Ohio Suspends Trainer's License After PED Use Admission

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Fri, 01/28/2022 - 05:58
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Ohio Suspends Trainer's License After PED Use Admission
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Photo: Bryan R. Smith
The Daniel Patrick Moynihan United States Courthouse, where Jamen Davidovich testified Jan. 27 in New York

Owner/trainer Jamen Davidovich, who testified in a horse-doping trial in New York Jan. 27 that he previously gave performance-enhancing drugs to his horses, will have his license suspended in Ohio pending a hearing, Ohio State Racing Commission executive director Chris Dragone said Jan. 28. 

Davidovich, 31, of Pennsylvania, raced mainly in Ohio last year at Hollywood Gaming at Mahoning Valley Race Course and Thistledown with periodic starts in New York, Kentucky, and Pennsylvania. The trainer's most-recent start came Jan. 8 at Aqueduct Racetrack when Flatter Me Please  finished fifth in an allowance race for him there. Davidovich also owns the horse.

"Jamen right now is going to have a suspended license," Dragone said. "The stewards are drafting it up right now, and we're going to reach out to him to schedule a hearing, but his license will be suspended, and he'll be put on a 'stop list' as of the end of the day."

Thoroughbred trainers Jason Servis and Jorge Navarro also had their licenses suspended by regulators when they were indicted in the horse-doping case.

Regulators across the United States honor the sanctions of other regulators through reciprocity.

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In his testimony Thursday in the trial of veterinarian Dr. Seth Fishman, Davidovich, under a grant of immunity from prosecution, told the jury Fishman began supplying him with PEDs after a restaurant meeting in which one of his owners was also present.

Asked by prosecutor Anden Chow how the subject of PEDs came up, Davidovich responded, "We were talking about different things to make the horse run better."

Davidovich testified he stopped doping horses in 2018, saying he "wanted to move forward in a different way." He indicated he now approaches the sport more as a hobby.

He was one of two trainers to testify in court Thursday, the other being harness trainer Adrienne Hall.

Dragone said a hearing date had not yet been established.

"I know we're going to be getting together, talking about where we go from here, but we're obviously pretty alarmed by what was revealed," he said.