sadler entered into a settlement agreement with the CHRB, did not specify the horse in question, but Del Mar stewards said Nov. 27 that it involved graded stakes winner Flagstaff . The horse tested positive for a bisphosphonate following a runner-up finish in the Santa Anita Sprint Championship Stakes (G2) Sept. 27, 2020. That race was one of six starts from the sprinter in 2020.

Racing jurisdictions and sales companies began prohibiting bisphosphonates in 2019 in response to concerns the drugs could be used to hide radiographic evidence of sesamoiditis in young sales horses. The drug is approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in horses aged 4 and older to repair bone damage in horses experiencing navicular disease.

Flagstaff, retired this fall at age 7 by owners Lane's End Racing and Hronis Racing, was age 6 at the time of the 2020 Santa Anita Sprint Championship.

Sadler's attorney, Darrell Vienna, previously said Flagstaff had been treated with Osphos, the trade name for clodronic acid, in 2019. He added that bisphosphonates can linger and later release in a horse's system long after treatment.

Stewards previously disqualified Flagstaff in a ruling issued this June, resulting in the forfeiture of $40,000 in purse earnings from the 2020 Santa Anita Sprint Championship.

The gelded son of Speightstown   won seven of 22 starts and over $1 million. Earlier this year, he captured the Churchill Downs Stakes Presented by Ford (G1) on the Kentucky Derby undercard at Churchill Downs. He last raced Oct. 2, again running in the Santa Anita Sprint Championship, in which he was second to Dr. Schivel .

He was then pointed to the Nov. 6 Qatar Racing Breeders' Cup Sprint (G1) at Del Mar before he was removed from consideration and retired in late October.

The Friday ruling noted Sadler violated rule 1867.1, specifically restricting the use of bisphosphonates. He was not cited for a medication violation, Vienna said.

Such an infraction could have impacted a previous settlement agreement Sadler made with the CHRB in June 2020, in which the regulator stayed 45 days of a 60-day suspension for violations from the spring of 2019. That agreement was under the condition he did not have any Class 1, 2, or 3 drug positives during a year's probation.

The Nov. 26 ruling will not be contested, Vienna said.

"There will be no appeals, no hearings; it's all done," he noted.